Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that diplomacy has so far failed to deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, warning it was getting closer to crossing a crucial "red line.""Iran enriches more and more uranium, it installs faster and faster centrifuges," and it is "running out the clock" on diplomatic efforts to prevent the Islamic republic from obtaining nuclear capability, Netanyahu said."We have to stop its nuclear enrichment program before it's too late," he warned

A professional basketball coach is expected to be summoned for questioning over allegations of game rigging, state prosecutors said Monday.Prosecutors in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, said they already arrested one person for carrying out illegal activities and plan in the near future to summon a coach suspected of playing a leading role in the game-rigging scheme.No names were given, but investigators claimed the coach received 30 million won ($27,500) for fixing a game that occurred roughly two y

The White House scoffed Monday at reports that North Korea's young leader hopes for a phone conversation with President Barack Obama."The United States has direct channels of communications with the DPRK (North Korea)," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at a press briefing.Instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain his nation's elite, he stressed, the North Korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people, who suffer from starvation and human righ

세계적인 바이올리니스트 김민진의 도난당한 바이올린의 소재가 파악되었을 가능성이 있다고 영국 언론이 3일 (현지시간) 보도했다.데일리 메일 보도에 따르면, 불가리아 당국은 최근 김민진의 도난당한 스트라디바리우스 바이올린일 가능성이 있는 악기를 확보했다고 한다. 보도에 따르면 현지 집시 범죄조직의 우두머리 흐리스토 바르바노브가 불가리아의 비밀경찰에게 이 바이올린을 2만5천 파운드에 팔려고 시도했다고 한다.영국 경찰은 이 악기가 김민진의 것이 맞는지 조사하고 있으나, 현재 도난상태에 있는 스트라디바리우스는 3대밖에 없기 때문에 김민진의 악기일 가능성이 높다고 밝혔다.이 바이올린은 김민진이 2010년 런던의 유스턴 기차역에서 샌드위치를 사다가 도난당했다는데, 당시 스트라디바리우스의 가치를 전혀 알지 못한 도난범 존 모건은 고작 100파운드에 이 악기를 팔려고 했다고 한다.김민진이 2000년에 구입한 걸로 알려진 이 악기의 현재 가치는 약 120만 파운드 (한화 약 19억 7천만원)에 달한다

China may hold off tightening monetary policy after growth in services and manufacturing weakened, underscoring challenges for the nation’s leaders as they open the annual session of parliament tomorrow. Expansion in industries including retailing, transport and banking, was the slowest in five months in February, an official survey of purchasing managers showed yesterday. Gauges released two days earlier pointed to manufacturing growth cooling. Premier Wen Jiabao will outline economic policies

North Korea's young leader has riled the U.S. with recent nuclear tests, but Kim Jong Un doesn't really want war with the superpower, just a call from President Barack Obama to chat about their shared love of basketball, according to unlikely diplomat Dennis Rodman, the ex-pro basketball star just back from an improbable visit to the reclusive communist country.“He loves basketball. ... I said Obama loves basketball. Let's start there” as a way to warm up relations between the U.S. and North Kor

Samsung Electronics was placed third among global IT firms in terms of market capitalization last year, according to a report by a local IT policy and research body on Monday.The National IT Industry Promotion Agency said that Samsung rose to third place, up from fifth in 2011. Apple Inc. was ranked No. 1 and Google was No. 2.The agency obtained the data using Reuters Knowledge, a Web-based information and analytics tool.Microsoft and IBM, which ranked second and third in 2011, respectively, too

Swiss voters voiced their anger at perceived corporate greed Sunday by approving a plan to boost shareholders' say on executive pay.Some 67.9 percent of voters backed the “Rip-Off Initiative,” with 32.1 percent against, according to the official count broadcast by Swiss public television station SRF.The outcome of the referendum was considered a foregone conclusion after opinion polls in recent months showed strong public support for the initiative.News last month that the outgoing board chairma

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was hospitalized Sunday over an apparent stomach infection that has ailed her for days, a rare instance of ill health sidelining the long-reigning monarch. Elizabeth will have to cancel a visit to Rome and other engagements as she recovers, and outside experts said she may have to be rehydrated intravenously. Buckingham Palace said the 86-year-old queen had experienced symptoms of gastroenteritis and was being examined at London's King Edward VII Hospital _ the first

South Korea's consumer prices increased at a slower pace in February, with the growth rate staying in the 1-percent range for the fourth straight month, a government report showed Monday.The country's consumer prices index rose 1.4 percent on-year in February, compared with a 1.5 percent on-year advance in the previous month, according to the report by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, it grew 0.3 percent.The on-year figure marked the fourth straight month that the price growth has remaine