SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's sole nuclear power plant operator said Thursday that investigators raided its offices, a sign that a probe into faulty nuclear plant cables is widening.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. spokesman Lee Yoon-doing said prosecutors seized documents and computer hard drives from at least four of the company's offices, including its headquarters in southeastern Gyeongju.
PARIS - France is giving Google three months to be more upfront about the data it collects from users — or be fined.
The legal action accelerates a Europe-wide fight against Google over its use of personal data. While the fines threatened are small by the standards of one of the world's richest companies, the move puts new pressure on Google as it smarts from recent criticism over providing customer data to U.S. government surveillance efforts.
LONDON - Markets were roiled Thursday by a suggestion from U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank may be done with its monetary stimulus next year. While stocks and commodities took a pounding on the news, the dollar surged.
For nearly five years, the Fed has been pursuing an aggressive monetary policy to shore up the U.S. economy, which was battered by the financial crisis. Now that the U.S. economy has shown signs of improvement, Bernanke said the Fed is considering when it should start normalizing its policy.
AMSTERDAM - The chief executive of ABN Amro says the Dutch bank is ready to be privatized.
Gerrit Zalm said on a late-night television talk show Wednesday that the bank is sufficiently capitalized and had remained profitable despite a recession in the Netherlands.
LE BOURGET, France - A Hong Kong aircraft leasing company has agreed to buy 60 Airbus single-aisle jets, which have been selling well at this week at the Paris Air Show.
Hong Kong Aviation Capital placed an order Thursday for 40 of the new generation A320 jets and 20 new generation A321s.
BANGKOK - Oil prices fell Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve indicated it could begin to wind down its massive stimulus program later this year, as long as the U.S. economy remains on the upswing.
U.S. benchmark oil for July delivery fell $2.08 to $96.16 per barrel by late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
STOCKHOLM - Norway's Parliament has opened up a new area on the fringe of the Arctic Ocean to offshore oil drilling despite protests from opponents who fear catastrophic oil spills in the remote and icy region.
Most of the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea, which the Nordic country shares with Russia, is already open to petroleum activities.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Associated Press said Thursday that it has bought a minority stake in the live video service Bambuser, boosting its ability to acquire and distribute video collected by people who have witnessed news events.
Financial terms were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Sandy MacIntyre, AP's director of global video news, will join Bambuser's board as a director.
LONDON - British regulators are ordering its biggest banks to bolster their balance sheets by 27. 1 billion pounds ($42.1 billion) to prevent a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis.
The Prudential Regulation Authority says Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland account for much of the shortfall. Barclays must boost its capital by 3 billion pounds and state-backed RBS and Lloyds must find 13.6 billion pounds and 8.6 billion pounds respectively.
WASHINGTON - The House is preparing to vote on whether to cut federally-subsidized crop insurance that helps farmers when they lose crops or revenue.
The amendment by Wisconsin Rep. Ron Kind would limit government help for crop insurance paid to wealthy farmers and also limit the subsidies the government gives crop insurance companies.
TOKYO - Sony Corp. needs more time to study a key proposal from a U.S. hedge fund to spin off a part of its entertainment unit as a way to propel its fledgling revival, the chief executive told shareholders Thursday.
Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai was speaking to a Tokyo hall packed with thousands of investors for an annual general shareholders' meeting, where the proposal from Third Point hedge fund, led by activist investor and billionaire Daniel Loeb, was high on people's minds. It was the first question from the floor.
TOKYO - Sony Corp. needs more time to study a key proposal from a U.S. hedge fund to spin off a part of its entertainment unit as a way to propel its fledgling revival, the chief executive told shareholders Thursday.
Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai was speaking to a Tokyo hall packed with thousands of investors for an annual general shareholders' meeting, where the proposal from Third Point hedge fund, led by activist investor and billionaire Daniel Loeb, was high on people's minds. It was the first question from the floor.
YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar hopes a decision by the International Labor Organization to lift all remaining restrictions on the formerly isolated nation will help accelerate trade and foreign investment.
The U.N. agency initially imposed restrictions — which recommended its 185 member nations limit relations — just over a decade ago because of the military regime's use of forced labour.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Microsoft rolled back a much-criticized requirement that its upcoming Xbox One gaming console be regularly connected to the Internet and made clear that there will be no limitations on sharing games.
