LOS ANGELES -- Rap artists and women have felt shunned by the Grammy Awards in recent years. But this year, they both took center stage.Childish Gambino’s disturbing look at race relations, “This is America,” won record and song of the year on Sunday’s telecast. It was the first time a rap-based song won both of those awards, considered — with album of the year — the recording industry’s most prestigious.Kacey Musgraves won top album and matched Childish Gambino with four Grammys total. A year a

BERLIN -- Five watercolors attributed to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler from his early days as a struggling artist have failed to sell at auction in the southern German city of Nuremberg, possibly over fears they could be fakes.　 The Nuremberger Nachrichten newspaper reported Sunday that no bids were received on the paintings, which had starting prices of between 19,000 euros ($21,500) and 45,000 euros ($50,900). 　 (AFP-Yonhap)Three days before Saturday‘s auction, prosecutors seized 63 other paintin

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will hold a two-day summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam to continue his efforts to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.    Trump has said his outreach to Kim and their first meeting last June in Singapore opened a path to peace. But there is not yet a concrete plan for how denuclearization could be implemented.    Denuclearizing North Korea is something that has eluded the US for more than two decades, since it was

After two years of bitter partisanship and personal attacks, President Donald Trump will call for unity and cross-party cooperation in Washington during Tuesday’s State of the Union address, a message likely to ring hollow with Democrats determined to block his push for a border wall.Trump’s prime-time address comes at a critical moment in his presidency. He pushed his party into a lengthy government shutdown over border security, only to cave to Democrats. With another shutdown deadline looming

As she pursued her dream of becoming a fashion model, veering for years between extreme dieting and overeating, Park I Seul realized she had a problem: She was not tall and skinny, like typical runway models, nor was she big enough to be a plus-size model.She also realized that the only way to meet South Korea's lofty beauty standards was for her to continuously deny who she truly is.So Park, 25, began calling herself a "natural size model" - a nearly unheard of term in South Korea - which she d

JOLO, Philippines (AP) – Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding 111 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said.  Witnesses said the first blast inside the Jolo cathedral in the provincial capital sent churchgoers, some of them wounded, to stampede out of the main door. Army troops and police posted outside were rushing in when the second bomb went off about one min

The death toll from the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste in southeastern Brazil rose to 40 on Saturday as searchers flying in helicopters and rescuers laboring in deep mud uncovered more bodies. An estimated 300 people were still missing and authorities expected the death toll to increase during a search made more challenging by intermittent rains.Scores of families in the city desperately awaited word on their loved ones, and Romeu Zema, governor of Minas Gerais state, promised that th

Adam Crapser lives in limbo, a stranger in South Korea, the country of his birth. Forcibly separated from his wife, children and friends in America, he is isolated by language and culture, left alone to navigate this sprawling city he's been expelled to four decades after being sent to adoptive parents in Michigan at age 3. Crapser was abused and abandoned by two different sets of adoptive parents in the United States then deported after run-ins with the law because none of his guardians filed c

COPENHAGEN -- Sweden’s news agency says a secret, high-level meeting between envoys from the United States and North Korea is being held in Stockholm.The TT news agency says US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun is meeting with Pyongyang’s Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.  (Yonhap)TT said Friday Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom is also participating.There was no immediate word from the Swedish government.Sweden has had diplomatic relations with Pyongyang since 1973 and i

Moving to protect the US from advanced missile threats from China and Russia, President Donald Trump on Thursday laid out plans for a new array of space-based sensors and other high-tech systems designed to more quickly detect and defeat attacks.Trump, in a speech at the Pentagon, declared that space is the new warfighting domain. And he vowed that the US will develop an unrivaled missile defense system to protect against advanced hypersonic and cruise missile threats from competitors and advers

    VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has expressed concern over the rise of nationalism in the world, blaming the surge partly on globalization's shortcomings.     Without citing countries or political parties, Francis on Monday also lamented national policies favoring "quick partisan consensus'' over patient efforts for the common good.  Pope Francis leaves at the end of the Mass for the Feast of Epiphany in Saint Peter`s Basilica at the Vatican on Sunday. (Reuters-Yonhap)      In his annual speech

    BEIJING -- Chinese and American officials began talks Monday aimed at ending a bruising tariffs battle between the world's two biggest economies, as Beijing complained over the sighting of a US warship in what it said were Chinese waters.       It was unclear if the ruckus over the warship might disrupt the working level talks being held at the Chinese Commerce Ministry. The two sides have provided scant information about the discussions.  Members of the US trade delegation to China leave a

North Korea‘s acting ambassador to Italy, Jo Song Gil, went into hiding with his wife in November, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in Seoul on Thursday. A high-profile defection by one of North Korea‘s elite would be a huge embarrassment for leader Kim Jong Un as he pursues diplomacy with Seoul and Washington and seeks to portray himself as a player in international geopolitics.  South Korean lawmaker Kim Min-ki said an official from Seoul’s National Intelligence Service shared the infor

TOKYO -- An earthquake shook southwestern Japan on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of damage and a tsunami watch was lifted within an hour. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake measured a preliminary magnitude 5.0, rattling the Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Kumamoto areas in the southwest of the main island of Kyushu.  A staff of West Japan Railway Company updates the operation information for stranded passengers as an earthquake stopped and delayed some train services at JR Haka

A Chinese spacecraft on Thursday made the first-ever landing on the far side of the moon, state media said.The lunar explorer Chang'e 4 touched down at 10:26 a.m., China Central Television said in a brief announcement at the top of its noon news broadcast. (AP)The far side of the moon faces away from Earth and is relatively unexplored. It is also known as the dark side of the moon.The pioneering landing demonstrates China's growing ambitions as a space power. In 2013, Chang'e 3 was the first spa