Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told members of the U.S. Congress Friday that the United Nations is committed to helping Haiti overcome a cholera epidemic even though it is refusing to pay compensation to victims who blame U.N. peacekeepers for starting the outbreak.Health officials say more than 657,000 people have fallen ill and more than 8,000 people have died from cholera since it was likely introduced to Haiti by U.N. troops from Nepal in 2010. More than 30,000 people have fallen ill and 440

A weapon designed to blast nuclear missiles out of the sky has been tested at a Southern California coastal base but failed to hit its target.The Missile Defense Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, said a ground-based interceptor missile was launched Friday. Its target: a missile launched 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) away from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.The interceptor did not hit its target. Officials will try to determine the cause of any anomalies that may have pre

A fire erupted at a POSCO plant Friday evening after what appears to be a series of explosions at a blast furnace, witnesses and authorities said. No casualties were reported.Firefighters said the flames were brought under control in an hour.Witnesses reported seeing a big flame rising over the plant with what sounded like four to five explosions at around 8:50 p.m.Some said they felt the ground shake. A number of homes nearby reported broken windows.Company officials said high-temperature slag,

South Korea has temporarily suspended bidding for its next-generation fighter jet project as none of the contenders met the preset budget limit, the state arms procurer said Friday.South Korea is pushing to buy 60 fighter jets to replace its aging fleet of F-4 and F-5 jets starting from 2017.Vying for the project are Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle; Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth jet; and the Eurofighter Tranche 3 Typhoon from the European Aerospace Defense and Space Company.The Defense Acquisition P

South Korea on Friday sent back home three North Koreans who were rescued off its east coast, government officials said.The North Koreans were rescued by a South Korean civilian vessel on Wednesday after their boat capsized, they said.The three men were handed over to the North at 6:30 p.m. at the border truce village of Panmunjom after their wish to return home was confirmed, the officials said. (Yonhap News) 

China's government has promised sweeping changes to its state-run banking industry, including allowing the creation of private lenders, to support struggling private companies and curb what regulators worry are growing financial risks.The changes announced Friday would tighten controls on some bank activities while also increasing lending to credit-starved private businesses.The new leadership that took power last year has pledged to support entrepreneurs who generate China's new jobs and wealth

Nine young North Koreans who were forced to return home after being arrested in Laos for illegal entry appeared on North Korean television Friday, claiming that they were kidnapped to defect to South Korea.The North Koreans, ages between 15-23, were rounded up in Laos on May 10. On May 27, they were expelled to China, where they were subsequently deported to their home country.The youngsters, neatly dressed and wearing lapel pins of the North's founding leader Kim Il-sung and his son, Kim Jong-i

The previous Lee Myung-bak government misused the budget earmarked for its signature project led by the then-first lady to promote Korean food internationally and poorly managed related plans, the state auditor said Friday.First lady Kim Yoon-ok pushed for diverse plans to promote Korean food overseas, spending some 87.2 billion won (US$75.59 million) from 2009 to 2012. But it has been criticized for poor management and failing to draw any tangible results.According to the special audit by the B

The rate of malnutrition among North Korean children still remains at a serious level, although it has improved from the level seen in the late 1990s, a local health expert said Friday.The rate of North Korean infants and toddlers under age 5 with chronic malnutrition disorder came to 27.9 percent as of late last year, falling sharply from 62.3 percent recorded in 1998, according to reports last year by the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme, said Lee Soo-kyung, a food and nu

President Park Geun-hye voiced strong objections Thursday against the widely-denounced practice of big businesses coercing small franchise distributors to accept products in excess of their capacities, saying such a practice should never happen under her government.Park made the remark during a dinner meeting with small business owners as the already-high public outrage over the practice rose further following Tuesday's suicide of a distribution shop owner for a local liquor maker after he suffe

Financial markets were subdued Thursday despite encouraging growth figures out of Japan, as investors paused for breath a day after the main U.S. stock indexes struck record highs.Stocks have been buoyant for most of this year amid hopes over the U.S. economy, an easing of concerns over Europe's debt crisis and an expectation that central banks will continue with their super-easy monetary policies for a while longer.``This rally is not dead, it's just resting,'' said Alastair McCaig, market anal

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at his Black Sea residence in Sochi on Friday, the Kremlin said.The Kremlin did not specify the agenda of the upcoming talks with Ban, who will be visiting Russia from May 16 to 19. Ban's visit comes amid a new international push for a peace conference to end more than two years of bloodshed in Syria.Earlier this month Russia and the United States proposed to organise a peace conference on Syria expected to bu

Japanese car manufacturer Honda is returning to Formula One in 2015 as an engine supplier to the automaker's former partner McLaren of Britain.Honda president Takanobu Ito announced the decision at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.Honda was an entrant, constructor and engine supplier between 1964 and 2008 but pulled out of F1 after the global financial crises.Honda Motor's sales have risen amid improving economic conditions in Japan and overseas. The company has also benefited from a weak