As many as 56 earthquakes hit the Korean Peninsula this year, the second largest number since the nation began seismic observations in 1978, the state weather agency said Thursday.A 3.9 magnitude earthquake that was reported in Muju in the central region on May 11 was the strongest one of the year, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).This year's tally compares with the annual average of 43.6 quakes between 1999 and 2011, the weather agency said, adding a record-setting 60

Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent has been indicted for felony intoxication manslaughter following a car crash that killed a teammate, prosecutors say.The Dallas County District Attorney's office Wednesday announced the indictment against Brent, who police say was driving during a Dec. 8 crash that claimed the life of his passenger, Cowboys linebacker Jerry Brown.Authorities said Brent, 24, had a blood alcohol content of .189 -- more than twice the legal limit -- when he hit a curb and flipp

South Korea's gender equality improved slightly last year, but the equality level deteriorated when it comes to safety due to the recent rise of heinous crimes against women, a government report showed Thursday.According to the 2012 report on Korea's gender equality by the Korean Women's Development Institute, the nation's equality index was 63.5 out of the full score of 100 for last year, up 0.3 points from 63.2 in 2010.The index measures gender equality in eight major categories: family, welfa

Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for British CNN host Piers Morgan to be deported from the U.S. over his gun control views.Morgan has taken an aggressive stand for tighter U.S. gun laws in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting. Last week, he called a gun advocate appearing on his “Piers Morgan Tonight” show an “unbelievably stupid man.”Now, gun rights activists are fighting back. A petition created Dec. 21 on the White House e-petition website by a user

South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital on Wednesday after almost three weeks being treated for a lung infection but will continue to receive medical care at home, the presidency said.The much-loved 94-year-old had been admitted to a hospital in the capital Pretoria on December 8, the latest health scare for South Africa's first black president."Former president Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital this evening," said a statement from President Jacob

Toyota Motor Corp. says it has reached a settlement worth more than $1 billion in a case involving unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles.The company said Wednesday the deal will resolve hundreds of lawsuits from Toyota owners who said the value of their cars and trucks plummeted after a series of recalls stemming from claims that Toyota vehicles accelerated unintentionally.Steve Berman, a lawyer representing Toyota owners, said the settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving a

South Korean stocks started lower on Thursday due to falls in major mobile operators, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.12 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,977.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Mobile carriers slumped after an ex-dividend date. Top player SK Telecom tumbled 4.73 percent and KT lost 4.8 percent.Techs, however, outperformed the KOSPI with LG Display jumping 2.5 percent.The local currency was trading at 1,074.05 won to the U.S. dollar as

South Korean manufacturers' business confidence for January rebounded from a 44-month low tallied in the previous month as some economic data showed improved performances, the central bank said Thursday.The index of manufacturers' outlook on business conditions came in at 70 for January, up from 67 tallied for December, according to a monthly survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index measures manufacturers' expectations for the coming month.A reading below the benchmark 100 means pessimists o

As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wraps up his first year in power, marked by the reckless purging of several old guard elites, he may replace the country's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam, and some other top officials next year, according to a North Korea expert here."Who replaces Kim Yong-nam may tell us about the future direction of the restructuring of the political system," said Alexandre Mansourov, a specialist in Northeast Asian security. He now works as a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea I

President Barack Obama and members of Congress prepared for one last try to avert across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff, as the U.S. Treasury Department warned Wednesday that it will begin taking action to prevent the government from hitting its debt limit.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders that the department will use accounting measures to save approximately $200 billion. That could keep the government from reachin

Angry protesters carrying clubs threw rocks at the French Embassy in Central African Republic on Wednesday, criticizing the former colonial power for failing to do more to stem a rapid rebel advance as fears grew that the insurgents aim to seize the capital.The demonstrations began earlier in the day outside the U.S. Embassy before about 100 protesters then took to the French Embassy, carrying pieces of cardboard with messages that read: “No to war! No to France!” “It's France who colonized us _

South Korea has submitted an official claim to extend a portion of continental shelf beyond the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East China Sea to a United Nations body, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.The South Korean government presented the official document to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) located in New York a day earlier (Seoul time), claiming that the Korean Peninsula's natural prolongation of the continental shelf in the East China

Japan's conservative leader Shinzo Abe is to be named as the country's new prime minister Wednesday, after he swept to power on a hawkish platform of getting tough on diplomacy while fixing the economy.The powerful lower house will name the 58-year-old as leader in an extraordinary session Wednesday afternoon, following a resounding national election victory for his Liberal Democratic Party earlier this month.As Japan's seventh premier in less than seven years, Abe will replace outgoing Prime Mi

A bitter cold snap in Russia has claimed 123 lives in the past 10 days, an official said Tuesday, with the early freeze testing authorities in a country used to notoriously tough winters.Temperatures have plunged as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius in the Moscow region and minus 60 degrees Celsius in Eastern Siberia."Since the start of the cold, 123 people have died of exposure and frostbite," a medical source was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.Another 833 people had to be hospitali

The official approval of Egypt's disputed, Islamist-backed constitution Tuesday held out little hope of stabilizing the country after two years of turmoil and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi may now face a more immediate crisis with the economy falling deeper into distress. In a clear sign of anxiety over the economy, the turbulence of the past month and expected austerity measures ahead have some Egyptians hoarding dollars for fear the currency is about to take a significant turn for the weak