Jill Kelley, a Tampa socialite who helped expose CIA Director David Petraeus's career-ending affair, serves as an honorary consul of South Korea, diplomats here confirmed Wednesday."The appointment of Kelley as honorary consul followed normal procedures," said Kim Hee-beom, South Korea's consul general in Atlanta. He emphasized that there was no irregularity in tapping her for the largely symbolic post.Kim's jurisdiction covers Florida, since South Korea has no consulate there. Kelley, 37, is at

Following are brief sketches of the seven members of the Chinese Communist Party's new Politburo Standing Committee, the country's most powerful body revealed on Thursday, in order of seniority.XI JINPINGThe son of a revered communist revolutionary, Xi, 59, is the new general secretary of the party. He is expected to become national president in March.Xi is said to be backed by former president Jiang Zemin, who remains influential today, but is widely considered a consensus figure in China's fac

An Air Force aerobatic jet crashed in northeastern South Korea on Thursday, killing its lone pilot and sparking a brush fire, police said.The T-50B plane went down at 10:28 a.m. on a mountain in Hoengseong, about 90 kilometers east of Seoul, and its pilot, identified only as Capt. Kim, 32, is believed dead, officials said.A parachute was found hanging from a tree about 70 meters from the scene, but the pilot was believed to have failed to eject, officials said. It was one of two planes that took

Authorities say singer Jon Bon Jovi's 19-year-old daughter is hospitalized after overdosing on heroin in a dorm at her New York state college.Town of Kirkland police say an ambulance was sent to Hamilton College early Wednesday after a report that a female had apparently overdosed on heroin.Investigator Peter Cania says Stephanie Bongiovi is recovering at a hospital he declined to name.Police say Bongiovi and 21-year-old Ian Grant were charged with drug possession. Both were issued tickets and o

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan's new cabinet was sworn in on Wednesday at the national assembly and officially took up their posts, in the absence of eight contested nominees.Outgoing premier Abdel Rahim al-Kib transferred power to Zeidan in front of General National Congress members and diplomats in Tripoli and saw the appointment of the new premier and 23 of his 31 nominated ministers, who were approved by the GNC in October.Four of the proposed ministers were rejected by Libya's anti-corrup

President Hu Jintao has stepped aside as Communist Party leader to clear the way for Vice President Xi Jinping to take the helm in China, delegates to the party's national congress said Wednesday.Hu was not re-elected a member of the party's Central Committee on the final day of the gathering, showing that he's no longer in the leadership, said two delegates, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official list of members had not yet been released. Xi was re-elected along with other lead

The independent counsel investigating alleged irregularities in the purchase of land for President Lee Myung-bak’s retirement home on Wednesday referred his son Si-hyung to tax authorities on suspicion of evading the gift tax. Wrapping up its one-month investigation, the team also indicted without detention Kim In-jong, the former chief of the Presidential Security Service, and presidential security official Kim Tae-hwan on charges of misappropriation, and another security official Shim Hyeong-b

The African Union has endorsed a plan for military intervention in Mali, where Islamists have seized control of its desert north, the AU's Commissioner for Peace and Security said Tuesday.The AU Peace and Security Council "has decided ... to endorse a harmonized concept of operations for the planned deployment of AFISMA, which is the African-led mission in support of Mali," Ramtane Lamamra told reporters, speaking after an AU peace and security meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.Lamamr