As North Korea continues to mourn its late leader Kim Jong-Il, it seems that his young son will not be as powerful as his father: Reuters reports, " North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week's death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said." more ›

Where have all the Korean grocers gone? Once New York was litered with 24-hour Korean-owned greengrocers, especially in poorer neighborhoods, but now they seem to quickly be a thing of the past. Enter the recent winter issue of City Journal, which has a lengthy look at where they've gone. The results are both interesting and not that surprising. The short answer? The American Dream. more ›

U.S. and South Korean ships have begun joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea, as tensions between North Korea and South Korean—and the rest of the region rise. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said that the exercises were "no more than an attempt to find a pretext for aggression and ignite a war at any cost" and added they "are putting the Korean Peninsula at a state of ultra-emergency." This comes after the Tuesday incident where North Korea fired artillery at South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island. more ›

Two days after reports that North Korea showed an enormous, sophisticated new plant used to enrich uranium to an American scientist, the isolated country fired around 100 rounds of artillery (some reports say 200) at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea, killing two South Korean marines, according to South Korean media. South Korea fired back and its military is in "crisis mode." more ›

The U.S. stock markets fell this morning, due to ongoing concerns about the European debt crisis and the conflict between North Korea and South Korea. Bloomberg News reports, "Stocks plunged from Tokyo to London and New York, dragging the MSCI World Index to a nine-month low, and commodities slid as concern grew that Spain’s ailing banks signal a widening debt crisis and as tension mounted on the Korean peninsula... The MSCI gauge of 23 developed nations’ stocks fell 2.9 percent at 10:55 a.m. in New York to the lowest intraday level since August." more ›

North Korea claims a Sunday rocket launch was its successful attempt to put a satellite into orbit, but U.S. and South Korea officials disagree, saying that nothing entered space. North American Aerospace Defense Command's statement: "Officials acknowledged today that North Korea launched a Taepo Dong 2 missile at 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, which passed over the Sea of Japan and the nation of Japan. Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean. No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan." (For a successful launch, the third stage would enter orbit.) The U.S., Japan and S. Korea condemned the launch, which is believed to "be cover for a long-range missile test"; Russian agencies confirm N. Korea's claim that it was a successful satellite launch. The U.N. Security Council has convened an emergency meeting; President Barack Obama said, "With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations." more ›

The Kid From Brooklyn sees famine, war, and despair in the world's future. " I've got foresight," he says, but even he could never have predicted his own popularity. Michael Caracciolo started his website TheKidFromBrooklyn.com to entertain friends and family, uploading videos of himself ranting wildly about whatever he happened to feel passionately about that moment, whether it be border control, the President, or even Starbucks. It's led to television appearances, a memoir about his childhood in Brooklyn called "Go F Yourself" due out in December from Kensington Books, and even stand up performances, including one at The Gotham Comedy Club on August 29th. Gothamist sat down with The Big Man to get a taste of what he's all about. more ›

You'd think that the marriage bureau at the Bronx Supreme Court would have learned its lesson, after the Post wrote about it closing early (without permission), dashing the dreams of a couple. But the bureau seems to be back to its old tricks, as the Post reveals two couples were turned away even though they arrived well before closing time. more ›

It's the ol' layover-and-flee move: Thirteen players from Haiti's under-17 national soccer team "deserted" their team during a layover at JFK Airport. Six players returned, but seven are still missing. The squad was headed to South Korea to prepare for the FIFA's U17 World Cup, but now it's unclear whether their team will be intact for its August 19 match against Japan. more ›

Yesterday, NBC News revealed that Virginia Tech shooting gunman Cho Seung-Hiu sent them a package of photographs, writings, and video - a "multimedia manifesto." The network turned over the materials to the authorities but also shared the package's contents during the evening news last night and on its website. more ›

The man who shot 32 people at Virginia Tech yesterday morning was identified by authorities as Cho Seung Hui. He is described as a 23-year-old student, a senior majoring in English, who lived in one of the dorms. He is also a legal resident from South Korea. more ›

Most New Yorkers love the Pepsi-Cola sign in Long Island City. But the for the new Queens West residents, the neon can be annoying. The NY Times spoke to tenants who live behind the sign:

Like many of his neighbors in this new glass high-rise in Long Island City, Queens, [Yo Han] Cho is a newcomer to New York. When he first moved into his “humble room,” as he calls it, he did not quite understand. more ›

The police say two teenagers have confessed to robbing, beating, and even killing various parkgoers late November. Belter Yovanni Gubara Rivera and Marco Polanco were arrested; 17 year old Rivera was charged with four counts of robbery and the murder of Ecuadoran immigrant Carloes Flores while 17 year old Polanco was charged with four counts of robbery and attempted murder. more ›

- Parents who have a sever facial deformity. No guidance on how this might be judged. more ›

Some more details about yesterday's SUV crash onto a busy Midtown Street and into a store window: more ›

