Moon under fire for allegedly asking Korean Air to employ his brother-in-law

Company accused of dragging feet in calling for help

PARIS ― His motives are a mystery and his acts described as random and deranged, but analysts say the gunman who took a Sydney cafe full of terrified people hostage could still score a propaganda coup for jihadists.Bearing a black jihadist flag, the Iranian-born Islamist created precisely the sort of lone-wolf attack urged by groups such as the Islamic State ― replete with bomb threats, hostages and panic in a major Western city. Although any link to a specific group has yet to be established, t

TOKYO ― Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces strong resistance to a promised economic and political overhaul despite a weekend election victory that gives him up to four more years in power.In Sunday’s snap election, the conservative Liberal Democrats who have ruled for most of the post-World War II era locked up a solid majority of at least 291 seats. About 35 seats were claimed by the LDP’s coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed Komei party, giving the ruling bloc more than two-thirds of th

NANJING, China ― President Xi Jinping said Saturday that no one can deny the Nanjing Massacre, as China for the first time held a national day of remembrance for the Japanese military rampage that Beijing says killed 300,000 people.State media estimated 10,000 people attended a ceremony in Nanjing to mark the 77th anniversary of the massacre, including ageing survivors ― some in their 90s ― of the Japanese invasion of the eastern city on Dec. 13, 1937.The crowd sang a boisterous rendition of Chi

South Korea’s legislature will begin probes into former President Lee Myung-bak’s “resource diplomacy” initiative sometime early next year after the country’s two main parties on Wednesday agreed to set up an investigative committee. But the probes are expected to be highly politicized, with the main opposition party saying the ex-president must be held accountable for allegedly wasting billions of won, and Lee supporters saying the investigation is a witch hunt based on a political deal between

WASHINGTON  ― CIA torture of al-Qaida suspects was far more brutal than acknowledged, did not produce useful intelligence and was so poorly managed it lost track of detainees, a scathing U.S. Senate report revealed Tuesday.The Central Intelligence Agency also misled the White House and Congress with inaccurate claims about the program’s usefulness in thwarting attacks, the Senate Intelligence Committee said in its graphic report that revived the debate over interrogation techniques such as water

The fast expanding ride-sharing service Uber is facing pressure from local authorities and taxi drivers in major cities, most recently in The Hague, New Delhi and Portland. Uber has expanded at breakneck speed since it launched in 2009 and is now present in more than 200 cities across 45 countries.But its rapid growth has caused tensions, especially in Europe where rival taxi companies have protested that Uber cars are not subject to the same regulations.Dutch judges on Monday banned the U.S. co

Political reform, or the pretense of it, is once again in the spotlight with the ruling Saenuri Party officially adopting plans drawn up by its reform committee.Led by potential presidential contender Kim Moon-soo, the committee drew much attention from the beginning with party chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung throwing his weight behind it.Despite the support given to the committee, and its high-profile nature, the plans the committee drew up were initially rejected by the party last month. The reject

WASHINGTON ― President Barack Obama’s pick to be the next defense secretary, Ashton Carter, will inherit a tense relationship between the U.S. military and the White House that is unlikely to ease even with a fresh face at the Pentagon.Carter, 60, a policy wonk with degrees in medieval history and theoretical physics, is a bona fide defense expert but also a blunt-spoken figure who could run into trouble with a White House said to be given to micro-management. With years of experience in senior

Whenever the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra was in the news, it was usually artistic director Chung Myung-whun who got the spotlight. In the past few days, however, Park Hyun-jung, the orchestra’s president and CEO since February 2013, landed prominently in newspapers and on TV. Park Hyun-jung, the orchestra’s president and CEO. (Yonhap)She is accused of a series of cases of misconduct, including verbal and sexual abuse, by her own staff at the city-run ensemble. Seventeen of the orchestra’s 27 st

BRUSSELS -- Europe played down Tuesday an angry Russia’s shelving of the multi-billion-dollar South Stream gas pipeline project, saying it merely reinforced the need to find other energy sources amid the crisis in Ukraine.President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly announced during a visit to Turkey on Monday that he was closing the scheme to pump Russian gas to southeast Europe, blaming Brussels for making it impossible.The pipeline has become the latest casualty of the new Cold War between the West

The scandal centered on Chung Yoon-hoi continues to expand and threatens to bring rival parties to a headlong clash, but little is known about the man himself. It has been alleged that Chung is at the core of an unofficial group of advisors to President Park Geun-hye, and that he has colluded with three presidential secretaries on a regular basis to exchange classified information on her state management. Chung and his supposed collaborators are also alleged to have tried to pull strings to repl

TAIPEI ― Taiwan’s warmer relations with China were called into question after the island’s Beijing-friendly ruling party suffered its worst-ever polls defeat in local elections Saturday, sparking the resignation of Premier Jiang Yi-huah and the cabinet.The rout came as the ruling Kuomintang party struggles to combat public fears of China’s growing influence, as well as a slowing economy and a string of food scandals.Premier Jiang quit hours after the disastrous result, seen as a key barometer ah

FERGUSON ― The white policeman who shot dead an unarmed black teenager in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson has resigned, but it failed to deter angry protesters demanding justice and reform.Darren Wilson left the force citing fears for the safety of local residents and fellow police officers, according to a letter published by local media Saturday. Wilson wrote in his letter that “it is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal.”A grand jury decision on Monday not to charge Wi