Microsoft Corp. has been criticized for vague statements about whether it will allow Xbox One buyers to play secondhand software. Gamers also expressed distaste for a requirement that the console be connected to the Internet once every 24 hours.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom said Thursday he was "in tears" after a European company deleted all the data it was hosting from his shuttered file-sharing site.
Netherlands-based LeaseWeb announced it had deleted all Megaupload files from 630 servers.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Financial markets in the U.S. shuddered after the Federal Reserve said it could start scaling back its huge economic stimulus program later this year and end it by the middle of next.
The sharp reaction in markets, especially in the 10-year Treasury note, showed just how much investors have come to depend on the central bank's easy money policies.
WASHINGTON - The House voted late Wednesday to delay sweeping food safety rules that would require farmers and food companies to be more vigilant about guarding against contamination.
Lawmakers adopted an amendment by voice vote to a wide-ranging farm bill just before midnight that would delay the rules signed into law in 2011 until the Food and Drug Administration conducts a study on their economic impacts.
HONG KONG - Manufacturing in China contracted this month at a faster pace as demand weakened, according to a private survey Thursday, adding to fears about a fragile recovery in the world's second-biggest economy.
HSBC said that the preliminary version of its monthly purchasing managers index fell to a nine-month low of 48.3 in June, down from 49.6 in May. Numbers below 50 indicate a contraction.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The UNESCO world heritage committee is recommending a monitoring mission be sent to Canada over "serious concerns" about potential oil exploration near Gros Morne National Park.
Gros Morne, with its glacier-carved fjords, waterfalls, sandy beaches and spectacular cliffs, is a hiker's paradise that was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987.
WASHINGTON - After secretive talks, key senators expressed optimism Wednesday night that they were closing in on a bipartisan agreement to toughen the border security requirements in immigration legislation that also offers a path to citizenship to millions living in the country illegally.
Under the emerging compromise, the government would grant legal status to immigrants living in the United States unlawfully at the same time the additional security was being put into place. Green cards, which signify permanent residency status, would be withheld until the security steps were complete.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The UNESCO world heritage committee is recommending that a monitoring mission be sent to Gros Morne National Park to assess fracking risks, saying it's seriously concerned about plans for potential oil exploration near the site.
Gros Morne, with its glacier-carved fjords, waterfalls, sandy beaches and spectacular cliffs, is a hiker's paradise that was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987.
OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada will announce today whether it will hear an appeal in a conflict of interest case involving troubled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
The case dates back to 2010, when the City of Toronto's integrity commissioner ruled that Ford — at the time a city councillor — had abused his position by using official letterhead and other council resources in fundraising letters which generated $3,150 for his cherished football foundation.
TORONTO - A long-awaited report on a large and possibly still ongoing outbreak of MERS coronavirus in Saudi Arabia reveals the virus spreads easily within hospitals, at one point passing in a person-to-person chain that encompassed at least five generations of spread.
The study, co-written by Toronto SARS expert Dr. Allison McGeer, also hints there may have been a superspreader in this outbreak, with one person infecting at least seven others.
VANCOUVER - The world's birds are literally the canaries in the coal mine and their ongoing decline should serve as a warning signal of a global environment in peril, says an international report on the state of the world's birds.
Globally, one in eight species — 1,313 — are considered at threat of extinction, said the report by U.K.-based BirdLife International. Of these, 200 are considered on the brink.
OTTAWA - A handful of Canadian troops are about to take part in peacekeeping operation in Haiti, under the command of Brazilian forces, in a long-delayed mission that has been kept inexplicably low on the political radar.
The deployment of an infantry platoon was approved by the Harper government on Oct. 16, 2012, according to internal defence department documents obtained by The Canadian Press.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had an incorrect number of international troops and police in Haiti
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The UNESCO world heritage committee is recommending a monitoring mission be sent to Canada over "serious concerns" about potential oil exploration near Gros Morne National Park.
Gros Morne, with its glacier-carved fjords, waterfalls, sandy beaches and spectacular cliffs, is a hiker's paradise that was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987.
NANAIMO, B.C. - Fisheries and Oceans Canada says biologists have spotted a rare, endangered whale in British Columbia waters for the first time in more than 60 years.
North Pacific right whales were once abundant between B.C. and the Bering Sea before they were hunted to near extinction before the 20th century.
EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Alison Redford says the United States and Canada share political and environmental values and must work together to become energy independent of those who do not.
