Most Popular
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Yoon sorry for shortcomings but insists policies were right
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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S. Korea ‘strongly’ protests Japan’s claim over Dokdo in diplomatic bluebook
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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Korean won weakens amid heightened uncertainty
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Seoul says will cut power to porn festival planned on Han River
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Sewol victims commemorated on tragedy's 10th anniversary
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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Chanel, Louis Vuitton see muted growth in Korea
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World leaders to talk climate, economy, vaccines at G20
ROME -- Climate change and the relaunch of the global economy will top the G20 agenda as leaders of the world's most advanced nations meet Saturday, the first in-person gathering since the pandemic. Looming over the two-day talks in Rome is pressure to make headway on tackling global warming, ahead of the key COP26 summit kicking off in Glasgow Monday. The stakes are high, with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning G20 leaders Friday to show "more ambition and more ac
Oct. 30, 2021
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African effort to replicate mRNA vaccine targets disparities
CAPE TOWN (AP) -- In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to reach South Africa and most of the world's poorest people. The energy in the gleaming labs matches the urgency of their mission to narrow vaccine disparities. By working to replicate Moderna's COVID-19 shot, the scientists are effectively making an end run around an ind
Oct. 24, 2021
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Pope urges intervention on Libyan migrant crisis
VATICAN (AFP) -- Pope Francis on Sunday called on the global community to resolve the Libyan migrant crisis, even as EU leaders disagree on how to best manage flows of migrants crossing to Europe. "I express my closeness to the thousands of migrants, refugees and also others in need of protection in Libya. I don't forget you ever. I hear your cry and pray for you," Francis said following his traditional Sunday Angelus prayer on Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican. "So many of t
Oct. 24, 2021
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Germany says border protection is 'legitimate'
BERLIN (AFP) -- Germany's interior minister said Sunday it was "legitimate" to protect borders, after several EU states asked Brussels to pay for barriers to prevent illegal migrants from entering the bloc. The call came earlier this month, as Poland proposed building a 350 million-euro ($410 million) wall on its border with Belarus to keep migrants out. The EU accuses the Belarusian authorities of flying migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Minsk and then sending them into
Oct. 24, 2021
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Japan's PM interrupts campaign as N.K. test fires missile
Japan's new prime minister interrupted his first day of election campaigning on Tuesday, as he returned to the capital of Tokyo to deal with rising regional tensions following North Korea's test-firing of a missile earlier in the day. Fumio Kishida's campaign was already off to a rocky start, with media polls showing his support rating sliding. Tuesday was the first official day of campaigning for nationwide legislative elections scheduled for Oct. 31. “I will drastically strengthen ou
Oct. 19, 2021
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Fears of ‘chaos’ as Italy adopts tough Covid pass regime
ROME (AFP) - Italy will require all workers to show a coronavirus health pass from Friday, one of the world‘s toughest anti-Covid regimes that has already sparked riots and which many fear will cause “chaos”. More than 85 percent of Italians over the age of 12 have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, making them eligible for the so-called Green Pass certificate. But according to various estimates, about 2.5 million of the country’s 23 million workers
Oct. 13, 2021
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Facing high debt, countries must ‘calibrate’ spending: IMF
WASHINGTON (AFP) - After debt loads surged last year amid the pandemic, governments now must take care to “calibrate” spending, the IMF said Wednesday. Global debt in 2020, including public and private borrowing, “jumped by 14 percent to a record high $226 trillion,” according to the International Monetary Fund‘s Fiscal Monitor report. Public debt amounts to $88 trillion, close to 100 percent of GDP, and is expected to decline only gradually, said Vitor Gaspar
Oct. 13, 2021
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[Interactive] Child labor swells for first time in two decades: UN
The world has marked the first rise in child labor in two decades and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more youngsters toward the same fate, the United Nations said. In a joint report, the International Labor Organization and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said the number in child labor stood at 160 million at the start of 2020 - an increase of 8.4 million in four years. The hike began before the pandemic hit and marks a dramatic reversal of a downward trend that h
Oct. 13, 2021
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How India marshalled its resources to contain deadly COVID wave
NEW DELHI -- Strong political leadership and earnest implementation of policies by a committed bureaucracy have been two key factors in India’s relative success in containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior health official said. The two key factors, along with the strategy of regular testing for COVID-19 and vaccination, are the weapons that India and other countries can use to stave off a possible third wave, said Pratyaya Amrit, additional chief secretary at the Health Dep
