GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- The Russians finally have a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics, thanks to a 15-year-old who beat the fellow teen who inspired her to become a figure skater.Alina Zagitova won one of the games spotlight events Friday, edging her friend and training partner 18-year-old Evgenia Medvedeva. That ended the gold drought for the Olympic Athletes from Russia — the designation given to the nation’s competitors after the IOC banned the nation because of a doping scandal. Zagit

GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- The first notes of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” had just played when Gabriella Papadakis suddenly became aware that people were about to see a whole lot more of her shape than she had planned.The French ice dancer’s glittering emerald costume at the Olympics had come unhooked at the neckline and later in the routine her left breast was exposed live on television. When the clasp became unhooked, the 22-year-old Papadakis was more worried about holding up her outfit than m

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- To pour on the charm at the Pyeongchang Olympics, North Korea has turned to ball-gown clad singers, pompom-waving cheerleaders and two of its most influential women. And the media, the South Korean public and the Olympic audience worldwide seem to be thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.But should they be?Despite the focus on campy weirdness and implications of salaciousness, the North's feminine touch in Pyeongchang is a potent -- and deliberately manipulative -- p

JOHANNESBURG -- South African President Jacob Zuma resigned on Wednesday in a televised address to the nation, ending a turbulent tenure marred by corruption scandals that sapped the popularity of the ruling African National Congress and hurt one of Africa’s biggest economies. South African President Jacob Zuma addresses the nation and press at the government’s Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma says he will resign ‘with immed

GANGNEUNG, South Korea -— As South Korea’s national soccer coach prepared to play Japan in a 1954 World Cup qualifier, President Syngman Rhee, who’d been liberated, with the rest of Korea, from Japan’s brutal colonial rule in 1945, had some advice should the Koreans lose: “Don’t think about coming back alive,” he supposedly told the coach. “Just throw yourself into the Genkai Sea.”There are sports rivalries, and then there’s Korea versus Japan — an often toxic mix of violent history and and poli

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- Chloe Kim's coronation is complete.The 17-year-old from Torrance, California, dominated the Olympic women's halfpipe snowboarding final on Tuesday, soaring to a gold medal four years in the making. Chloe Kim, of the United States, jumps during the women’s halfpipe finals at Phoenix Snow Park at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. (AP)Kim put up a score of 93.75 on the first of her three finals runs and then bettered it with a

Sweden's Charlotte Kalla won the first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games and Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen took silver in the women's 15-kilometer skiathlon to become the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever.  (yonhap)Bjoergen captured her 11th career medal Saturday, breaking a three-way tie with Russian Raisa Smetanina and Italian Stefania Belmondo. Kalla won the race by more than seven seconds, breaking away from the pack in the final 2 kilometers to avenge her loss to B

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Rescuers were working Wednesday to reach five people trapped and more than 140 people unaccounted for in several buildings damaged by a strong earthquake near Taiwan’s eastern coast.The shallow, magnitude 6.4 quake late Tuesday night caused at least four buildings in worst-hit Hualien county to cave in and tilt dangerously, killing four people.Video footage and photos showed several midsized buildings leaning at sharp angles, their lowest floors crushed into mangled heaps of co

A giant national flag. A smiling angel. The dictator's pop diva. And a dozen women added to a South Korean hockey team to form the Koreas' first-ever joint Olympic team.Yes, North Korea is again stealing the show in pre-Olympic media coverage, although none of its 22 athletes is expected to win a medal at the South Korean Winter Games. The athletes hardly speak but still gather a crowd of journalists and curious South Korean spectators whenever they attend a training session, the only chance for

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will call for a “new American moment” in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, as he seeks to rally a deeply divided nation and infuse his presidency with a sense of optimism, for at least one high-profile night.According to excerpts released ahead of the prime-time address, the president will declare that there has “never been a better time to start living the American dream.” He’s calling on lawmakers in both parties to join forces to modernize the na

Automaker Volkswagen has suspended its head of external relations and sustainability in response to the controversy over experiments in which monkeys were exposed to diesel exhaust. The company said in a statement Tuesday that Thomas Steg was stepping away from his duties at his own request.  (AFP-Yonhap)The statement said the company was "drawing the first consequences" as it investigates the activities of EUGT, the entity backed by Volkswagen and other carmakers that commissioned the monkey ex

NEW YORK -- Dozens of Grammy Award performers and attendees wore or held white roses Sunday in support of the Time’s Up movement, in an awards season where every awards show has confronted sexual misconduct in show business.“My message on this is for everybody to treat each other like we want to be treated,” said Reba McEntire, winner for best roots gospel album. “It’s the golden rule.”Singer-songwriter Ledisi, nominated for three Grammys and a performer at the Women‘s March in Las Vegas earlier

NEW YORK -- Bruno Mars owned the Grammys with his R&B-inspired album “24K Magic,” winning all six awards he was nominated for at a show where hip-hop was expected to have a historical night.Jay-Z, the leading nominee with eight, walked away empty handed Sunday -- a year after his wife lost album of the year to Adele, causing fans and peers to criticize the Recording Academy for not properly rewarding Beyonce’s bold “Lemonade” project. And though Kendrick Lamar won five awards, he lost in the top

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that Olympics talks between North and South Korea should not distract from the internationally agreed goal of denuclearizing the North. Mattis spoke during a photo session with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo at US Pacific Command headquarters. Mattis welcomed the North-South talks but said a campaign of diplomatic pressure will continue unabated. He said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should get the message that his nuclear and missile p

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is proposing a plan that provides a path to citizenship for 1.8 million of the so-called “Dreamer” immigrants, tighter restrictions on legal immigration and $25 billion in border security, the White House said, putting forward an outline likely to find resistance from some of Trump’s conservative allies and deep opposition from immigration activists.Senior White House officials offered a preview of Trump’s immigration framework Thursday, casting it as a compro