Redford, speaking to the Foreign Policy Association on Wednesday in New York, said until recently North American energy independence was wishful thinking.
VANCOUVER - Vancouver has become the next stop for real estate tycoon and reality television icon Donald Trump's international hotel chain.
The 63-storey tower's twisting design by now-deceased architect Arthur Erickson was originally meant for the cancelled Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the city's downtown core.
VANCOUVER - The trial of a Mountie accused of lying at the public inquiry into Robert Dziekanski's death turned its attention Wednesday back to the night of the Polish immigrant's fatal confrontation with police, hearing the imperfect recollections of eye witnesses who made their own mistakes when they first attempted to describe what they saw.
Const. Bill Bentley is charged with perjury for his testimony at hearings that examined what happened when Dziekanski was stunned with a Taser and died at Vancouver's airport — specifically, when he attempted to explain discrepancies between his initial accounts in October 2007 and an amateur video of the incident that emerged later.
WINNIPEG - Children have been removed from an orthodox Mennonite community in southern Manitoba, where more adults have been charged with assaulting youngsters using items such as cattle prods and leather straps.
Manitoba Family Services would not say Wednesday how many kids had been taken into care, or reveal any other details about the case.
MONTREAL - After a spring of sleaze, Quebec's Charbonneau inquiry is taking a break for the summer.
While the inquiry will continue to conduct investigations and prepare for the fall session, the public testimony is done until after Labour Day.
OTTAWA - A massive trove of books, maps and manuscripts from the War of 1812 now belong to Canada.
The federal government has paid nearly $700,000 at an auction in England to acquire what's know as the Sherbrooke Collection.
VANCOUVER - A great-grandmother who has waited 56 years to get her high school diploma can finally cross that dream off her bucket list.
Maureen Baker has attended several high school reunions with her classmates from the 1950s but felt like an outsider because she never finished school.
MONTREAL - Montreal will have its next interim mayor — the third mayor in less than a year — by early next week.
The city clerk's office has announced a vote will be held during a special meeting of council next Tuesday.
WASHINGTON - San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, a friend to Barack Obama and a major Democratic financier, is unveiling a social media campaign on Thursday that aims to rally the president's formidable online army of supporters against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Steyer and a coalition of environmental and social justice groups will be in the U.S. capital to step up their efforts against Calgary-based TransCanada, a company they accuse of wanting "to reap billions in profits by getting the United States to allow the shipping of dirty tarsands oil across America’s heartland for export to China and beyond while the United States will get very little in return."
BURLINGTON, Ont. - Newly installed Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz on Wednesday tried to rally business toward the kind of spending he says is needed to bolster the economy, while giving no signal about any change in interest rate policy.
In his first major speech since taking over from former governor Mark Carney earlier this month, Poloz preached the virtues of "stability and patience," saying the central bank's long-standing target of low, stable inflation remains "sacrosanct."
OTTAWA - Bob Rae, a fixture on Canada's political scene for more than three decades, is giving up his seat in the House of Commons to devote himself to another of his Canadian passions: working on behalf of First Nations.
The Toronto Liberal MP and one-time Ontario premier announced Wednesday he's leaving politics so he can focus on his new role: chief negotiator for the Matawa Tribal Council in talks with the province about development of the Ring of Fire mining project in northern Ontario.
TORONTO - Senior managers agreed that intervening every time a teen inmate tied a ligature around her neck was unnecessary because she was not always in immediate danger, an inquest into her death heard Wednesday.
Michelle Bridgen, a middle manager at the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., said it was the warden and deputy warden who decided essentially that guards should intervene only if Ashley Smith risked imminent death.
OTTAWA - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is about to launch a 48-hour emergency appeal for Syria.
The goal is to help the four million children affected by the two-year-old civil war that the UN says has killed 93,000 people.
BEIJING, China - At least five people have been injured in a stampede after fans stormed a stadium gate upon the arrival of superstar David Beckham at a Chinese university Thursday afternoon.
Shanghai-based Tongji University says on its official microblog that four university employees and one foreign student have been sent to hospital with injuries.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The daughter of former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre made a quick-thinking save Wednesday when she caught a baby who had tumbled off of a second-floor Brooklyn apartment's fire escape, the baseball great has confirmed.
Cristina Torre did not respond to a request for comment.
VANCOUVER - The Vancouver Whitecaps are starting to display a quality that teams often have trouble finding — mental toughness.
