An elite French unit of paramilitary police specialized in hostage situations left for Mali on Friday where suspected jihadists stormed an upmarket hotel, the interior ministry said.Around 40 paramilitary police from the GIGN unit were on their way to assist Malian security forces dealing with a hostage situation at the Radisson Blu hotel, said a ministry spokesman.The Twitter account of the paramilitary police posted a black-and-white image of the heavily-armed, black-clad troops upon their dep

World News Nov. 20, 2015

Around 80 of 170 hostages seized when gunmen went on a shooting rampage at a luxury hotel in Mali's capital on Friday have been freed, local television reported."Radisson hotel attack: special forces launched an operation, first hostages released, about 80," the state-run ORTM channel said on a scrolling banner, without specifying the source of the information."Our special forces have freed hostages and 30 others were able to escape on their own," Security Minister Salif Traore told AFP. (AFP)

World News Nov. 20, 2015

The Seoul government said Friday that it is examining whether any South Korean nationals are being held hostage in a hotel in the capital of Mali that was seized by unidentified gunmen.A group of attackers have occupied a luxury hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako, with about 170 taken hostage."We are checking the safety of every South Korean resident in Mali and identifying whether or not there are any nationals detained in the hotel," an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Yon

Foreign Affairs Nov. 20, 2015

A third body has been found in the rubble of an apartment where the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks was killed in a fierce shootout with police, prosecutors said Friday.Elite police launched a massive assault on the apartment on Wednesday as part of the manhunt for suspects linked to the killing of 129 people in Paris attacks.During a violent exchange of gunfire, one of the people inside the apartment detonated an explosives vest.After the raid the body of the suicide bomber was found,

World News Nov. 20, 2015

A local court on Friday handed down a suspended sentence to a former Doosan chairman who gave kickbacks to a former presidential secretary in return for business favors for the university he led.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Park Yong-sung to a 10-month jail term for giving some 100 million won (US$86,500) in bribes to Park Bum-hoon, a former senior presidential secretary for education and culture under the Lee Myung-bak administration. The court suspended the execution of the sente

Social Affairs Nov. 20, 2015

The South Korean government and the ruling party on Wednesday agreed to increase next year’s budget for antiterror measures by 100 billion won ($85 million) and tighten immigration control in the wake of the Paris terror attacks last week.At an emergency meeting, the two sides discussed ways to enhance the readiness for possible terror attacks, including measures to introduce five new armed speedboats, amid concerns growing fast for the nation’s public security. South Korea is an ally of the Uni

Politics Nov. 18, 2015

The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced two lawmakers to four years in prison for taking kickbacks in exchange for business favors, in separate decisions that automatically strip them of their parliamentary seats. Upholding the lower court’s ruling, the nation’s top court ruled Rep. Song Kwang-ho of the ruling Saenuri Party to four years in jail for taking bribes worth 65 million won from the railway parts supplier AVT to help the company win contracts with the state-run Korea Rail Network Autho

Social Affairs Nov. 12, 2015

South Korea's Supreme Court said Thursday it has upheld a seven-year jail sentence for the head of the sunken ferry Sewol operator for involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of more than 300 people.Kim Han-sik, chief executive officer of Chonghaejin Marine Co., was convicted of not properly checking the safety conditions of the ferry despite being briefed that the ship's ability to balance itself was compromised.The 73-year-old chief was also convicted of embezzling company funds worth some 2.8

Social Affairs Oct. 29, 2015

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, is facing cancellation of an order for a $181 million drill ship that has already been built and is ready for delivery, the company said Thursday.The ship, Pacific Zonda, was set to be delivered to Luxemberg-based Pacific Drilling on Tuesday, but the offshore drilling company has refused to accept the delivery and said it was canceling the order, company officials said.Pacific Drilling cited a delay in delivery, which was originally

Industry Oct. 29, 2015

A parliamentary subcommittee on Thursday approved a 67-billion-won ($58.5 million) budget for a controversial fighter jet development program, said a ruling-party lawmaker. The National Assembly's defense subcommittee passed the 2016 budget for the Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) development project after hearing a briefing from the Korea Institute for S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP), said Rep. Kim Sung-chan of the ruling Saenuri Party. The budget is subject to further approval from the

Politics Oct. 29, 2015

China's ruling Communist Party announced Thursday that it will abolish the country's decades-old one-child policy and allow all couples to have two children, removing remaining restrictions that limited many urban couples to only one, the official Xinhua News Agency said.Xinhua said on its microblog that the decision to allow all couples to have two children was ``to improve the balanced development of population'' and to deal with an aging population.The decision does away with an unpopular pol

World News Oct. 29, 2015