North Korea held a national meeting Tuesday to mark the 17th anniversary of late leader Kim Jong-il's election as general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea.The communist nation's leader, Kim Jong-un, however, was absent from the annual event to commemorate his father.Kim has been out of public sight since Sept. 3 amid news reports that he appears to be suffering a health problem.Attention is being paid to whether he will show up at a ceremony, slated for Oct. 10, to celebrate the 69th ann

MADRID (AP) -- Three more people were placed under quarantine for Ebola at a Madrid hospital where a Spanish nurse became infected, authorities said Tuesday. More than 50 other possible contacts were being monitored.The nurse, who had cared for a Spanish priest who died of Ebola, was the first case of Ebola being transmitted outside of West Africa, where a months-long outbreak has killed at least 3,500 people and infected at least twice as many.Her case highlighted the dangers that health care w

The Defense Ministry on Tuesday replaced the head of its key intelligence organization, apparentlyholding him accountable for failing to give timely and appropriate advice with regard to a series of recent fatal incidents in the barracks.The ministry appointed Lt. Gen. Cho Hyun-chon to lead the Defense Security Command, replacing Lt. Gen. Lee Jae-soo, who took the post just a year ago.It was part of the regular shake-up of generals. Many viewed it as a de facto dismissal of Lee from the post.The

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- A Franciscan priest and several other Christians have been seized by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front in a village in northwestern Syria, the Franciscan mission to the Holy Land said Tuesday."On the night of October 5th, Father Hanna Jallouf of the Custody of the Holy Land, parish priest at Qunyeh, Syria, was taken by some brigades linked to Jabhat Al-Nusra," a statement from the Custody of the Holy Land said.Qunyeh is a village of several hundred people in Idlib province, an

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes, a breakthrough that spurred the development of LED technology used to light up computer screens and modern smartphones.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says their invention is just 20 years old, “but it has already contributed to create white light in an entirely new manner to the benefit of us all.''Scientist

Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu pledged Sunday that the Korean government would actively coordinate with the global community’s movement to raise the importance of biological diversity.His remarks came a day before the opening of regular sessions of the 12th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity at the Alpensia Convention Center in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, on Monday.Though the Pyeongchang meeting kicked off on Sept. 29, participants discussed the seventh meeting of the conf

South Korea is considering inviting North Korea to its October forum aimed at implementing President Park Geun-hye’s policy for promoting peace in Northeast Asia, government sources said Sunday.Seoul plans to hold a meeting to be attended by government and private experts to exchange views on such issues as the environment, energy and nuclear safety, the main themes to be dealt with under the “Northeast Asia Peace Cooperation Initiative,” between Oct. 28 and 30, they noted.The vision calls for c

Seven victims of sexual crimes committed by staff members at Gwangju Inhwa School lost a compensation suit against the government. All the victims were hearing impaired. The victims, whose story was portrayed in the 2011 film “Dogani,” filed a suit demanding the state, Gwangju City and the regional education office pay 440 million won ($423,000) in compensation, as they all suffered after effects of the abuse at the state-subsidized school. But the Seoul Central District Court in its verdict cit

South Koreans forgot decades-long political tensions, at least for 90 minutes, on Monday, cheering not only their compatriot footballers but those from North Korea waging a battle for a spot in the Asiad final.The inter-Korean showdown in the semifinal match in South Korea's western port city of Incheon was fierce; South Korea was bent on the seemingly elusive goal of clinching the first-ever Asiad gold in the women's football, while the North aimed to take the title back after eight years in th

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The European Union said it will unveil on Tuesday details of investigations into sweetheart tax deals for Apple amid reports it will accuse the U.S. tech giant of getting illegal state aid.The probe into Apple's tax affairs in Ireland, where it has for years enjoyed an effective rate of less than 2.0 percent, found the schemes gave the company an unfair competitive advantage, the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal reported.The EU launched an investigation in June into tax