The following is a chronology of major events leading to North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on Wednesday.-- August 31, 1998: North Korea fires its first ballistic missile, the Unha-1 rocket, also known as the Taepodong-1 missile, from the launch site of Musudan-ri in North Hamgyong Province.-- July 4, 2006: North Korea fires the more advanced Taepodong-2 missile at the launch site of Musudan-ri.-- April 5, 2009: North Korea launches the Unha-2 rocket at the launch site of Musudan-ri wit

The U.S. government has "noted" North Korea's multistage rocket launch and it is preparing for a formal response, an official said Tuesday."We have noted the launch and we are monitoring the situation," a U.S. administration official told Yonhap News Agency, requesting anonymity. "We will have further official comment at a later time."A Pentagon official also said the U.S. military plans to issue a statement on the trajectory of the North Korean rocket.The first informal responses came about two

South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-soo of the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball (MLB) has been traded to the Cincinnati Reds, the teams said Wednesday, Korean time.The Indians dealt Choo and infielder Jason Donald to the Reds as part of a three-team, nine-player trade that also involved the Arizona Diamondbacks. In exchange, the Reds sent center fielder Drew Stubbs and shortstop Didi Gregorius to Cleveland.The Indians then shipped Gregorius, pitcher Tony Sipp and first baseman Lars Ander

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sought an elusive compromise Tuesday to prevent automatic economy-damaging tax increases and spending cuts at year's end, conferring by phone after a secretive exchange of proposals.Many economists say failure to reach a deal that would pull the U.S. economy back from the Jan. 1 ``fiscal cliff'' that would trigger a combination of tax increases and spending cuts could push the country back into economic recession.Details were sparse and evide

President Barack Obama declared Syria's main opposition group the sole “legitimate representative” of its country's people Tuesday, deeming the move “a big step” in the international diplomatic efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime.Obama said the newly formed Syrian Opposition Council “is now inclusive enough” to be granted the elevated status, which paves the way for the greater U.S. support for the organization.“Obviously, with that recognition comes responsibilities,

North Korea removed a section of its long-range rocket Tuesday, a day after it extended the launch window due to technical problems, a Seoul official said. Satellite images taken on Monday showed signs that technicians had begun to disassemble part of the rocket and moved the pieces to a nearby assembly line at Dongchang-ri in the country‘s northwest, the source said asking for anonymity.“It seems that North Korea has pulled down the rocket from the launch pad to fix technical problems,” he said

Representatives of South Korean professional baseball teams on Tuesday unanimously approved the expansion plan in the country's top league, bucking under pressure of players and fans and narrowly avoiding a possible cancellation of an annual offseason awards ceremony.Presidents of nine clubs in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) gave the green light to add a 10th team to their league at a board meeting.Earlier this month, the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association (KPBPA) had threate

Soldiers arrested Mali's prime minister and forced him to resign before dawn on Tuesday, showing that the military remains the real power in this troubled West African nation despite handing back authority to civilians after a coup in March.The prime minister's ouster comes as the United Nations considers backing a military intervention in Mali, a once-stable country now in constant turmoil. By late Tuesday, a new prime minister had been named, but the developments drew international rebuke and

Unionized subway workers called off plans to go on strike Tuesday after reaching a last-minute agreement with the transit system operators on retirement age and the severance pay system.The 8,118-member union member of Seoul Metro, a public corporation that runs Seoul subway lines one through four, were scheduled to walk later in the day after repeatedly failing to find middle ground on various outstanding issues despite mediation from the National Labor Relations Commission.The two sides had en

Korea's exports and imports exceeded $1 trillion on Monday, breaching the $1-trillion mark for the second consecutive year, the government said."The trade volume came to over $1 trillion as of 11:06 this morning," Kwon Pyung-oh, a spokesman for the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, told reporters.Exports have so far amounted to $512.8 billion with imports coming to about $487.2 billion as of Monday, according to the ministry.The country's trade volume topped $1 trillion for the first time in its hi