Yesterday, the countries on the United Nations Security Council had an emegency meeting after North Korea announced it had tested a nuclear device. The U.S. proposed cargo inspections and limited sanctions to North Korea (including luxury items - and Kim Jong Il loves his Henessy), as well as banning any military trade. The North Korea nuclear tests now bring up some new questions about how the administration handled the situation, making international policy even more of an election day issue. And the city's Korean-Americans tell the Daily News they are upset with the blasts and worry about relatives in South Korea, but hope that there is a peaceful resolution. more ›

For starters, about two weeks ago, July 6th, and a week ago, July 12th, we released a new album in Asia called Close Calls With Brick Walls. It's part of a series of three albums that will be released at different points around the world at different times. I plan to release this album outside of Asia as well, but not yet. We're going to release these other albums first. The next one is called Young Lord and we're going to release that one in the US, but not on CD yet. I think we're going to make it a record. Then we're doing a third album called The Carrier that will maybe come out in Europe first. Eventually, all three of these releases will be out in every major territory, but in different order. more ›

After last week's huge box office take for , you know that we're in it: the bang-up summer blockbuster season. However, even with all of this energy of over the top new releases in the air there's still some amazing old movies screening this weekend too. So you better get a watchin'. more ›

The Scripps National Spelling Bee finals are tonight, with a broadcast on ABC primetime. You can see the latest round results online, as well as the words those brights kids were given and how they spelled them (we totally would have spelled "opeidoscope" as "opydoscope"). Alas, NYC's two entrants did not make it to later rounds. The Daily News selected Ryan Mowbray of Staten Island and Yu Jin Jung of Queens to head to the DC for the event. Mowbray was stumped by "apolaustic," spelling it "a-p-o-l-o-s-t-i-c." And since apolaustic means "devoted to enjoyment," he told the Daily News, "You could call it irony, something not too happy coming from a word about happiness. I went further than even I expected, so I'm happy." Hey, Ryan, you can spell about a million times better than we do, so take that for what it's worth. more ›

Say it ain't so! The United States has been eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. Great news for George Steinbrenner, bad news for US baseball. Last night in Anaheim (or Los Angeles as the Angels would have you call it), Mexico defeated the US, 2-1. In the loss, the US team only managed three hits off 8 Mexican pitchers. If you're scoring at home, that's a single by Junior Griffey, a double by Chipper Jones and another double by Jeff Francoeur. The loss put the United states at 1-2 in 2nd round play and in a three-way tie with Mexico and Japan. But the same International Baseball Federation rules that put the US into the 2nd round, sent Japan to the semi-finals where they will play South Korea. Cuba will play the Dominican Republic in the other semi-final matchup. more ›

In what is becoming a slightly disturbing trend, the United States lost again in the World Baseball Classic. First, they lost to Canada, yesterday, the Americans lost to South Korea, 7-3. South Korea, who is 2-0 in the 2nd round and is unbeaten in the WBC, slugged their way to victory. Hee-Seop Choi teed off for a three-run homer in the 4th inning off of Astros pitcher Dan Wheeler, giving the Koreans a 6-1 lead. South Korea added another run in the 6th and the United States mounted a feeble attempt at a comeback in the 9th. more ›

With thanks to a disqualification of a Chinese short track speedskater, Apolo Anton Ohno won a gold medal in yesterday's 500m final. Ohno had finished 3rd in the semifinals where only the top two advance, but officials ruled that he was impeded by Li JiaJun. In the finals, Ohno jumped to the front after the start and never trailed - only looking back to see where the competition was. He defeated a tough field which included his rival from South Korea, Ahn Hyun Soo who finished 3rd. Shortly after the 500, Ohno and his American teammates won bronze in the team 5,000m relay. more ›

The Notorious MSG, Original Chinatown Bad Boys more ›

When we look at the medal totals for the Winter Olympics, we sometimes wonder what the United States would do if snowboarding wasn't included...but out of the men's mogul's competition, comes the inspirational story of Toby Dawson, who was abandoned as a child in South Korea, is searching for his birth-parents, and won the bronze medal. Dawson has been searching for his birth parents and hopes that appearing - and now winning - will help jog someone's memories in South Korea. Aspiring football player, Jeremy Bloom finished 6th and will be at the NFL combine in a little more than a week. The winner of the competition is a former Canadian, who moved to Australia and is a self-made millionaire, that seems to specialize in spam. more ›

The Times has a curious article about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Lee Yoon-hyung, 26, the youngest daughter of the chairman of the Samsung Group and one of the richest women in South Korea. And what a sad story it is shaping up to be. more ›

, set to be released theatrically later in March, will kick off the series with a screening tonight at 7:30 pm. more ›

Andrew Boyd, Cultural Activist and Founder, Billionaires for Bush more ›

After the event, Hamm said, "I was really depressed because I thought I ruined everything with the vault. I was thinking, maybe I could win a bronze, but only maybe." The chips fell the right way and Hamm had two great performances to move into first. Kim Dae Eun and Yang Tae Young, both of South Korea came in second and third respectively. more ›