(Xinhua News Agency)

South Korea's Army held a send-off ceremony Monday for some 130 elite combat troops set to be dispatched to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to help train the Middle East nation's special forces, officials said. The deployment to the UAE, set for Tuesday, comes about a month after the National Assembly endorsed it following a South Korean consortium winning a US$20 billion deal in late 2009 to bui...

North Korea's actual military spending is believed to be about 15 times the announced amount in 2009 as the communist regime continues to build up its military capacity despite the country's moribund economy, a South Korean defense research institute said Tuesday. The North said it spent US$570 million on its military in 2009, but the real expenditure, calculated on an exchange rate based on pur...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ When Hu Jintao makes what is likely his final trip to Washington as China's president, he will get an honor he desperately wanted but was denied during his first visit nearly five years ago: a White House state dinner. Symbolism and protocol are very important to the Chinese and the opulence of Wednesday's black-tie affair with President Barack Obama should be plenty satisfying...

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) ― President Barack Obama appealed for unity at a Wednesday memorial service for those attacked in the Arizona shooting rampage and implored a divided America to honor them by becoming a better country. Obama electrified the crowd by revealing that following his Wednesday hospital visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, she had opened her eyes for the first time since being shot ...

News of a 13th zodiac sign may be better viewed as an astronomer’s personal suggestion rather than an official change made by an internationally recognized astronomical organization. Astronomer Parke Kunkle of the Minnesota Planetarium Society has promoted the new sign, named Ophiuchus. But Korea Astronomy & Space Science Institute press relations manager Sul Ah-chim said on Monday that the sig...

NASHVILLE, Tennessee _ Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have added a second daughter to their family, born through a surrogate mother. The couple announced Monday the arrival of Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, born on Dec. 28 at a Nashville, Tennessee, hospital. Kidman and Urban released a statement saying they are ``truly blessed'' and thanked everyone for their support, ``our gestational carrier'' ...

The most comprehensive view of the night sky has been released at the 217th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, the BBC reported. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has mapped the Milky Way Galaxy’s northern and southern hemispheres, represented as two big clusters in the newly-released image. The ongoing survey has already identified nearly half a billion astronomical obj...

The twelve zodiac signs, which have been in place for almost 3,000 years, are now different according to news reports. The Babylonians determined the dates of the zodiac, and since then the position of Earth in relation to the Sun has gradually altered, according to ABC News . The shifting of the Earth’s axis has also introduced a 13th zodiac sign -- Ophiuchus. The Huffington Post reported ...

One in four Southeast Asians living in South Korea has experienced discrimination, more than triple the corresponding figure for foreigners from OECD countries, according to a poll released on Tuesday. According to the survey conducted by the Seoul Development Institute (SDI) on 333 foreign nationals living in the capital, 25.9 percent of Southeast Asian immigrants have faced discrimination, com...

The highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease, which has forced South Korea to order the culling of nearly 2 million head of livestock, appears to have broken out in North Korea, too, according to officials. Citing recent visitors to the impoverished communist country, South Korean government officials said Tuesday that the North is believed to be stepping up its quarantine efforts after outbreak...

At the age of 13, Jordan Romero became the youngest person to reach the peak of Mount Everest in 2010. Romero, now 14, is attempting another record-setting year for 2011. His goal is to reach the peak of Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s highest point. If he succeeds, Romero will be the youngest person to climb the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents. “I just wanted to do this at a young...