NEW YORK (AP) ― Quick on the heels of Google’s launch of its latest social-networking venture, Facebook said Wednesday that its 750 million users will now be able to make video calls on the site.The feature will be powered by the Internet phone service Skype. Facebook also redesigned its chat feature, so that the people a user messages the most often show up first.To make video calls, Facebook use

BEIJING (AP) ― Chinese officials say a coal mine fire has trapped at least 36 people underground in the country’s east. It’s the second accident in a week in China’s notoriously dangerous coal industry.The State Administration of Work Safety said Thursday that an air compressor 225 meters underground caught fire Wednesday evening.It says an initial investigation found 36 miners are trapped and a r

Chung Ang University Hospital is looking for candidates for a clinical test of its asthma treatment. Those applying should have been diagnosed with asthma before they reached 40 years of age. They should be either non-smokers or those who have quit mild smoking (less than 10 packets of cigarettes a year) for more than a year. The candidates must be taking steroids.Those selected will be able to ge

The majority of people suffering from vocal cord nodules are female, especially teachers, the National Health Insurance Corporation said Monday. According to its report, 91,430 women were treated for vocal cord nodules in 2010, far outnumbering the 49,317 men who received treatment.The number of patients receiving treatment each year has steadily increased: from 123,000 in 2006 to 141,000 in 2010.

N. Korea’s Kim Un-ju (left) and Colombia’s Orianica Velasquez challenge for the ball. (AP-Yonhap News)North Korea battles to a scoreless draw vs. ColombiaLEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) ― Sweden picked a good time to beat the Americans at the women’s World Cup for the first time, winning 2-1 Wednesday to avoid Brazil and five-time FIFA player of the year Marta in the quarterfinals.Sweden had lost three t

Korea and Indonesia will hold the first round of feasibility study talks on a bilateral free trade deal this week, the Trade Ministry in Seoul said Wednesday.In 2007, a free trade agreement between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Indonesia, went into effect. But Seoul has been seeking to forge higher-level separate free trade deals with Indonesia, Malaysi

Korea’s automotive exports reached a record high in the first half of the year as local automakers increased their shares in overseas markets on the back of improved quality, a trade association said Wednesday.According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, local automakers exported a total of 1.55 million units in the first six months of the year, up 15.1 percent from a year earlier.

Apple’s iPhone has leapfrogged Research In Motion’s Blackberry to grab fourth-place among handset manufacturers in the United States, tracking firm comScore said Tuesday.The iPhone’s share of U.S. mobile subscribers rose to 8.7 percent in the three months ending in May from 7.5 percent three months earlier, while RIM’s share fell to 8.1 percent from 8.6 percent, comScore said.Samsung was the top h

China may have understated the debt burden of local governments by as much as $541.6 billion, and the proportion of bad loans could be higher than previously forecast, ratings agency Moody’s said Tuesday.In a stern warning, Moody’s warned the lack of a plan to tackle bad loans to local governments meant it could downgrade its outlook for Chinese banks to negative.The agency’s findings came after i

Dalai Lama (AP-Yonhap News)WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday celebrated his 76th birthday in Washington on a visit in which he will offer spiritual teachings to thousands and meet top U.S. lawmakers.Tibetan and local well-wishers cheered on the Dalai Lama as he arrived Tuesday at his Washington hotel, the latest international stop for the Nobel Prize-winning m

Seeks to complete mission at U.S. Women’s OpenCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP) ― There was a time when Yani Tseng shied away from socializing on the golf course.Usually outgoing, the top-ranked Taiwanese golfer was so insecure about her broken English that she would stay away from others in her group at LPGA events, rather than even attempt a conversation.These days, Tseng’s English has become almo

Foreign investors continued to offload South Korean shares for a second consecutive month in June amid jitters over the eurozone debt crisis and other economic uncertainties, the financial regulator said Tuesday.Overseas investors sold a net 918.6 billion won ($863.8 million) of local equities in June, after selling a net 2.8 trillion won in the previous month, according to the Financial Superviso

Sales of imported vehicles in Korea surged 17.5 percent last month from a year earlier, helped by aggressive marketing strategies by local car dealers, a trade association said Tuesday.A total of 8,964 imported vehicles were sold here in June, compared with 7,629 units sold a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.Sales in June also represented a 2.1

The hybrid version of the Sonata sedan, made by Korea’s leading carmaker Hyundai Motor Co., ranked as the second best seller in the U.S. hybrid car market in June, industry sources said Tuesday.Sales data from Hyundai and U.S.-based automotive media showed the Sonata’s sales reached 1,422 last month compared to 4,340 for the Prius, which has effectively dominated the global hybrid car market since

Korean banks are expected to tighten their grip on home-backed lending in the third quarter as the regulator’s move to curb rising household debt will lead them to be wary of extending mortgage loans, the central bank said Tuesday.An index gauging lender attitudes on mortgage loans came in at zero for the July-September period, compared with 6 tallied in the second quarter, according to a survey o

Koreans’ real wages contracted for the first time in 18 months in the first quarter as income gains remained stagnant amid high inflation, data showed Tuesday.Korean workers’ real wages reached 2.36 million won ($2,222.3) in the January-March period, down 4.08 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by the labor ministry and the state-run statistics agency.The real wage, the

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. online retailer Amazon.com announced Monday it will acquire British online bookstore The Book Depository. The cost of the transaction remains undisclosed.The British company based in Gloucester was expected to chalk up sales of 120 million pounds ($180 million) for the fiscal year ending in June, according to industry specialist TheBookseller.com.The Book Depository last ye

DURBAN, South Africa (AFP) ― PyeongChang hopes that at the third time of asking it will prevail here on Wednesday and win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and deliver Asia only its third ever Games.The Koreans have twice finished runners-up ― to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi for 2014 ― and here they must wait once again to see if at last they have convinced the electorate of International

Koreans await midnight decision on PyeongChang’s Olympic bidKim Hyun-chul, a 32-year-old office worker in Seoul, plans to stay up until midnight Wednesday to find out whether PyeongChang succeeds in its third attempt to host the Winter Olympics. “I hope with all my heart that the city is selected this time around,” he said. “People worked really hard,” he added. The fate of PyeongChang’s bid for t

SBS, the country’s third-largest broadcaster, has secured exclusive broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced on Monday.The agreement is the first broadcast deal with the IOC that goes through 2024, the Olympic governing body said in a statement.SBS has acquired the broadcast rights across all media p