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A five-story building being demolished in southern South Korea collapsed on Wednesday, sending debris falling on a bus and killing nine people on board, officials said. Concrete from the collapsed building in the southern city of Gwangju fell on the bus carrying 17 people which had stopped on a nearby street, the National Fire Agency said. Emergency officers dispatched to the site rescued eight people from the bus, all seriously injured, before discovering the nine bodies, the agency said in a statement.

On May 21, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House. On the same day, Biden and Moon issued a joint statement, stating that the United States and South Korea will strengthen cooperation in areas of advanced technology, vaccines, climate issues, economics, and many others. Among these, advanced technology cooperation is given priority.The United States and South Korea affirmed that they will build a strong and resilient supply chain and deepen cooperation in space and cyber domains, ensuring a trustworthy and value-oriented digital and technological ecosystem. The two sides committed to increasing...

Many Americans have become more germ-conscious since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year – but Vice President Kamala Harris may have made her apparent concerns too conspicuous. Harris was caught on camera Friday immediately wiping her right hand on her jacket after shaking hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House.

Ammon Bundy wants to be the next Governor of Idaho and President Trump is getting back on the campaign trail but first... The federal prison guards on duty when Jeffrey Epstein died in August of 2019 cutting a plea deal... Former President Trump planning campaign rallies in four states... He's been in the forefront of opposition to Idaho Republican Governor Brad Little's state of emergency...Now libertarian activist Ammon Bundy is in the race to challenge incumbent Brad Little... A subscriber exclusive story from "OregonLive" says that Oregon businesses have two bad choices from the latest mask mandate... Oregon Governor Kate...

Chloé Zhao’s history-making Oscars sweep, winning best director and best picture, is being met with a muted response in her country of birth, and even censorship. Zhao’s “Nomadland” is the second film directed by a woman to win a best picture Oscar. She is the first woman of color and second woman ever to win the Oscars for best director. Yet, in China, where Zhao was born, her history-making success has not been trumpeted or celebrated. State media in China remained silent as of Monday afternoon, with no mention of her win by either CCTV and Xinhua, the two main...

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Monday it plans to begin local production of Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine as early as June, while five domestic companies aim to start late stage clinical trials of their own shots in the second half of this year. The announcements came after President Moon Jae-in hosted a special meeting on anti-virus efforts and vaccine development as the country fears a possible fourth wave of infections. Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said that SK Bioscience Co will be able to begin manufacturing Novavax COVID-19 vaccines as early as June and could supply as many as...

South Korea’s prime minister said that only people with vaccine passports will be allowed to resume normal life. The south-east Asian country is the latest to launch a vaccine certification system. “The introduction of a vaccine passport or ‘Green Pass’ will only allow those who have been vaccinated to experience the recovery to their daily lives,” South Korea’s PM Chung Sye-Kyun said while unveiling the new COVID-19 vaccination certification system. Before the end of this month, South Koreans will have an app that will show a person’s vaccination status. South Korea’s vaccination program started in February. So far, more than...

The United States on Tuesday joined more than a dozen other nations to express shared concerns about a World Health Organization study into the origins of the CCP virus, pointing to the report’s delay and lack of access to crucial data. “Together, we support a transparent and independent analysis and evaluation, free from interference and undue influence, of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads the statement signed by the governments of Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. “In this regard, we join in...

Choi Won-seok reports in the Korean Ghosun Libo news publication that according to an official from the Japanese automotive industry Toyota and Tesla have been reviewing the partnership since last year and are approaching the final stage.Here are some of the highlights of Toyota Tesla partnership. When the partnership with Toyota is established, Tesla will be able to launch a compact SUV EV at low cost using the Toyota platform.The Ghosun IIbo is the biggest newspaper in SK. A Tesla source Sawyer Merritt, tweets that he has been told "the reporter of the story is also highly regarded. We'll see...

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias were likely behind a deadly rocket barrage on a U.S.-led coalition base in northern Iraq in February. According to NBC the attack featured at least 14 107mm rockets, a favored weapon supplied by Iran to the militias. But this did not dissuade Joe Biden from releasing $3 billion of Iran’s fund in Iraq, Oman and South Korea. It’s like Obama 2.0 Al-Arabya reported: [The United States has agreed to the release of $3 billion in Iranian funds that have been frozen in Iraq, Oman and South Korea due to Washington’s sanctions, Iranian trade official Hamid Hosseini told...

