(Yonhap News)SENDAI, Japan (AFP) ― A powerful aftershock rocked Japan’s tsunami disaster zone, killing at least four and triggering new concerns over nuclear power plants in a region still grappling with an atomic emergency.Electricity was cut across a huge area of northern Japan, forcing cooling systems at three nuclear plants to switch to emergency power and plunging more than 3.3 million househ

This undated photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (center, front row) attending a photo session with a group of elite soldiers in front of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang. (KCNA-Yonhap news)   North Korea's parliament ended a closely monitored session Thursday without promoting ailing leader Kim Jong-il's heir-apparent son to another top post.   There had been speculation that the

 (Guo Lianfu and her 85 adopted-cats at their home in Qingdao. China Daily via ANN)For cat lover Guo Lianfu sharing her home with 85 street cats is just a small part of the work she does caring for stray felines around Zhoukou residential area in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province. At 71, retired Guo still leaves her house at 10 pm every night to give food to hundreds of abandoned cats, often

South Korean singer Rain currently ranks first on the 2011 TIME 100 poll of the “Most Influential People in the World,” raising expectations that he might steal the top slot when the final results come out on April 14.The online voting started on Monday when Rain attracted some 47,600 votes, outpacing runner up Chris Colfer, the American actor of “Glee” fame, by 20,000 votes, illustrating Rain’s h

(MCT)Bundang has the lowest smoking and drinking rates among cities in Gyeonggi Province, statistics showed Monday. The research was conducted on 41,000 Gyeonggi residents who visited local health care centers in the region in September, October and November. Among the visitors, residents of Bundang, one of the wealthiest cities in Gyeonggi province, showed the lowest smoking rate at 17.2 percent.

  The number of South Korean couples who got divorced due to conflicts over money surged almost 78 percent in the past decade, a survey said Tuesday, indicating that financial problems are becoming a major factor in the rising divorce rate.   According to the survey of 4,405 divorced people conducted between 1990-2009 by one of the country's leading matchmaking firms Sunwoo, 12.7 percent of marria

    (In this photo taken Sunday, Nguyen Quang Hue touches an injured giant softshell turtle after he and other workers pulled it from Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam. AP-Yonhap News)HANOI, Vietnam (AP) _ Veterinarians examined a rare giant turtle considered sacred by many Vietnamese at a makeshift hospital in Hanoi on Monday to check mysterious legions afflicting one of the last four known member