MANILA (AFP) -- The death toll from a killer quake in the central Philippines is likely to approach 200 as rescue teams focused on finding dead bodies buried under landslides and fallen structures, an official said Sunday.A total of 185 deaths have been confirmed so far from the 7.1 quake that shook the tourist island of Bohol on Tuesday, toppling bridges, shattering roads, causing landslides and reducing historic churches to rubble.Bohol suffered 172 dead alone with over 120 dead from falling s

BEIRUT (AP) -- An international conference aimed at ending Syria's civil war will be held in Geneva in late November, the head of the Arab League said Sunday, after weeks of diplomacy to bring the opposing sides to the negotiating table.Even as the announcement was made, violence continued in Syria. A suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck blew himself up at a government checkpoint on the edge of the central city of Hama, killing at least 30 people, according to both activists and the

영국의 한 국제환경단체가 한국 원양어선이 지난 9월 아프리카 연안에서 불법조업을 하고 수산자원을 남획했다고 주장해 또 다시 논란이 일고 있다. 런던에 본부를 둔 NGO인 환경정의재단은 위성 사진과 자동위치추적시스템을 근거로 부산 소재 원양업체인 금웅수산의 ‘금웅101호’가 지난 9월 18-19일 시에라리온 연안에서 허가 없이 조업을 했다고 코리아헤럴드에 밝혔다. 포획물은 다음날 기니의 배타적경제수역(EEZ) 내에서 ‘홀란드 클리퍼’라는 네덜란드 냉동화물선으로 환적되었고 3주 후 부산항에 도착할 것이라고 이 단체는 주장했다. 금웅수산은 불법행위 주장을 부인하고 있다. 이 업체의 천효열 상무는 코리아헤럴드와의 전화 통화에서 “그 85톤의 고기는 적법한 허가를 받아 지난 6개월 동안 기니비소에서 수확 및 환적한 것”이라고 밝혔다. 그는 “다만 선장과 기관장이 건강이 급격히 악화되어 비교적 의료시설이 잘 되어 있는 시에라리온의 프리타운항에 임의적으로 입항할 수밖에 없었다”고 해명했다.또한

BERLIN (AP) -- Wilson Kipsang of Kenya did what he said he'd do on Sunday, when he broke the world record in style to win the 40th Berlin Marathon.After suggesting he was in the form to challenge compatriot Patrick Makau's 2011 time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 38 seconds set in Berlin, the 31-year-old Kipsang beat the record by 15 seconds to set a new world best of 2:03:23."Looking at my marathon progress and career so far, I still think I have the potential to run faster. Anything under 2:03:23 woul

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) -- Boko Haram gunmen on Sunday opened fire in a college dormitory in northeast Nigeria as the students slept, killing at least 28 people, in the latest violence blamed on the Islamist insurgents.The early morning assault targeted the College of Agriculture in the town of Gujba, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Damaturu's capital of Yobe, said area military spokesman Lazarus Eli."Boko Haram terrorists...went into the school and opened fire on students" while they were sleepi

Citigroup Inc. and Bank of China Ltd. announced they will participate in Shanghai’s free trade zone, the 11-square-mile experiment in more relaxed financial and investment controls that was inaugurated today. The two banks were among the first to announce their participation in the zone, which opens Oct. 1 with the aim of creating a more efficient and open economic system, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said at an opening ceremony. The area is a testing ground for free-market policies that Premie

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed for the United States on Sunday determined to use White House talks and a key UN speech to counter "sweet talk" by arch-foe Iran.Netanyahu has been dismissive in his response to a drive by Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani to mend fences with the international community that culminated in a historic 15-minute telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama on Friday.The premier says Rouhani is a "wolf in sheep's clothing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- NASA's newest delivery service pulled up at the International Space Station on Sunday after a week's delay, bringing more than a half-ton of meals and special treats to the astronauts who assisted in the high-flying feat.With the smooth linkup, Orbital Sciences Corp. became only the second company to accomplish such a far-flung shipment.The space station astronauts used their ship's huge robot arm to grab the Cygnus capsule, as the two vessels zoomed 260 miles abo

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan has asked local authorities and state-run universities not to post Google maps on their websites because some of them use non-Japanese names for disputed islands, reports said Sunday.The disputed territory includes the South Korean-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, and the Japan-held Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, claimed by China as the Diaoyus, the Sports Nippon tabloid reported.The Russian-held isl

MUMBAI (AFP) -- The confirmed death toll from the collapse of a residential block in Mumbai rose to 60 on Sunday as the search ended with all the missing accounted for, officials said.The five-storey block in the Indian city's east, home to 22 families and owned by the municipal authority, came crashing down at daybreak on Friday."The toll has now risen to 60 and we have now called off the search for more bodies in the debris," said Mumbai deputy police commissioner Tanaji Ghadge, who will lead

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT, United States (AFP) -- US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel late Saturday ruled out any quick decision on extending US wartime command over South Korea troops, a move authorities in Seoul are seeking."I don't think we'll be in a position to make any final decision," Hagel told reporters aboard the plane that was taking him to South Korea.In case of war with North Korea, the alliance between Washington and Seoul currently calls for the US military commander to lead the

BEIRUT (AP) -- A Syrian government air raid struck a high school in a rebel-held city in the country's north on Sunday, killing at least 12 people, most of them students, activists said.The airstrike took place in the city of Raqqa, which is located on the Euphrates River and is the only provincial capital under rebel control in Syria's civil war, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Right said. President Bashar Assad's regime has relied heavily on its air force to strike opposition-he

BEIJING (AFP) -- A man who planned a protest on the anniversary of China's Tiananmen square crackdown went on trial Sunday for "inciting state subversion", his lawyer said.Gu Yimin denied the charge at the hearing in the eastern city of Changshu, said Liu Weiguo, one of his lawyers.State prosecutors said Gu's posting of pictures of the 1989 crackdown, and his application to stage a protest on its anniversary this year, amounted to "inciting state subversion", according to Liu."There is nothing i

MOSCOW (AFP) -- A Russian court on Sunday ordered a Greenpeace spokesman to be detained for two months over an open-sea protest against Arctic oil drilling, in a criminal case that has caused international concern.The court in the northern city of Murmansk on Thursday had already ordered the two-month detention of 22 Greenpeace activists pending the investigation into alleged piracy over a protest at a Gazprom oil rig on September 18.The same Lenin district court had also remanded in custody eig