N. Korea: Army chief relieved due to illness

N. Korea: Army chief relieved due to illness

seoul, south korea

Kim Jong Un’s top military official — a key mentor to North Korea’s new young leader — has been removed from all posts because of illness, state media said today.

The decision to relieve Ri Yong Ho of his duties was made at a Workers’ Party meeting Sunday, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. It was not immediately clear who would take Ri’s place, and the North Korean media dispatch did not elaborate on Ri’s condition or future.

Ri was vice marshal of the Korean People’s Army and the military’s General Staff chief, as well as a top figure in the Workers’ Party.

Israel will grant settlement subsidy

jerusalem

The Israeli government has quietly agreed to grant subsidies to build more than 500 new homes in the West Bank, backtracking from a promise earlier this year to deny these incentives to the settlements, The Associated Press has learned.

The planned construction,SFlbat a time when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to shore up support among settlers, has enraged the Palestinians and could cloud a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as she tries to re-energize moribund Mideast peace efforts.

Russian Soyuz rocket launches on mission

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan

A Russian Soyuz craft launched into the morning skies over Kazakhstan on Sunday, carrying three astronauts on their way to the International Space Station, where they will quickly start preparing for a frenzy of incoming traffic.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japan’s Akihito Hoshide are set to travel two days before reaching their three colleagues already at the permanent space outpost.

Sheriff: Man recovers car 42 years later

los angeles

A Texas man whose prized sports car was stolen 42 years ago recovered the vehicle in California after spotting it on eBay, authorities said Sunday.

Robert Russell told the Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials that he had never given up searching for the 1967 Austin-Healey after it was stolen from his Philadelphia home in 1970.

The 66-year-old retired sales manager from Southlake told the Dallas Morning News he paid a friend $3,000 for the car. It had sentimental value to him because it was stolen the morning after he took his future wife out on their second date.

Hundreds search for 2 missing Iowa girls

evansdale, iowa

More than 350 volunteers joined authorities Sunday in a search for two young Iowa cousins whose bicycles were found abandoned near a lake.

Family members held out hope even as investigators said they had found no new clues that could lead them to the girls, who were last seen shortly after noon Friday.

Authorities located the bikes of 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins and her 10-year-old cousin, Lyric Cook-Morrissey, at Meyers Lake a few hours after they were reported missing.

The Des Moines Register reported that investigators had managed to search about 40 percent of the lake, and were also interviewing family, friends and registered sex offenders who live in the Evansdale area.

Black Hawk County Sheriff’s deputy Rick Abben said authorities have found no new clues.

Associated Press