China's Premier Wen Jiabao has called for the break-up of a banking "monopoly" on lending that has prevented businesses from borrowing the money they need to expand, state media reported. Wen said the government needed to "break this monopoly" to ease the flow of private capital in the world's second-largest economy, in comments published on the China National Radio website early Wednesday. "In...

A judge ordered a Swedish mother to pay a fine after she was convicted of encouraging her 3-year-old son to drink beer and giving him cigarettes. The district court in Malmo convicted the woman Monday of harassment, narcotic crimes and unlawful procurement of alcohol, and ordered her to pay a $756 fine, The Local reported. The fine was reduced because she spent 20 days in jail after the incident...

An 80-year-old woman with little flying experience knew her husband had died after he fell unconscious at the controls of a small plane, yet she remained calm as she landed the aircraft at a northeastern Wisconsin airport, her son said Tuesday. In a phone interview with The Associated Press, James Collins said he’s also a pilot and he helped his mother Helen Collins via radio as the Cessna twin-...

Five North Korean defectors have arrived in South Korea after spending three years in a South Korean consulate in China, a South Korean official said Wednesday. China has allowed them to travel to South Korea via a third country, the official said, a step Beijing usually takes to handle those involved in high-profile cases. The five people, who include three family members of a late South Korea...

Mitt Romney won Tuesday's Republican presidential primary in Maryland, US media projected, as he hoped for a clean sweep in three contests aiming to consolidate his frontrunner status. CNN, MSNBC and Fox television channels all called the vote for Romney just as the Maryland polls closed. Results from the US capital Washington and Wisconsin were not yet known as Romney bids for his party's nod t...

A Seoul court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for two former presidential secretaries on charges of instructing the destruction of evidence in an illegal surveillance of a businessman critical of President Lee Myung-bak years ago, court officials said. Lee Young-ho, 48, a former presidential secretary for employment and labor affairs, is accused of ordering an ethics division official of the P...

Once his father's heir apparent, James Murdoch stepped down Tuesday as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting, surrendering one of the biggest jobs in the Murdoch media empire in a bid to distance the broadcaster from a deepening phone hacking scandal. James Murdoch's credibility and competence have come under severe questioning because of the phone hacking crisis and alleged bribery by British ne...

Every once in a while a lottery jackpot becomes so huge that people can't help but band together in the hope of increasing their odds, pooling their money for a wad of tickets and promising to evenly split the spoils. Seems like a good idea until lightning strikes and the group wins. Then the future involves not only luxury, but also lawsuits. Numerous group winners have been sued by people clai...

Cheong Wa Dae made new claims that the Roh Moo-hyun administration conducted extensive surveillance and destroyed the evidence before the handover of power in 2008. According to reports citing an unnamed high-level official within the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae officials have found that evidence of surveillance was systematically destroyed before the current administration took over. “L...

Rivals fast regaining support in traditional strongholds after surveillance scandal The upcoming parliamentary election is looking increasingly like a toss-up, even as rival political parties quickly consolidate their traditional support base after an explosive political scandal. With just one week to go before the election, opinion polls still put the distance between rivals ― the ruling Saenu...