WASHINGTON -- The United States called Saturday for the "immediate release" of Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old Californian detained in North Korea.The Korean War veteran was plucked off a plane last month as he was leaving the reclusive state after a tourist visit."Given Mr Newman's advanced age and health conditions, we urge the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to release Mr Newman so he may return home and reunite with his family," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden sai

GLASGOW -- Eight people were killed when a police helicopter crashed through the roof of a packed Glasgow pub, police said on Saturday, plunging Scotland into mourning on its national day.Fourteen people lay seriously injured in hospitals across Scotland's biggest city after the chopper smashed into The Clutha pub, where over 100 people had been watching a band play on Friday night.Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond called it a "black day" and ordered flags to fly at half-mast, while a minute'

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration says it will meet its self-imposed deadline of fixing the troubled federal government health care website, a key component of the president's signature domestic initiative. The stakes are high for President Barack Obama at a time when his poll numbers have been steadily dropping and his fellow Democrats are nervously looking ahead to next year's elections when control of Congress will be at stake.Round-the-clock repair work since HealthCare.gov went live on

Thanksgiving Day is eating into Black Friday shopping at U.S. retailers.U.S. shoppers spent $9.74 billion at stores on Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. That's a drop of 13.2 percent compared with the same day last year, according to preliminary data released on Saturday by research firm ShopperTrak.The decline appears to be because more Americans were shopping on the holiday itself: Combined spending on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, which had previously been considered the

PARIS -- IOC President Thomas Bach has met with Russian gay rights activists who urged an investigation ahead of the Sochi Olympics into national laws banning ``gay propaganda.''International gay rights group AllOut said Russian campaigners asked Bach in Paris on Saturday ``to launch an independent investigation on the legal implications of the anti-gay laws in effect in Russia during the Olympic Games.''  ``A list of precise questions about the implication of the anti-gay laws, to help frame th

North Korea state media claimed Saturday that an elderly U.S. tourist detained for more than a month has apologized for alleged crimes during the Korean War and for ``hostile acts'' against the state during a recent trip.North Korean authorities released video showing 85-year-old Merrill Newman, wearing glasses, a blue button-down shirt and tan trousers, reading his alleged apology, which was dated Nov. 9 and couldn't be independently confirmed. Pyongyang has been accused of previously coercing

South Korea's trade surplus widened from a year earlier in November as its exports grew slightly while imports inched down, the government said Sunday.The country's outbound shipments came to a little over $47.91 billion, up 0.2 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Imports, on the other hand, slipped 0.6 percent on-year to some $43.11 billion. Trade surplus came to about $4.8 billion, marking the 22nd consecutive month the country posted

South Korean stocks closed almost flat Friday due mainly to the fact investors sat on the sidelines amid weak consumers' sentiment from home and abroad, analysts said.The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 0.9 points, or 0.04 percent, to 2,044.87. Trading volume was low at 240.7 million shares worth 3.37 trillion won (US$3.18 billion) with gainers outpacing losers 402 to 379.Analysts said Seoul shares lost ground as investor

The education ministry said Friday it ordered publishers of seven out of the eight government-approved Korean history textbooks to revise a total of 41 instances of what it calls obscure and imbalanced descriptions of history.Publication of the books will be suspended if the order is not complied with, the ministry warned.The ministry has reviewed the textbooks endorsed for use at high schools around the country from the 2014 school year after one of them, published by Kyohak Publishing Co., rai

Six in 10 restaurants in South Korea suffered a decline in their revenues after an indoor smoking ban was imposed nationwide in July, a survey showed Thursday. According to the survey of restaurant owners, nearly 59.3 percent of respondents said their revenues had fallen as a result of the new smoking regulations and the average reported fall in revenues was 17.6 percent. The smoking ban went into effect on July 1, affecting certain restaurants based on their size. But all restaurants will be sm

담배소비자 협회의 리서치앤리서치 의뢰조사 결과 음식점 10곳 가운데 6곳의 매출이 실내 전면 금연 시행으로 하락한 것으로 나타났다. 28일 사단법인 한국담배소비자협회가 리서치앤리서치에 의뢰 조사한 결과 음식점 업주의 59.3%가 ‘실내 흡연 규제로 인해 매출이 감소했다’고 응답했고 실제로 평균 매출이 17.6% 감소했다. 일반 시민 1천명과 음식점업주 300명을 대상으로 실시한 이 조사에서 37.6%가 금연구역 지정에 따른 최대 피해자로 음식점주를 꼽았고 ‘흡연자가 피해자’, ‘국민모두가 피해자’, ‘비홉연자가 피해자’ 등 순으로 이어졌다. ‘흡연자가 피해자‘라는 답변은 27.4%였고, ’국민모두가 피해자’ 14.0%, ‘비흡연자가 피해자‘ 12.9%였다. 앞으로 강화될 금연법이 흡연자보다 소규모 음식점 등의 점주가 더 큰 피해를 볼 것이라는 우려가 나왔다. 2013년 6월 말까지의 계도기간 후 7월 1일부터 150㎡이상의 일반음식점 등에서 흡연을 규제했다. 이후 계속 금연법을 강화