North Korea seems to have taken "initial steps" to deploy mobile long-range missiles, the head of the U.S. intelligence community said Tuesday, as the unpredictable communist nation churns out military threats."Last April it displayed what appears to be a rogue mobile intercontinental ballistic missile," James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, said at a Senate hearing on national security challenges. "We believe North Korea has already taken initial steps towards fielding this system,

South Korea's jobless rate jumped in February from a month earlier and job creation also slowed sharply, raising worries that labor market conditions will remain bleak down the road, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 4 percent last month, up from the previous month's 3.4 percent. This is the highest ever since February last year when it was 4.2 percent.The jobless rate adjusted for inflation also rose to 3.5 percent from J

Black smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Tuesday, signaling that cardinals had failed on their first vote of the papal conclave to choose a new leader for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics and their troubled church.Surrounded by Michelangelo's imposing frescoes imagining the beginning and the end of the world, cardinals locked themselves into the chapel following a final appeal for unity to heal the divisions that have been exposed by Pope Benedict XVI's shocking resignation and rev

Hackers posted Social Security numbers and other personal data of at least 14 U.S. celebrities and other public figures on a website, police said Monday.The entertainment news website TMZ, which first reported the celebrity hacking, said it would not reveal the name of the website that had made public the private data of Britney Spears, Donald Trump, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher, Vice President Joe Biden, FBI Director Robert Mueller, former Secretary o

The nation's top men's professional basketball league on Tuesday apologized for a match-fixing scandal, a day after an active head coach was arrested under rigging suspicions.Han Sun-kyo, the commissioner of the Korean Basketball League (KBL), held a press conference to express his regrets for the controversy."We recognize this situation as the biggest crisis for professional basketball since the league was launched in 1997," Han said. "We're fully cooperating with prosecutors in their investiga

An overwhelming 99.8 percent of Falkland Islands voters have backed keeping their government just the way it is: a British Overseas Territory.Of the 1,517 valid votes cast, only 3 islanders voted “no” to the question: “Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?”  One vote was somehow lost, officials said Monday.The referendum was aimed at showing the world that the residents' self-determination must be considered in a

A self-proclaimed pastor has been indicted on charges of defaming President Park Geun-hye by falsely accusing her of bribing late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a 2002 visit to Pyongyang, prosecutors said Tuesday.In two video clips posted on the Internet last month, Cho Woong, whose real name is Cho Byeong-kyu, claimed that Park had handed over 50 billion won (US$45.6 million) to Kim during the visit in violation of the National Security Law banning giving any monetary support to the com

The El Nino and La Nina climate patterns are unlikely to make an appearance during the first half of this year, the U.N.'s weather agency said Monday."Model forecasts and expert opinion suggests that the likelihood of El Nino or La Nina conditions developing during the first half of 2013 is low," the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a statement.During the past 10 months, indicators in the tropical Pacific, including ocean temperatures, sea level pressure and cloudiness, "have gene

Hungarian lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly approved a long amendment to the constitution which critics say threatens certain democratic checks and balances.After smaller protests during the day, several thousand people gathered in the evening near the offices of President Janos Ader, asking him to veto the amendment.The bill enshrines in the Fundamental Law, as the new constitution is called, a number of policies that were previously been struck down as unconstitutional by the country's highes

A local court on Monday granted prosecutors' request for an arrest warrant for a professional basketball head coach under match-fixing suspicions.The district court here in Euijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province, north of Seoul, issued the warrant to detain Kang Dong-hee, the head coach of the Dongbu Promy in the Korean Basketball League (KBL), on charges of violating laws governing national sports promotion. He is the first active coach of a South Korea pro sports team to face match-rigging allegation

A judge struck down New York City's pioneering ban on big sugary drinks Monday just hours before it was supposed to take effect, handing a defeat to health-minded Mayor Michael Bloomberg and creating confusion for restaurants that had already ordered smaller cups and changed their menus.State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling said the 16-ounce (half liter) limit on sodas and other sweet drinks arbitrarily applies to only some sugary beverages and some places that sell them.“The loopholes in

Six out of 10 South Koreans think they belong in the low-income bracket, a poll showed Tuesday, apparently reflecting their falling income due to the country's protracted economic slump.According to the nationwide survey of 5,732 households by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 61.8 percent said their income hovers below the national median.Another 33.8 percent responded they belong in the middle-income bracket, and 4.1 percent believed themselves to be in the upper-middle class,

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid visits to front-line military units near the western sea border on Monday, calling for troops to throw all enemies into a "cauldron," break their "waists" and cut their "windpipes."The visit to the Wolnae Islet Defense Detachment and a long-range artillery sub-unit of KPA Unit 641 near the South's western border island of Baengnyeong came as South Korean and U.S. forces kicked off annual military drills that Pyongyang denounces as a rehearsal for invasion."A

영국에서 한 정신건강 담당 교직원이 16세 소년과 ‘부적절한 관계’를 맺은 혐의로 해고되었다고 현지 언론이 10일 (현지시간) 보도했다.이 33세 여성은 영국 그레이터 맨체스터의 한 기숙학교에서 정신건강 담당의로 근무하고 있었던 지난해, 자신이 담당하고 있던 한 소년과 이성관계를 가진 것으로 보도되었다. 보도에 따르면, 그녀는 이혼한 상태이며 슬하에 두 자녀를 데리고 있는 것으로 알려졌다. 가정 내에 여러가지 문제를 일으키던 소년은 사회복지사들에 의해 이 기숙학교로 보내졌다고 한다.여성의 친척들의 증언에 따르면 그녀의 생일날, 소년이 “XX에게, 사랑을 담아”란 카드와 함께 블라우스를 보내오면서 사람들이 이들이 연인 사이라고 의심하게 되었다고 한다.그 이후 이들은 손을 잡고 있는 장면이 목격되는가 하면, 여성의 지인들은 그녀가 마치 “사랑에 빠진 10대처럼” 행동하기도 했다고 증언했다.이 여성은 관계를 부인했으나, 그녀가 일하던 기숙학교는 결국 그녀를 해고했다. 여성은 자신의 행동에