Oct. 12, 2021
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[Interactive] Taliban's return casts shadows over Afghan women's fate
Oct. 5, 2021
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In R. Kelly verdict, Black women see long-overdue justice
For years, decades even, allegations swirled that R&B superstar R. Kelly was abusing young women and girls, with seeming impunity. They were mostly young Black women. And Black girls. And that, say accusers and others who have called for him to face accountability, is part of what took the wheels of the criminal justice system so long to turn, finally leading to his conviction Monday in his sex trafficking trial. That it did at all, they say, is also due to the efforts of Black women
Sept. 28, 2021
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Japan to lift all coronavirus emergency steps nationwide
Japan's government announced Tuesday that the coronavirus state of emergency will end this week to help rejuvenate the economy as infections slow. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the emergency will end Thursday and virus restrictions will be eased gradually "in order to resume daily lives despite the presence of the virus." He said the government will create more temporary COVID-19 treatment facilities and continue vaccinations to prepare for any future resurgence. Government offi
Sept. 28, 2021
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China's factories, households grapple with power cuts
Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet government energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark. In the northeastern city of Liaoyang, 23 people were hospitalized with gas poisoning after ventilation in a metal casting factory was shut off following a power outage, according to state broadcaster CCTV. No deaths were reported. A components supplier for Apple Inc.'s iPhone
Sept. 27, 2021
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UK climate activists block entrance to Dover ferry port
LONDON (AP) -- Climate protesters blocked the entrance to Britain's busiest ferry port on Friday to highlight the climate crisis and fuel poverty in the UK. Vehicles were stuck in queues as more than 40 protesters from the climate group Insulate Britain blocked the main road into the English Channel port. The Port of Dover is Europe's busiest ferry port and handles 17 percent of the UK's trade in goods. "Port of Dover confirms protesters are currently blocking the entrance to the port,&qu
Sept. 24, 2021
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Hazara farmers say Taliban have ordered them off their lands
KABUL (AFP) -- Residents of a Hazara-dominated farming community in central Afghanistan say they have been ordered out of their homes by Taliban fighters doing the bidding of Pashtun landlords who want to seize their crops and stores. Mohammad Mohaqeq, a Hazara political leader exiled since the Taliban takeover last month, raised the alarm earlier this week in a letter published on social media. He said more than 800 families had been ordered out of their homes in a remote district straddling
Sept. 24, 2021
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US special envoy to Haiti resigns over migrant expulsions
The Biden administration's special envoy to Haiti resigned in protest of "inhumane" large-scale expulsions of Haitian migrants to their homeland as it is wracked by civil strife and natural disaster, US officials said Thursday. Daniel Foote was appointed to the position only in July, following the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise. Even before the migrant expulsions from the small Texas border town of Del Rio, the career diplomat was known to be deeply frustrated with w
Sept. 24, 2021
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[Photo News] ‘Fashion’s biggest night out’
Met Gala, also known as the “fashion’s biggest night out”, is an iconic event in the fashion industry. After the cancelation last year due to the coronavirus crisis, the annual gala was postponed from May to September as virus infections showed no signs of slowing down. The Met Gala was first held by Vogue in 1948 to fundraise for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Under the theme of “American Fashion,” the hottest movie stars, models, and numerous inf
Sept. 19, 2021
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UN nuclear agency reaches deal with Iran on surveillance equipment
VIENNA (AFP) -- Iran and the UN nuclear agency said Sunday they have agreed to allow inspectors to service the agency‘s surveillance equipment as Tehran has restricted access since earlier this year. “IAEA’s inspectors are permitted to service the identified equipment and replace their storage media which will be kept under the joint IAEA and (Iran‘s) AEOI seals in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The way and the timing are agreed by the two sides,” they said in a j
Sept. 12, 2021
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Taliban say will allow women at universities, but mixed classes banned
KABUL (AFP) -- Afghan women will be allowed to attend university as long as they study separately from men, the Taliban‘s new higher education minister said Sunday. Women’s rights in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, though since returning to power last month the hardline Islamists have claimed they will implement a less extreme rule. But speaking to reporters about the new regime’s plans for the country‘s education, Minister
Sept. 12, 2021
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Hong Kong police raid shuttered Tiananmen museum
HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong police on Thursday raided a museum that houses exhibits commemorating Beijing‘s deadly crackdown on Tiananmen Square in 1989, a day after they arrested four members of the group that ran the venue. The raid came as police accused one of the four arrestees -- prominent barrister Chow Hang-tung, vice-chairwoman of the group -- of inciting subversion, according to Chow’s lawyers and relatives. Officers from the newly created national security unit w
Sept. 9, 2021