The White House on Saturday denied that any deal had been reached for one-on-one nuclear talks with Iran, as the New York Times reported, and said it was still working on a "diplomatic solution."The report and subsequent denial come at a key point in the U.S. presidential campaign, with incumbent Barack Obama set to face Republican rival Mitt Romney on Monday in their last of three debates -- this one focused on foreign policy.Earlier, the New York Times -- citing unnamed officials in the Obama

The number of self-employed people shutting down their business last year jumped to a four-year high, suggesting that owners of mom-and-pop stores bore the brunt of the slowing economic growth, data showed Thursday.According to the data by the National Tax Service, business closures by self-employed people totaled 829,669 last year, up 3 percent or about 24,000 from a year earlier. It marked the l

A South Korean woman was among five killed inside a Denver bar torched on Wednesday, according to news reports. Police said it identified the bodies of four women and a man discovered inside the bar and their deaths ruled homicides.Denver Police Chief Robert White said the bodies appeared to have suffered trauma and the fire was believed to be arson, The Denver Post reported.The victims were ident

Fourteen lifeguards fired last month after appearing in uniform at the city pool in a parody of “Gangnam Style,” the Korean pop music video that has been viewed hundreds of millions of time online, are getting their jobs back.The City Council in the Southern California town of El Monte voted to rehire them pending a management review at the aquatic center, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune (http://bi

A local court issued a warrant on Wednesday to arrest the South Korean foster daughter of Hwang Jang-yop, the late highest-ranking North Korean defector, on suspicion of fraud.A 70-year-old woman surnamed Kim was accused of snatching about3 billion won (US$2.7 million) for the past three years from three investors with her accomplice, surnamed Yoon, after falsely saying they would give them rights

The U.S. embassy in Stockholm was evacuated on Wednesday over a possible security incident, a spokesman for the mission told AFP, while police said a suspect envelope had sparked the scare."We've evacuated the embassy while we are investigating a possible security incident," embassy spokesman Jeff Anderson said."We are working together with the Swedish authorities."When contacted by AFP around mid

Opposition leader Shinzo Abe, a man well-placed to become Japan's next prime minister, visited a Tokyo war shrine Wednesday, in a move that risks causing further friction with neighboring countries.Clad in formal evening dress, Abe, a one-time prime minister who was elected president of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last month, said he was at Yasukuni Shrine in an official cap