Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, one of the most acclaimed living French authors and the 2008 Nobel Prize winner, said literature is what connects people in today’s globalized world. He was speaking at a press conference Monday at Kyobo Bookstore in downtown Seoul, a day ahead of the opening of the third Seoul International Forum for Literature in Seoul. Le Clezio participated in the second forum ...

VIENNA (AFP) ― Swarms of angels, flying horses and fantastic birds of paradise converged on Vienna’s neo-Gothic City Hall on Saturday for this year’s Life Ball. In line with this year’s motto ― “Spread the Wings of Tolerance” ― many of the guests to the 19th edition of one of the world’s biggest AIDS charity events let their imaginations take flight with their spectacularly colorful fancy dress....

Hackers use SNS as the first step to email, bank account access DETROIT ― Pam Aughe is never going back. After a year of using Facebook sporadically to keep up with family and friends ― two or three times a week, she says ― her account was hijacked by a scammer seeking to bilk her friends out of money. According to the alarming counterfeit messages, Aughe, 41, of Clarkston was stuck in Scotlan...

LONDON (AP) ― The genre that brought us “The Matrix” has roots reaching back nearly two millennia. The literary tradition often associated with “Star Trek”-loving fanboys has a militant feminist streak. Oh, and science fiction also invented cyberspace. The British Library’s new exhibit, “Out of this World,” wants visitors to know that there’s more to sci-fi than “The War of the Worlds” or “20,00...

Gochang meets three main requirements of a good family trip: nature, history and nice walking paths. Especially in May, the barley fields in Hagwon Farm shine with a beautiful yellow-green hue and camellias cover the Seonun Temple. A recommended one-day trip starts out at the Hagwon Farm. On the barley fields, you can walk along the winding paths with classical music gently piping from speakers ...

Little-known island in eastern Indonesia is a haven for newly weds Once home to sandalwood trees and tribal headhunters, Sumba Island in Indonesia makes for a spell-binding romantic getaway. The little-known island, with its forested hills still host to dramatic horseback Pasola battles, offers only a handful of accommodation options. But that’s part of the appeal. When American husband and wi...

The booming lounge music that fills the dark, cavernous space of Addiction Plus might confuse many first timers ― is it a restaurant or is it a lounge? Contrary to its eclectic interior, which has a disco ball over the lounge area with huge mattresses and oversized cushions, an organ in a corner and strictly utilitarian tables and chairs, and an equally eclectic mix of music ― over the course of...

What a lovely expression of Pinot Noir from New Zealand’s Mountford estate. Elegant and smooth, this New World Pinot carries the taste of Santa Rosa plums and sweet Asian spices. The scent jumps right out of the glass ― sandalwood, and something leafy and delicate. The 2007 Mountford “Liaison” Pinot Noir offers a smooth taste of Santa Rosa plums and sweet Asian spices. (Gary Friedman/Los Angeles...

LOS ANGELES ― Michael Govan, the director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, crouched in the pit of a stone quarry in Riverside, California Wearing black jeans and a brown sports coat, he dragged a finger through the sandy floor to draw the northern edge of the LACMA campus. On a key spot in his ad-hoc map, he placed a granite stone the size of an orange, meant to represent a rugged 340-to...

SYDNEY (AP) ― Philip Roth’s latest prize was not a unanimous choice. The author of “Portnoy’s Complaint,” “American Pastoral” and many other novels on Wednesday was named as the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for fiction, a $100,000 honor given every two years. But one of the judges, publisher Carmen Callil, resigned in protest from the commission, telling the Guardian in London th...

CANNES, France (AFP) ― Jodie Foster drew cheers at Cannes on Tuesday for her latest film “The Beaver” and said she thought the experience of making it could be “therapeutic” for her troubled star Mel Gibson. The small-budget drama, directed by Foster and featuring Gibson as a depressed toy company executive who turns to a beaver hand puppet to help him get his life back on track, had a shaky ope...