South Korean swimming star Park Tae-hwan finished fourth in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle race Saturday, missing the podium in his third and final race at the London Olympics.Park touched the pad at 14 minutes and 50.61 seconds. Sun Yang of China broke his own world record by more than three seconds at14:31.02 to win the gold medal.Park won silver medals in both the 200ｍ and 400ｍ freestyle here.

Ryu Seung-min (left) and Oh Sang-eun of South Korea compete against North Korea during men's team table tennis competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday (Yonhap News)South Korea defeated North Korea on Saturday in men's table tennis in one of the most politically charged showdowns of the Olympics.South Korea won 3-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the team competition in a tense match that w

A total of 169 people were killed and 400 others missing in heavy downpours that swept through large parts of North Korea in recent weeks, the country's media said Saturday.The downpours between late June and the end of July also left 144 people injured and some 212,200 others homeless, the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said. About 8,600 homes were destroyed and 43,700 others submerged, it said

North Korea on Saturday denounced an upcoming South Korea-U.S. military exercise, calling it preparations for a nuclear war against it.South Korea and the United States are scheduled to stage the Ulji Freedom Guardian exercise from Aug. 20 through Aug. 31. North Korea typically denounce it and other joint military drills staged by the allies annually as war preparations."Such projected saber-rattl

Korea's Lee Yong-dae returns a shot as his teammate Chung Jae-sung looks on from behind during their men's doubles badminton semifinal match against Denmark at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Wembley Arena on Saturday. (Yonhap News)The South Korean badminton duo of Lee Yong-dae and Chung Jae-sung lost to their Danish counterparts in the men's doubles seminfinals at the London Olympics Saturda

The European Central Bank has moved to stave off Greece bankrupcty for the time being by guaranteeing additional emergency loans from the country's central bank, a German newspaper reported Saturday.The ECB's governing council decided at a meeting Thursday on the move which will give Greece access to another four billion euros (almost $5 billion) of funds and ensure its financial survival until Se

Cardiorespiratory fitness -- a healthy heart and lungs -- had an impact on boys' and girls' grades on reading and math tests, U.S. researchers said.Study co-author Trent A. Petrie, director of the Center for Sport Psychology at the University of North Texas, and colleagues gathered data at five Texas middle schools from 1,211 students, of whom 54 percent were female -- with an average age of about

 Iran claims it has successfully test-fired an upgraded version of a short-range ballistic missile.Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi says the solid-fueled Fateh-110 has a range of 300 kilometers. He claims it can pin-point targets at sea, making it the most accurate weapon of its kind in Iran's arsenal.Iran has been pushing to upgrade its missiles, which already can target Israel and other parts

The spokesman of the ruling Saenuri Party offered to resign Saturday, holding himself responsible for recent chaos over an alleged money-for-nomination scandal.The party has been engulfed in a potentially explosive scandal where Rep. Hyun Young-hee allegedly became a lawmaker on a proportional representation ticket after giving 300 million won($265,000) to Hyun Ki-hwan, then a member of the party'

Boeing Co.'s CST-100 capsule (left), Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser space plane (middle) and SpaceX's Dragon capsule(right).                                                                                                               (NASA)Three aerospace firms were awarded a combined1.1 billion dollars from NASA Friday to develop commercial spaceshipsto carry astronauts into space within the

The capital city of South Korea has experienced the most consecutive "tropical nights" since 2000, the state weather agency said Saturday.The so-called tropical night phenomenon is defined by nighttime lows staying above 25 degrees Celsius, with nighttime being from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. It often happens when monsoon season ends, which falls in July in general for the country. The overnight low in Seou

The girl was murdered by her Pakistani parents for her Western ways. And it was her little sister who bravely told jurors how her mother and father suffocated the 17-year-old with a plastic bag _ gripping testimony that led to her parents' murder conviction on Friday.Justice Roderick Evans sentenced Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, to life in prison for killing their daughter, Shafilea, in 200

The United Nations' aid group said Saturday it will send 336 tons of emergency food aid to flood-ravaged North Korea.The World Food Program (WFP) "is sending a first batch of emergency food aid to flood-hit areas" in the southern part of the communist country, the agency said in a news release.Tropical storms and subsequent floods swept through the North in July, leaving at least 88 people dead an

Samsung Electronics Co. defeated a bid for judicial sanctions sought by Apple Inc. over a release of evidence in the iPhone patent dispute now on trial in San Jose federal court in California. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh today dismissed Apple’s request to punish a Samsung lawyer’s public disclosure of evidence excluded from trial. Koh polled jurors on the matter and concluded they could remain in

It was a day of milestones for South Korea at the London Olympics on Friday.Archer Oh Jin-hyek won the country's first Olympic gold medal in men's individual archery. The male sabre fencers then grabbed gold for the country's first fencing team medal for men.The fencers' gold medal was No. 100 for South Korea in its Olympic history, covering both Winter and Summer Games. The country hit the centur

Three customers have filed a compensation suit against local banks, arguing that they suffered damage from the banks' alleged collusion to rig interest rates on certificates of deposit (CD) that are tied to interest rates on home mortgage loans, court sources said Thursday.The lawsuit is the first to be filed since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the country's anti-trust watchdog, began looking i

 숨진 아내의 시신을 두 달간 방치한 혐의로 기소된 영국의 억만장자 한스 크리스티안 라우싱(49)이 1일(현지시간) 영국 법정에서 유죄를  인정 했다. 익명을 요청한 사법부의 한 대변인은 에바 라우싱(48)의 남편이자 유명 다국적 포장업체 테트라팩(TetraPak)의 설립자 아들인 한스 크리스티안이 이날 잉글랜드 아 일워스 법원에서 시신 방치 혐의를 인정했다고 밝혔다. 영국 경찰은 지난 7월 초 마약 소지 혐의로 한스 크리스티안을 체포한 뒤 자택을 수색하던 중 여러 벌의 옷과 쓰레기 봉투 밑에서 에바 라우싱의 시신을 발견했다. 시신 부검 결과 에바의 사망 시점은 2달 전이었던 5월 7일로 추정됐다.이날 법정에 소환된 한스 크리스티안은 "아내의 사망 이후 정신 질환을 앓게 됐 다"며 "에바의 사망 시점까지 그

 Tetra Pak heir Hans Kristian Rausing received a suspended jail sentence Wednesday after admitting he delayed the burial of his wife, whose body lay rotting in their London mansion for two months.The 49-year-old millionaire said in a statement read to a London court that he had been unable to "confront the reality" of the death of his US-born wife Eva, 48, and tried to act as if it had not happene

L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman, has sold a string of private islands in the Seychelles to a firm linked to an ocean conservation foundation, a minister said Tuesday.Bettencourt, 89, bought D'Arros Island along with several neighbouring islets for $18 million in 1998 and recently sold them for $60 million (74 million euros) to a Seychelles-registered business, Housing a

The Olympic badminton tournament was thrown into chaos on Wednesday when eight women players were charged with trying to "throw" matches to secure an easier draw in the next round.Four pairs in the women's doubles competition -- one from China, one from Indonesia and two from South Korea -- were booed off court by irate spectators at London's Wembley Arena on Tuesday. South Korea's Jung Kyung-eun,