Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts Seoul is offering a special package to celebrate the first anniversary of the hotel opening. The package includes a one night stay, breakfast for two, a lunch set menu certificate for two available until December, and access to the outdoor pool Oasis from June 17. The package with a Deluxe Room is priced at 399,000 won. Those who stay at the hotel in June will be giv

Tourism Malaysia will hold an event in June with satellite TV’s SkyLife to promote Kuala Lumpur. The tourism office will pick two people from among those watching a film on the movie channel by lottery and offer round-trip business class flights on Air Asia X and accommodation certificates at a top-class hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The movies scheduled on SkyChoice in June include “The Unknown,” “Black

Air Busan has joined with travel agencies on Jeju Island to offer promotional packages for the island’s residents. The packages link domestic flights with international flights ― Jeju-Busan-Taipei, Jeju-Busan-Hong Kong and Jeju-Busan-Cebu. The packages will reduce time and distance for Jeju residents who had to go to Incheon International Airport even when they wanted to travel to cities that are

Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson ZahariasBy Don Van Natta Jr.(Little, Brown)Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky ― they were all great athletes, some of the best the 20th century had to offer. But none excelled in as many sports as Mildred “Babe” Didrikson, the two-sport Hall of Famer who helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association and won mo

A ruling party lawmaker was elected Friday as the head of South Korea’s top men’s professional basketball league.Rep. Han Sun-kyo of the Grand National Party will replace Chon Yook as the commissioner of the Korean Basketball League. Han won seven votes among 10 KBL clubs, a day after the two remained tied following five rounds of voting.Rep. Han Sun-kyo of the Grand National Party. (Yonhap News)C

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California (AP) ― Microsoft Corp. demonstrated its new operating system at the “D: All Things Digital” conference on Wednesday, a full version of Windows that will operate on tablets and personal computers.For now, it’s called Windows 8. Executives said that as mobile devices have gotten more powerful, they are able to run the full version of Windows.The operating system is “t

Chung Mong-joon, the outgoing FIFA vice president from South Korea, became the honorary vice president for football’s international governing body on Thursday.At the FIFA Congress in Zurich, Switzerland, Chung took the honorary post. His term as vice president ended at the start of this month.Chung Mong-joonHe was nominated for the honorary position by FIFA’s Executive Committee in March. In Janua

Formula One racing is in full swing and the excitement is higher than ever.Although the championship is dominated by Sebastian Vettel ― this season the young German has won five of six Grand Prix so far and scored 143 points ― the new rules and technology designed to improve the show are working brilliantly. As the F1 is back in Europe, so are motorhomes and hospitality units in the paddock that s

Former national team striker Kim Dong-hyun was arrested on match-fixing charges Wednesday, accused of linking other players to gambling brokers.Prosecutors believe Kim, 27, who now plays with Sangju Sangmu, received bribes from brokers and transferred the money to other suspected players. Sangju FC’s Kim Dong-hyunWith Kim’s arrest, six players from the K-League have been arrested on charges of rec

Korean U23 team manager Hong Myung-bo has admitted that he is unhappy with his current squad despite watching his side defeat Oman 3-1 in a home friendly Wednesday. Korea came back from behind to win the game at Gangneung Stadium thanks to defender Hwang Do-yeon and striker Bae Chun-suk. The host pressured Oman in the first 20 minutes but the Oman side fought back with counterattacks, taking a lea

Hyundai Heavy Industries announced Wednesday that it received orders for two drill ships from the U.S. oil well driller Rowan Companies Inc.The latest contract, worth $1.12 billion, pushes up the number of orders for drill ships Hyundai Heavy has won so far this year to nine.The combined value of the contracts the company has won so far is $5 billion, the company said.The orders also include optio

Ahn Hyun-soo, a three-time Olympic short track gold medalist, left for Russia on Wednesday to extend his career, with his sights set on the 2014 Winter Games.“It has finally hit me,” Ahn said at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. “I am worried and yet have high expectations. I will go there and train hard.”Ahn, who is 25, said he will be training with the Russian national team in Moscow

South Korea’s football governing body announced on Wednesday that it will set up a special committee to prevent match-fixing.Korea Football Association said in a statement that it will establish an emergency committee of representatives from the KFA, the Ministry of Justice and all the professional and amateur leagues here, including the K-League.The decision came as the country’s top division lea

The 2011 Korea Cup International Yacht Race kicked off on Wednesday with an opening ceremony in the east coast city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. The Korea Cup, which is organized by Korea Sailing Federation and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, runs until June 6, covering a total of 600 kilometers. Participants of the Korea Cup International Yacht Race (Yonhap News

ZURICH (AP) ― In the face of FIFA’s worst scandal in its 107-year history, a seething Sepp Blatter denied it is in crisis on Monday as he moved closer to a fourth presidential term as head of the world’s most popular sport.With his only challenger, Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, provisionally suspended along with FIFA vice president Jack Warner due to bribery allegations, Blatter said the two had do

The growing scandal of match-fixing by certain players belonging to K-League teams is a depressing one. If there is any consolation it lies in the fact that it is being taken seriously as authorities ― both of the soccer and police varieties ― move quickly to punish offenders and try to take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.If there is another source of consolation it is that the compe

Korea’s economy will likely grow 4.3 percent this year, falling short of a 5 percent expansion forecast earlier by the government due to external uncertainties, a poll showed Monday.According to the survey of 32 experts by the Federation of Korean Industries, the economy will likely expand 4.4 percent in the second half of this year, with 38 percent of those surveyed citing global economic uncerta

The number of jobs offered by South Korea’s listed companies soared to a record high last year as companies increased employment on the back of their strong earnings, data showed Monday.A total of 1.09 million people were hired by the 719 companies listed on the Seoul main stock index in 2010, up 10.8 percent from the previous year, according to the data by the Korea Listed Companies Association.

Chung calls for action to root out corruption in soccerChung Mong-gyu, the head of the country’s top division football league, has announced that he will take all measures necessary to root out match-fixing attempts.Chung, president of the K-league, made a public apology on Monday, admitting that the league is facing the “worst crisis” in its history. His comment came in the wake of allegations th

Foreigners’ ownership of South Korean land edged up 0.7 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, posting a much slower growth rate seen before the recent global financial crisis, the Land Ministry said Sunday.As of the end of March, foreigners owned a combined 225.3 million square kilometers of land, 1.57 million square kilometers more than at the end of 2010, the Ministry of Land,