A group of Food and Drug Administration experts green lighting the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use... The coronavirus crackdown in Israel for the Purim holiday. On the first night of an overnight curfew more than 100 parties broken up and over 25-hundred citations issued... Rush Limbaugh laid to rest at a cemetery in St. Louis on Wednesday in a private ceremony ... The only deadly act of violence at the US Capitol on January 6th was by a US Capitol police officer who killed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.. "The new US administration should first and foremost...

The South Korean government has agreed to unlock part of about $9 billion in frozen Iranian assets that were formerly unavailable because of U.S. sanctions on Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry indicated the money would be used to expand humanitarian aid and won’t violate the sanctions.Seoul says that part of the money will be used to pay past-due Iranian dues to the UN.Just coincidentally, Iran seized a South Korean tanker and its crew members last month. I’m sure the unblocking of the assets had nothing to do with Iran taking its ship and people hostage.As soon as South Korea agreed...

South Korean social media influencer Hamzy eating kimchi in a YouTube video. Chinese social media sites have banned Hamzy after she gave a thumbs-up emoji to a comment critical of China for claiming to be the origin of the dish. A renowned South Korean academic activist has taken the simmering row with China over which country invented kimchi to a new level – by placing an advertisement in The New York Times promoting it as a purely Korean culinary offering. Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin University in Seoul who specialises in publicity, said he launched the campaign announcing Kimchi...

SEOUL: The de facto chief of South Korea's Samsung business empire was convicted Monday over a huge corruption scandal and jailed for two and a half years, in a ruling that deprives the tech giant of its top decision-maker. Lee Jae-yong, vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, was found guilty of bribery and embezzlement in connection with the scandal that brought down president Park Geun-hye. Lee "actively provided bribes and implicitly asked the president to use her power to help his smooth succession" at the head of the sprawling conglomerate, the Seoul Central District...

A senior NASA scientist pleaded guilty on Jan. 13 to lying about his ties to a Chinese-backed program designed to harvest talents from the West and transfer intellectual property to China, the Justice Department announced. Meyya Meyyappan, 66, joined NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1996 and has been the chief scientist for exploration technology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley since 2006. He was charged with one count of making false statements and could face a maximum five-year prison sentence and up to $250,000 fine if convicted, according to a Justice Department press release. The...

Today, the White House is publishing the recently declassified United States Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific. For the last 3 years, this document has provided overarching strategic guidance for implementing the 2017 National Security Strategy within the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region. Approved in February 2018 for implementation across Executive Branch departments and agencies, the document is being released to communicate to the American people and to our allies and partners, the enduring commitment of the United States to keeping the Indo-Pacific region free and open long into the future.You can read the full statement here.You can read...

South Korea is sending military forces to respond to the seizure of one of its tankers by Iran, an endeavor in which it is seeking to work with other nations operating in the region Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard announced Monday that its Zulfiqar fleet had seized a South Korean vessel operating in the Islamic Republic's First Naval District in the Persian Gulf "due to a series of violations of marine environmental laws" after it departed from Saudi Arabia's Al-Jubail port. The ship, Hankuk Chemi, was said to be transporting up to 7,200 tons of oil-based chemicals, and carrying a crew...

South Korea on Tuesday said it had scrambled fighter jets after nearly 20 Russian and Chinese military aircraft entered its air defense identification zone. According to Reuters, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it identified four Chinese warplanes and 15 Russian aircraft entering its Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ). In response, the South Korean military dispatched fighter aircrafts, although the Chinese military eventually told South Korea that its planes were conducting routine training. The JCS confirmed in a statement that the incident appeared to be “a joint military drill between China and Russia,” but added the...

CHICAGO–Fraudulent driver’s licenses, which are used for criminal activity or fraud, continue to be found by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the International Mail Facility (IMF) at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. ID Since the beginning of the year to June 30, CBP officers at the IMF have seized 1,513 shipments with fraudulent documents- a total of 19,888 counterfeit US drivers’ licenses. The majority of these shipments were arriving from China and Hong Kong, with other seized shipments arriving from Great Britain and South Korea. The driver’s licenses were for various people in different states with a vast...

Singapore has temporarily halted the use of two influenza vaccines as a precaution after some people who received them in South Korea died, becoming among the first countries to publicly announce a halt of the vaccines' usage. South Korea reported that 48 have died as of Saturday after getting flu shots, but said it would carry on with the state-run vaccination programme as they found no direct link between the deaths and the shots. No deaths associated with influenza vaccination have been reported in Singapore to date, but the decision to halt the use of SKYCellflu Quadrivalent and VaxigripTetra was...