WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Strong storms hit pockets of western and central Pennsylvania early Friday, bringing up to 7 inches of rain, turning roads into rivers, damaging homes in communities as far as 150 miles apart and killing one person. Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the state’s National Guard to help in the recovery efforts after the storms left a path of destruction, downing power lines, destroying vehicles, damaging railroad beds and triggering mudslides.The (Lock Haven) Express reported

BEIJING (AP) -- Typhoon Haima forced the evacuations of more than 50,000 people in southern China after hammering the northern Philippines with ferocious wind and rain, triggering flooding, landslides and power outages and killing at least 13 people.No deaths were immediately reported Saturday in China from the typhoon. Residents in the cities of Shanwei and Shantou, in China’s Guangdong province, were forced to move to safer ground as the storm hit, local authorities and state media reported. S

KUALA LUMPUR, (Yonhap) -- A North Korean delegation led by its deputy foreign minister held talks with former government officials of the United States here for a second day on Saturday to discuss pending issues such as the North’s nuclear and missile tests.The US-North Korea contact, although it is informal or unofficial, came after North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test in September, just eight months after its previous nuke test.“I came here through Beijing,” the North

HWASEONG, (Yonhap) -- Two statues of a Korean and Chinese girl were unveiled in China on Saturday, the first monument in China to honor the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, officials said Saturday.The statues were erected inside Shanghai Normal University in the Chinese city with the help of donations from citizens of Hwaseong, a city located south of Seoul, according to the Hwaseong municipal authorities.It is the fifth monument to be built outside of South Korea in honor of the hundr

One third of United Nations member states have submitted their implementation reports on the latest set of international sanctions adopted against North Korea, a news report said Saturday.The Voice of America report said 66 countries have submitted their own implementation reports since the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 2270 in March to punish the North for its nuclear and ballistic missile tests early this year. It cited an e-mail from the Spanish mission to the U.N., which currently

Bilateral trade between Russia and North Korea plunged 22 percent in the first eight months of the year from a year earlier due to toughened international sanctions levied on the communist state following a series of its nuclear and missile tests, a report said Saturday.The trade volume between the two countries reached US$43 million in the January-August period, compared with $56 million a year earlier, the Voice of America reported, citing data from Russia’s customs agency.Russia shipped miner

NEW YORK (Yonhap) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday he will think about what he can do for the future of South Korea after stepping down as U.N. chief, as speculation is high he’s considering a run for president.“I understand that there are naturally some expectations from many people in Korea that I should make myself available for a better future of Korea that I am conscious of,” Ban was quoted as saying in an interview with Reuters.After returning to Korea in mid-January, Ban

WASHINGTON, (Yonhap) -- North Korea will be a huge problem for the next U.S. president as it is perfecting capabilities to fly nuclear-armed missiles to the continental US, a former top intelligence official has warned.Jami Miscik, a former deputy director for intelligence at CIA, made the remark in an interview with the Fortune magazine, noting that the US is not paying enough attention to the issue of North Korea, according to the report.“The president-elect is going to face a problem with Nor

MANILA (AFP) - Suspected Islamist militants kidnapped the captain and a Filipino crew member on a South Korean cargo ship in the southern Philippines, the military said Friday.Ten people, who reportedly identified themselves as militants from the extremist Abu Sayyaf group, boarded a South Korean-flagged cargo ship on Thursday and abducted its captain, described by the Philippine military as “Korean”, as well as a local crewman.“They identified themselves as Abu Sayyaf Group members.... We’re lo

South Korea's Navy said Tuesday that it had found the body of one of three crew members who were aboard a chopper that crashed into the sea off the country's east coast a day earlier.At around 6 p.m., the Navy found the body some 1,030 meters under the sea during its search operation that used a remotely operated underwater vehicle.The body was confirmed to be the Lynx antisubmarine helicopter's main pilot, identified only by his surname Kim. Along with Kim, a secondary pilot and a naval non-com