GENEVA (AP) – The Ebola outbreak in West Africa eventually could exceed 20,000 cases, more than six times as many as doctors know about now, the World Health Organization said Thursday.A new plan to stop Ebola by the U.N. health agency also assumes that in many hard-hit areas, the actual number of cases may be two to four times higher than is currently reported.The agency published new figures saying that 1,552 people have died from the killer virus from among the 3,069 cases reported so far in

SEJONG (Yonhap) – South Korea's antitrust watchdog has launched an investigation into Kakao Corp., the operator of the country's most-used messenger service Kakao Talk, for possibly abusing its market leader position, industry sources said Thursday.Kakao is also under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that it had also abused its market dominance in deals with another service supplier, SK Planet. According to insiders, Kakao Talk has come under scrutiny after it un

BEIJING (AP) - Sixty-five people were killed and dozens seriously burned Saturday by an explosion at an eastern Chinese automotive parts factory that supplies General Motors, state media reported. The blast at the factory in an industrial zone of the city of Kunshan also left more than 100 people injured, with many suffering severe burns, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Kunshan, in Jiangsu province, is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southeast of Beijing. State broadcaster CCTV showed f

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- More than 3 million people are estimated to be living in North Korea's capital city of Pyongyang, a research report said Saturday.A total of 3.06 million people are living in the capital city as of this year, an increase of 7 percent from two years ago, the U.S.-based consulting firm, Demographia, said in its report on the world's urban areas published in May. According to the firm's 2012 report, Pyongyang was home to 2.86 million people. It is unclear whether this is the first

KIROVSKE, Ukraine (AFP) - US President Barack Obama has told Russia's leader of his "deep concerns" about Moscow's increased support for separatists in Ukraine as international experts finally gathered more remains at the crash site of downed flight MH17.In a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday Obama also expressed "his preference for a diplomatic solution to the crisis", the White House said."I think that we have done everything that we can to support the Ukrainian go

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- A typhoon accompanied by heavy downpours and strong winds pounded South Korea's southern regions on Saturday, grounding flights and briefly leaving more than 1,000 households without electricity, weather officials said.Typhoon Nakri, positioned about 220 kilometers southwest of Seogwipo on the country's southern resort island of Jeju as of 6 a.m., was traveling northward at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).The mid-sca

YANGJU (Yonhap) -- An American staff sergeant affiliated with U.S. Forces Korea was arrested Saturday on suspicion of beating a cab driver and stealing his taxi, police said.The 34-year-old soldier, whose identity was withheld, allegedly struck an unidentified Korean taxi driver in the face at 1:45 a.m, when he asked the soldier to use another taxi after a minorcollision with a motor scooter, according to the Yangju Police Station in Uijeongbu, just north of Seoul.The staff sergeant, who was hea

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Microsoft said Friday it is suing Samsung for threatening to stop paying Microsoft royalties for patents behind the Android operating system.The two companies came to a deal in September 2011 to cross-license each other's patent portfolios. Samsung wound up paying Microsoft royalties on a series of patents. Analyst Rick Sherlund of Nomura Securities has estimated royalties on its Android patents bring Microsoft nearly $2 billion a year. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington,

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) – Two American tourists charged with ``anti-state'' crimes in North Korea said Friday they expect to be tried soon and pleaded for help from the U.S. government to secure their release from what they say could be long prison terms.In their first appearance since being detained more than three months ago, Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Edward Fowle told a local AP Television News crew that they were in good health and were being treated well. They also said they were

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Backed by tank fire and airstrikes, Israeli forces pushed deep into southern Gaza on Friday, searching for an Israeli army officer believed to be captured by Hamas fighters during deadly clashes that shattered an internationally brokered cease-fire.The apparent capture of the soldier and the collapse of the truce set the stage for a possible expansion of Israel's 25-day-old military operation against Hamas.President Barack Obama and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon called for

NAIROBI, July 31, 2014 (AFP) - Kenya and Ethiopia, home to some of Africa's largest transport hubs, said Thursday they had boosted measures to combat possible Ebola cases arriving in their countries.Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre said in a statement that "port health services are on standby, with enhanced screening at border points to prevent and contain any possible disease threat".Meanwhile Ethiopia Airlines said it was taking "extraordinary precautions in connection with the outbr

ULSAN, July 31 (Yonhap) -- Union leaders of South Korea's top automaker on Thursday declared a breakdown in wage talks before workers take time off for summer break.  The announcement, which followed the 14th wage and collective bargaining agreement negotiation at the carmaker's main production plant in this industrial city 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, claimed workers have reached the end of their patience and laid the blame for the lack of progress on prevarication by the management.Manag

SEOUL, July 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea should immediately halt the transfer of all weapons to Israel in light of the deadly conflict in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 1,300 people and injured many more since earlier this month, the local office of a global human rights group said Thursday."We express grave concerns over the fact that South Korea has armed Israel with conventional weapons," the local branch of Amnesty International said. "South Korea must therefore urgently suspend its

SEOUL (Yonhap) – The ruling and main opposition parties were running neck-and-neck in Wednesday's local elections, with the results of four key battlegrounds appearing likely to determine the winner.As the first nationwide elections under President Park Geun-hye, the polls were seen as a crucial test of public support for the conservative administration that has drawn fire for its botched handling of a deadly ferry sinking in April. Park took office in February 2013.The elections for a total of

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – An exit poll showed President Park Geun-hye's conservative party and its main liberal opposition dividing some key mayoral and provincial races in elections Wednesday being seen as a test of public sentiment over the handling of the ferry disaster that left 300 people dead or missing.The poll predicted Park's Saenuri Party and the main opposition party would each win five of 17 important mayoral and provincial governor posts. The poll, jointly conducted by the SBS, KBS