MELBOURNE (AFP) -- A global AIDS summit was in shock Saturday at the loss of colleagues in the Malaysia Airlines disaster over Ukraine, but spirits were lifted when the number who died was put at six, far fewer than feared.Reports on Friday said as many as 100 passengers on the plane were en route to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne when it went down in a rebel-held part of the country on Thursday, killing all 298 on board.But International AIDS Society president Francoise Bar

BEIJING (AFP) -- At least 38 people were killed when a van carrying inflammable liquid hit a bus on a highway in central China early Saturday, state media reported.The collision in Hunan province triggered a fire and explosion which destroyed five vehicles, the Xinhua news agency said.Another five people were injured in the accident, which occurred at around 3:00 am, Xinhua said, citing police.The fire was finally put out by about 8:00 am.The double-decker long-distance bus, with capacity for 53

GRABOVE, Ukraine (AFP) -- Investigators faced massive hurdles Saturday as they sought access to the grisly crash site of a Malaysian plane in eastern Ukraine, with the area controlled by armed rebels blamed for downing the jet with a missile.Despite a hail of calls from around the globe for a swift probe into the crash, initial efforts by international monitors to gain full access to the site have been impeded by pro-Russian separatists locked in fighting with Ukraine forces.The fate of the vita

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- North Korea temporarily shut down its 5-megawatt nuclear reactor, a key facility in its production of plutonium, or operated it at reduced levels following problems with a dam providing cooling water, a U.S. think tank said Friday.The website 38 North, run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, made the analysis based on satellite imagery, citing the absence of "white foam discharge" that occurs when the reactor runs.The foam

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- A U.S. official on Friday brushed aside North Korea's protest against an American comedy film about a plot to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong-un, saying filmmakers are free to make whatever movie they want."We are of course aware of press reports about North Korean concerns about this movie," a U.S. government official said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency. "While it may be difficult for the DPRK (North Korea) to understand the concept, in the United Stat

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States began building a case linking pro-Russian separatists to the downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine as a somber President Barack Obama declared the deaths of those on board, including at least one American, an ``outrage of unspeakable proportions.''Obama said Friday the U.S. believes the Malaysia Airlines plane was felled by a surface-to-air missile launched from an area near the Ukraine-Russia border that is controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists. Even as h

DETROIT (AP) -- Kia is recalling nearly 52,000 Soul small SUVs to fix a problem that can cause steering failure.The recall covers vehicles from the 2014 model year built from July 21, 2013, through Jan. 17, 2014.The Korean automaker says a plug that secures a pinion gear to the steering assembly can loosen and cause the gear to separate. That can cause a driver to lose steering and increase the risk of a crash.Kia says in documents filed with U.S. safety regulators that it has three warranty cla

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that the United States cannot rule out that Russia helped in the launch of the surface-to-air missile that shot down a Malaysia Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.Power said the U.S. believes the plane was likely downed by an SA-11 missile fired from an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. She said Russia has provided SA-

PARIS (AP) -- The downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine is likely to be a turning point in the country's conflict. But which way it turns depends mainly on who carried out the attack and how convincingly it can be proved to the world.With suspicion falling heavily on pro-Russian insurgents, the event could provide an opportunity for Russian President Vladimir Putin to disengage from his increasingly uncontrollable allies in eastern Ukraine.But if enough doubt persists, positions could harden in

The downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet over rebel-held eastern Ukraine has raised questions over why the company persisted in flying in conflict-zone airspace that many other Asian carriers had abandoned months ago.The air corridor over Ukraine has always been a crowded one for flights between Europe and Asia -- particularly Southeast Asia -- and rerouting around the airspace would mean an increase in flight time and fuel costs.Nevertheless, a number of major Asian airlines, including South Kore

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The human cost of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 hit home around the world Friday, upending scores of families and small communities spanning half of the planet, from a Dutch fishing village to an Australian soccer club and a Dubai cake store.Relatives and colleagues paid emotional tribute to the dead. Students gathered to pray for lost friends, and even Tour de France cyclists paused for a moment's silence in memory of the 298 people killed in Ukraine.

VIENNA (AP) -- Iran and six world powers failed Saturday to meet their target date for cutting a nuclear deal but agreed to extend the talks until Nov. 24 in a bid to overcome stubborn differences over the size and capacity of activities by Tehran that could be used to make nuclear arms.Months of exhausting negotiations were meant to culminate in an agreement by Sunday that would limit programs Iran says it needs to produce energy and for other peaceful purposes _ but which can also be used to m

TEHRAN (AFP) -- Iran's supreme leader revealed Tuesday his country's demands for a massive long-term increase in its nuclear enrichment capability, laying bare huge gaps between Tehran and world powers negotiating a deal.The comments, published on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website, represent a dramatic intervention in the talks currently taking place in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, for a nuclear accord.His remarks re

Samsung Electronics Co. and 16 other South Korean companies were included in the 2014 Fortune 500 list, three more than last year, the online edition of the U.S. business magazine Fortune said Tuesday.Samsung Electronics, the world's leading maker of mobile phones and computer memory chips, rose one notch from the previous year to 13 on the list.Three local companies -- Hanwha Corp., Samsung C&T Corp. and Lotte Shopping Co. -- newly joined the list this year.SK Holdings, the holding company of S

DAEJEON  (Yonhap) -- A South Korean consortium will carry out its second inspection of a North Korea-Russia economic project next week, Korea Railroad Corp., one of the consortium members, said Tuesday.The second inspection aims to examine the business feasibility of the so-called Rajin-Khasan logistics project to make the North Korean northeastern port city of Rajin a logistics hub by linking it to Russia's Trans-Siberian railway.Last September, Russia reopened a 54-kilometer stretch of track l