The little prince was in need of a name, and now, by George, he's got one. Make that three: George Alexander Louis.The announcement Wednesday that Prince William and his wife, Kate, had selected a moniker steeped in British history came as royal officials said the new parents were seeking quiet family time away from the flashbulbs and frenzy that accompanied the birth of their first child. While the news put to rest intense speculation over what name the couple would choose, the extreme interest

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday he is nominating former first daughter Caroline Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Japan, offering the most famous living member of a prominent American family a new role of service to country.Kennedy, an attorney and bestselling book editor, is being rewarded for helping put Obama in the White House, where her father served until his assassination 50 years ago. If confirmed, she would be the first woman in a post where many other prominent Americans have se

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly rejected a challenge to the National Security Agency's secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records after a fierce debate pitting privacy rights against the government's efforts to thwart terrorism.Wednesday night's 217-205 vote was unlikely to be the final word on government intrusion to defend the nation and Americans' civil liberties. A vote marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the secret surveillance prog

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who fled to Moscow's airport a month ago, aims to stay in Russia for the near future and learn the country's culture and language, his lawyer said Wednesday.To get him started, Anatoly Kucherena said he gave Snowden a copy of “Crime and Punishment,” Dostoyevsky's lengthy novel about the torment and redemption of a man who thought himself outside the law.“I am not talking about the similarity of inner contradictions,” Kucherena said after meeting Sn

A U.S. House committee passed a bill Wednesday to extend the current South Korea-U.S. civilian nuclear energy accord until 2016, a move intended to give the two governments more time to negotiate a revised agreement."This extension would allow the negotiators time to focus on substantive matters of the agreement instead of focusing on the clock," Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a press release. He submitted the bill in June.It requires approval from th

Efforts to publicize the name "East Sea" for the body of water between Korea and Japan in the U.S. state of Virginia have gained momentum with growing support from local legislators. A senior Republican member of the Virginia House, Time Hugo, announced Wednesday that he will introduce legislation in next year's session to require all future textbooks approved by the Virginia Board of Education to note that the body of water is referred to as the East Sea as well as the currently used name of th

City police said Wednesday they have wrapped up an investigation into alleged sexual abuse involving a former South Korean presidential spokesman."The Metropolitan Police Department has presented the facts of this matter to the United States Attorney's Office for their determination," Gwendolyn Crump, director of the police office of communications, told Yonhap News Agency.Yoon Chang-jung, 56, is accused of molesting a Korean-American female intern while he was visiting Washington in early May a

South Korea's trade commission said Thursday that it has decided to recommend a three-year extension of anti-dumping duties on imports of stainless steel bars from Japan, India and Spain.Under the latest extension, Japanese and Spanish products will be subject to an anti-dumping tariff of 15.39 percent with those from India subject to tariffs ranging from 2.76 percent to 15.39 percent, according to the Korea Trade Commission.South Korea has been imposing anti-dumping tariffs, ranging from 3.33 p

Spanish investigators were trying to determine Thursday why a passenger train jumped the tracks and sent eight cars crashing into each other just before arriving in this northwestern shrine city on the eve of a major Christian religious festival, killing at least 77 people and injuring more than 140.Seventy-three people were found dead at the scene of the accident and four died in hospitals, said Maria Pardo Rios, spokeswoman for the Galicia region's main court. At least 141 people were injured

Japan's trade deficit was a smaller-than-expected 180.8 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in June as the weaker yen boosted exports. The deficit reported by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday was smaller than most forecasts and down from May's deficit of 996.4 billion yen. Still, it was more than triple the 56.1 trillion yen deficit recorded in June 2012. That's largely due to higher costs for fuel imports since most of Japan's nuclear reactors have been shut down since the March 2011 tsunami and nuc

A parliamentary probe into the state spy agency's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election began Wednesday with a hearing attended by justice ministry officials as rival parties questioned the legitimacy of a now-complete prosecution investigation into the scandal.The parliamentary probe aims to uncover the truth behind allegations that former National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Won Sei-hoon ordered an online smear campaign to sway public opinion in favor of the ruling Saenuri

A fire broke out at a plant of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip and mobile phone maker, on Wednesday, firefighters and company officials said, adding that no one was injured. The fire started at 12:36 p.m. at a chimney above one of the production lines in Samsung's Giheung plant, located in Yongin, just south of Seoul, according to the firefighters.The blaze was put out in about 20 minutes, they added.No casualties were reported, company officials said, adding that the th