North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles off its west coast this week amid international alarm at its planned long-range rocket launch, South Korean newspapers said Friday. The North fired what appeared to be two KN-01 ground-to-ship missiles with a range of up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) early Thursday from a missile base near the western port of Nampo, Chosun Ilbo newspaper said. It quoted an unidentified Seoul government official …

South Korea is set to reach agreement with the US on expanding its ballistic missile range to better guard against attacks by North Korea, the South's leader was quoted Thursday as saying. The two allies are close to agreement on revising a 2001 deal that restricts Seoul's missile range to 300 kilometres (186 miles), President Lee Myung-Bak said in an interview with Dong-A Ilbo newspaper and other media. "Missiles with a 300-kilometre range …

The Obama administration is threatening to impose sanctions on India over its continued economic ties with Iran amid disagreements between Washington and New Delhi over how much and how soon the latter is reducing oil imports from the (in US eyes) pariah nation. India has "failed" to reduce its purchase of Iranian oil and if it doesn't do so, President Barack Obama may be "forced" to impose sanction, unnamed administration officials were cited …

China put rare public pressure on ally North Korea over the reclusive state's plan to launch a long-range rocket which is raising tension in the region and could scupper a recent aid deal with the United States. The announcement of the launch immediately threw into doubt recent hopes that the new young head of the family dynasty ruling North Korea was ready open up more to the international community. Experts said the planned launch is clearly …

Russian and South Korean scientists signed a deal Tuesday on joint research intended to recreate a woolly mammoth, an animal which last walked the earth some 10,000 years ago. The deal was signed by Vasily Vasiliev, vice rector of North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic, and controversial cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation. Hwang was a national hero until some of his research into …

About 130 North Korean officials visited the tense frontier with South Korea last week as Pyongyang intensified its threats against Seoul, a report said Wednesday. The North's Defence Minister Kim Yong-Chun and military chief Ri Yong-Ho toured the border truce village of Panmunjom on March 4, Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified South Korean military official as saying. The official also said mid-level officials had since travelled to the …

Western schoolchildren are up to three years behind those in China's Shanghai and success in Asian education is not just the product of pushy "tiger" parents, an Australian report released Friday said. The study by independent think-tank The Grattan Institute said East Asia was the centre of high performance in schools with four of the world's top systems in the region - Hong Kong, South Korea, Shanghai and Singapore. "In Shanghai, the average …

Apple Inc's share of China's booming smartphone market slipped for a second straight quarter in October-December, as it lost ground to cheaper local brands and as some shoppers held off until after the iPhone 4S launch last month. China, the world's largest mobile phone market, has not been easy for Apple, which is grappling with a lawsuit from a local firm over the iPad name and issues at its suppliers' factories over wages and working conditions. …

Samsung Electronics Co said on Friday a German court ruled against it in a patent suit versus Apple over mobile technologies, and the firm has yet to decide whether to appeal the ruling. Samsung counter-sued Apple in April, after the US firm filed a lawsuit claiming that the South Korean firm infringed on its design rights and that Samsung's products "slavishly" copied Apple's iPhone and iPad. Samsung said Friday's ruling covers one patent and …

North Korean troops shot dead three countrymen who were trying to cross the border into China, a Seoul activist said Tuesday, as Pyongyang tightens border controls after the death of leader Kim Jong-Il. Border guards last Saturday killed the men in their 40s who were crossing the Yalu river from the northern border city of Hyesan, said Do Hee-Youn, who helps refugees from the North. "People waiting at the Chinese side across the river to help the …