A South Korean-born Sydney man was charged Sunday with acting as an economic agent for North Korea in Australia by allegedly attempting to broker sales worth tens of millions of dollars for Pyongyang that included components used in ballistic missiles. The Australian Federal Police said 59-year-old naturalized Australian Chan Han Choi used encrypted communication to broker sales and discuss the supply of weapons of mass destruction. His actions contravened both United Nations and Australian sanc

North Korea's latest missile test, which U.S. experts say indicated an increasing technological sophistication, did not demonstrate an imminent threat of nuclear attack on the United States, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday.Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (Yonhap)“No, not yet,” Mattis said when a reporter asked whether the Nov. 29 test indicated a full capability to strike the U.S.“It has not yet shown to be a capable threat against us right now,”Mattis added. His remark suggested he believ

The European Union cleared the way Friday for Brexit talks with Britain to move onto the second stage, which will involve wide-ranging _ and potentially far trickier _ discussions on their future relationship and trade.The 27 leaders authorized the move, almost nine months after Britain triggered the two-year mechanism by which it will leave the bloc.  ``EU leaders agree to move on to the second phase,'' EU chief Donald Tusk said on Twitter. Tusk, who is EU Council President, also congratulated

Former Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev (right) in bribery trial. (Yonhap)Russia's former economics minister has been sentenced to eight years in a maximum security prison after being convicted of accepting a $2 million bribe.Alexei Ulyukayev, the highest-ranking Russian official to have been arrested since 1993, was detained last year at the headquarters of Russia's largest oil producer, Rosneft, after a sting operation by Russia's main intelligence agency. Ulyukayev has d

BEIJING (AP) -- Five people have died in an east Beijing fire, underscoring the challenges for the Chinese capital as it struggles to balance building safety with providing housing for its poor.Local media reported that the residents died before dawn Wednesday after electric bike batteries plugged into a home-rigged charging system caught fire and belched noxious fumes into a three-story apartment building. The accident came a month after an inferno killed 19 in south Beijing, prompting a contro

ISTANBUL (AP) -- The Palestinian president said Wednesday his people will not accept any role for the United States in the Mideast peace process “from now on,” following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mahmoud Abbas spoke at a gathering of heads of state and top officials from Islamic nations at a summit in Turkey that is expected to forge a unified Muslim world’s stance against Trump’s move. Abbas called Trump’s decision a “crime” that threatened worl

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Mayor Edwin Lee has died. He was 65.The newspaper is citing a statement by the mayor's office that states that Lee passed away Tuesday just after 1 a.m. at  Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. (EPA-Yonhap)The statement from the mayor's office said: It is with profound sadness and terrible grief that we confirm that Mayor Edwin M. Lee passed away on Tuesday ... .''The statement says family, friends and colleagues were at Le

A would-be suicide bomber's rush-hour blast in the heart of the New York City subway system failed to cause the bloodshed he intended, authorities said, but it gave new fuel to President Donald Trump's push to limit immigration.Hours after Monday's explosion in an underground passageway connecting two of Manhattan's busiest stations, Trump cited the background of the alleged bomber in renewing his call for closer scrutiny of foreigners who come to the country and less immigration based on family

NEW YORK (AP) -- A man with a pipe bomb strapped to him set off the crude device in the subway near Times Square on Monday, injuring the suspect and three other people at the height of the morning rush hour, law enforcement officials said.The man and three others were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the blast.Police say the explosion happened in an under

The first-ever bitcoin future began trading Sunday as the increasingly popular virtual currency made its debut on a major US exchange.  The futures contract that expires in January rose $340 to $15,800 in the first hour and 15 minutes of trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The contract opened at $15,460, according to data from the CBOE.The CBOE futures don't involve actual bitcoin. They're securities that will track the price of bitcoin on Gemini, one of the larger bitcoin exchan

Japan beat North Korea 1-0 Saturday with a 93rd-minute goal in the East Asian Championship amid a backdrop of serious tensions between the two nations. There were doubts the game could even go ahead with North Korean nationals currently banned from entering Japan as part of the sanctions against Pyongyang.Special visas were issued at the Japanese embassy in Beijing earlier in the week.North Korean soccer players in red jerseys (Yonhap)Pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans cheer for the North Korean natio

The United Nations says its political chief and North Korea's foreign minister agree that the current situation on the Korean peninsula is the most dangerous security issue in the world.UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman returned Friday from a four-day visit to North Korea, where he met with officials including North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho. A photo released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea, shows North K

A week of destructive fires in Southern California is ending but danger still looms. Well into what's considered the wet season, there's been nary a drop of rain. That's good for sun-seeking tourists, but could spell more disaster for a region that emerged this spring from a yearslong drought and now has firefighters on edge because of parched conditions and no end in sight to the typical fire season."This is the new normal," Gov. Jerry Brown warned Saturday after surveying damage from the deadl

South Korea is studying ways to regulate speculative trading in crypto currencies as the latest surge in prices stokes a craze over bitcoins. The country's financial regulator said Friday that it has ruled out using bitcoin for derivative products. The decision effectively bans investing in bitcoin futures that will start trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange this weekend. It's part of a backlash against digital currencies in some Asian countries, even as Japan embraces their use. I

Members of the Trump administration surprised the US Olympic Committee by suggesting the nation's participation at the upcoming Pyeongchang Games in South Korea was "an open question," and the USOC responded by saying it has no plans on pulling out. The confusion began when UN ambassador Nikki Haley, in response to a question in a Fox News interview, said "There's an open question" about whether the US team would travel to South Korea, where tensions have grown high after a series of missile tes