LOS ANGELES (AFP) - British actor David Legeno, who played a werewolf in the "Harry Potter" movies, has been found dead in Death Valley, United States police said.He apparently died of "heat-related issues," the local sheriff said, after  the 50-year-old's body was found near Zabriskie Point, a famed movie-related panorama spot.Legeno played the werewolf Fenrir Greyback in several of the "Harry Potter" movies, including "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2009) and the two-part finale "Har

JERUSALEM (AP) - With the official Palestinian count of the dead passing 100, and rockets fired by militants striking Israel from the Gaza Strip and from Lebanon, Israel's prime minister on Friday brushed off a question about cease-fire efforts.There is no end in sight to Israel's effort to halt militant rocket fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.“I will end it when our goals are realized,'' he said. ``And the overriding goal is to restore the peace and quiet.''Israel says it launched t

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal is trying to motivate his players for the third-place match against Brazil by giving them the mission of becoming the only Dutch squad to finish a World Cup unbeaten in regular play.Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is just hoping Brazil can finish on a high note in front of the home fans following the devastating 7-1 loss to Germany.After being eliminated by Argentina on penalties, the Netherlands has the chance of ending the tournament without

North Korea threatened Saturday to strengthen its nuclear forces as a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier prepares to take part in joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan.The 97,000-ton supercarrier USS George Washington arrived at South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan on Friday to participate in naval drills with the South Korean Navy in the country's southwest sea from July 16-21.The carrier is also set to participate in a search and rescue exercise with South Korean and

Japan would be able to produce enough plutonium to make about 2,000 atomic bombs a year if a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the country's northeast goes into operation, a U.S. nuclear nonproliferation expert has warned.Henry Sokolski, executive director at the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, made the remark during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Thursday, warning the opening of the Japanese reprocessing plant could prompt South Korea and China to take action in response.S

The Busan District Court on Friday sentenced a former Coast Guard official to eight months in prison for charges of leaking investigative information on the capsized ferry Sewol.The 41-year-old ex-Coast Guard official, surnamed Lee, has been suspected of notifying a senior official at the Korean Register of Shipping of the prosecution’s impending raid of the state-commissioned vessel safety inspection entity. The Busan District Prosecutors’ Office was considering dispatching investigators to the

The South Korean parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution Friday denouncing Japan’s moves to expand the role of its military.Earlier this month, Tokyo adopted a new interpretation of its constitution to exercise the right to collective self-defense, empowering Japan to fight alongside an ally even if the country itself is not attacked.The move has caused concern in South Korea as it could lead to Japanese troops moving on to Korea in the name of helping its ally, the United St

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that Washington and Beijing agreed on the “important urgency” of swiftly curbing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, adding that they discussed “specific ways” to advance the goal of denuclearizing North Korea.“The United States and China agreed on an important urgency of achieving a denuclearized, stable and prosperous Korean Peninsula, and we discussed specific ways in which we think can advance that goal,” Kerry told reporters as the two nat

Environment protection advocates have raised a new claim that the four-river refurbishment project, led by former President Lee Myung-bak, has undermined water quality.They recently cited bryozoans, known as moss animals, which were found to have formed colonies in the nation’s four largest rivers ― Hangang, Geumgang, Yeongsangang and Nakdonggang ― as evidence that the rivers’ ecological systems have suffered from the project.A moss animal is a 0.5-millimeter-long aquatic invertebrate that gener

The prosecution is reportedly considering asking the court to again issue an arrest warrant for fugitive Yoo Byung-eun as the current warrant, issued by the Incheon District Court on May 22, expires on July 22.According to investigators on Thursday, its action comes as the prosecution believes the ferry owner is still hiding somewhere in the nation. Usually, the prosecution suspends its effort to indict a suspect if the person is believed to have fled abroad.While an ordinary arrest warrant for

The Ministry of Environment will hold an international conference on mapping out a vision to reduce greenhouse gas at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul on Thursday.About 170 pundits and policymakers from home and aboard are scheduled to participate in the event to discuss ways and reinforce global coordination to regulate human-produced greenhouse gas emissions.The Ministry of Environment has said it aims to cut emissions to 589 million Co2 tons in Korea, based on a forecast that the combined amou

The prosecution said Tuesday that the crew members of the capsized ferry Sewol should be held accountable for the fate of more than 300 dead or missing passengers.During a trial hearing on the captain of the ferry and other crewmen at the Gwangju District Court, the prosecution unveiled detailed video clips from the April 16 disaster, denouncing the irresponsible actions of the indicted crewmen.If the crewmen had taken steps to evacuate the passengers, they may have been able to save all of them

Multiple faults and irregularities among policemen have occurred recently in Seoul, which could amplify the public’s distrust of law enforcement.A police division was found to have concealed an accidental shooting by a drafted policeman, which occurred in downtown Seoul four months ago. He was doing guard duty at the Government Complex.The accident was made public after a whistleblower at the National Police Agency reported the incident to an internal inspection bureau about 10 days after it too

A Gwangju court on Monday held the first hearing in the trial for maritime affairs officials indicted on charges of taking bribes in return for approving the Sewol ferry operator’s cabin-extension proposal despite risks of heavy pressure on the vessel.The defendants included several officials from the Korea Coast Guard, the Korea Maritime and Port Administration and the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal, according to the Mokpo unit of the Gwangju District Court.According to the prosecution, a comm