Vancouver overcame an early deficit for the second straight game Wednesday in defeating Chivas USA 3-1 in Major League Soccer play.
DETROIT - Chris Davis cleared the fences twice, giving him a major league leading 26 homers, to help the Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers 13-3 Wednesday.
Davis hit a two-run homer and Taylor Teagarden followed with a three-run home run in Baltimore's six-run fourth. Against embattled reliever Jose Valverde, Davis hit another two-run shot for his second multihomer game of the season and the fifth of his career.
BOSTON - The Boston Bruins' comeback fell short this time. And suddenly the Stanley Cup final is a lot more interesting.
Brent Seabrook scored at 9:51 of overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 6-5 win over the never-say-die Bruins in a wild game Wednesday night. The defenceman's shot through traffic that beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask gives the Blackhawks, who never trailed in the game, a new lease of life.
SAN FRANCISCO - Gregor Blanco had a pinch hit, two-run triple in the seventh inning, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
Brandon Belt and Marco Scutaro also drove in runs and the Giants won their second straight following a three-game slide. Scutaro and Hunter Pence each had two hits.
MONTREAL - Home turf is a happy place for Marco Di Vaio.
The veteran striker scored his 10th goal of the Major League Soccer season Wednesday in a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo.
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Yasiel Puig kicked back in his chair, his well-worn uniform streaked in red clay, and calmly answered questions in Spanish. Then, suddenly, he threw his hands in the air and shouted, "Pow!"
In any language, he's about as unpredictable off the field as he is on it, and everyone in baseball is riveted.
TORONTO - Early leads have been the norm, the pitching staff is rounding into form and confidence is growing by the day.
The Toronto Blue Jays are doing everything right these days and it's paying off with victories.
DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings and city officials on Wednesday announced a $650 million plan for a new arena development for the NHL team in Detroit's downtown entertainment and sports district.
Plans for an 18,000-seat arena were announced by the team's owners and local economic development officials. Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch has long said he wanted a replacement for the 32-year-old Joe Louis Arena.
Georges St-Pierre will defend his UFC welterweight title on Nov. 16 in Las Vegas against No. 1 contender Johny (Bigg Rigg) Hendricks.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the details in a text to The Canadian Press.
BOSTON - Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa was back in the lineup for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
Hossa played after missing Game 3 on Monday night with an undisclosed upper body injury. Hossa was a late scratch from the lineup for that game. The Bruins won 2-0 and took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
MIAMI - Game 7s do more than settle championships. They define legacies.
No matter what happens Thursday night, LeBron James and the Miami Heat, and Tim Duncan's San Antonio Spurs have already won NBA titles and secured a place in history.
CALGARY - Max Gartner lists his career highlights as the back-to-back world downhill titles captured by Canadian skiers John Kucera and Erik Guay.
But there's also been drawbacks to being president and CEO of Alpine Canada — with potentially more on the horizon. And on Wednesday, Gartner announced he was leaving Canada's national skiing organization after more than three decades.
NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. - State police returned to the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Wednesday, two days after a body was found about a mile away.
Two troopers knocked on the door of Hernandez's sprawling house in an upscale subdivision Wednesday morning, but no one answered. The night before, police spent hours there as another group of officers searched an industrial park where the body was found Monday. No more details about the body have been released.
From piping Canadian television coverage into the athletes' village to locating soy milk for the lactose-intolerant Olympian, no detail is too small in pursuit of a gold medal.
That's the philosophy of the Canadian Olympic Committee team currently in Sochi, Russia, inspecting the 2014 Winter Olympic sites.
TORONTO - Pat Watkins is back with the Toronto Argonauts.
The all-star cornerback rejoined the defending Grey Cup champions Wednesday and was with his teammates for the first time since the start of training camp. The six-foot-five, 205-pound defensive back needed the time away to take care of unspecified personal matters in Florida.
PADERBORN, Germany - Leonie Maier scored the lone goal of the game to lead Germany's women's soccer team to a 1-0 win over Canada on Wednesday.
Maier launched a shot from the right side in the 53rd minute to beat Canadian 'keeper Erin McLeod.
Forward Danny Briere is preparing to become an unrestricted free agent as part of the Philadelphia Flyers' off-season shakeup of their high-priced roster.
A person familiar with discussions confirmed on Wednesday that Briere has been informed by the Flyers that they intend to buy out the final two years of his contract. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Flyers have not announced their decision.
