Heading to Japan Thursday to take up the post of Washington's new ambassador to Tokyo, Caroline Kennedy has an offbeat plan -- seeking a chance to meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye some day, according to a diplomatic source.The daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy apparently feels sympathetic to Park, whose father was also assassinated while serving as South Korea's president, the source said."Amb. Kennedy was recently told about President Park's story in detail. She expressed hop

President Barack Obama, bowing to heavy pressure from fellow Democrats and a storm of criticism from Republicans, ordered changes to his health care law on Thursday, allowing the continued sale of insurance plans that have been canceled for Americans in the private marketplace because they failed to meet coverage standards under the overhaul.Obama said he had “heard loud and clear” from Americans who are facing cancellation despite Obama's promise that his signature legislation would allow all A

Michael Phelps has rejoined the U.S. drug-testing program, the strongest signal yet that he's planning a comeback for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Phelps told The Associated Press on Thursday that “nothing is set in stone” though clearly he has enjoyed getting back into shape _ he's down about 15 pounds (7 kilograms) _ and working out with his former team at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club.“If I decide to keep going and swim again, then I'll compete,” Phelps told the AP in an exclusive telephon

The Brookings Institution, a top U.S. think tank, is expected to pick Katharine Moon, a female Korean-American professor, as its first Korea studies chair, an informed source said Thursday.The Washington-based institution is preparing to launch a chair position for Korean studies in partnership with the Korea Foundation and SK Group, a South Korean conglomerate."Brookings has been in search for a figure to lead the program. It has drawn up a short list of Korea experts in the U.S. For now, profe

The top U.S. point man on North Korea will travel to Northeast Asia next week, the State Department announced Thursday, as regional powers step up efforts to revive the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program."A U.S. delegation led by Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies will travel to China, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Japan November 19-25 for meetings with senior officials in each country to discuss North Korea policy," the department said in a press release. T

Janet Yellen said Thursday that the U.S. economy has regained ground lost to the Great Recession but still needs the Federal Reserve's support because unemployment remains too high at 7.3 percent.Yellen made those comments in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, which is considering her nomination to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.Her remarks suggest that she plans to stand by the Fed's extraordinary low interest rate policies begun under current Chairman Ben Bernanke until th

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday on the back of overnight gains on Wall Street following abated woes over a possible tapering of quantitative easing moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 26.65 points, or 1.35 percent, to 1,994.21 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares gathered ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics adding 1.62 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor rising 2.67 percent.

A Philippines city devastated by the typhoon buried some of its dead in a mass grave in a hillside cemetery on Thursday, a small sign of progress in a relief effort that has yet to reach most of the tens of thousands affected by the disaster.The ceremony took place in a graveyard just outside the city of Tacloban.No prayers were said as workers buried 30 bodies enclosed in leaking black cadaver bags into the ground.“I hope this is the last time I see something like this,” said Mayor Alfred Romua

A total of 21 people, including TV personalities and a former K-pop singer, have been indicted on charges of betting on illegal sports gambling websites, state prosecutors said Thursday.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office probing the case said the suspects allegedly wagered up to hundreds of millions of won (hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars) on football teams in the English Premier League through private gambling websites, which are illegal venues.In South Korea, the only legal f

South Korean baseball slugger Lee Dae-ho has decided to part ways with his Japanese club the Orix Buffaloes, his brother said Thursday.Lee Cha-ho, a sports agent and older brother of the player, said Lee Dae-ho told the Osaka-based team in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league on Wednesday that he couldn't accept the club's offer of a new contract."He likes the surroundings in the home city of Osaka," Lee Cha-ho said. "But he just couldn't stay with the team with the kind of money that t