SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Apple and Samsung are set to square off in a California court Monday in what is seen as the biggest patent U.S. trial in recent memory.Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion in a case accusing the South Korean firm of copying designs and other patents from the iPhone and iPad maker in the trial in San Jose, California, federal court.Samsung however alleges that Apple infring

LONDON (AFP) - A celebration of free healthcare, the trade union struggle, the battle for women's rights and a fleeting lesbian kiss: the Olympics opening ceremony Friday did not shy away from weighty social issues.Unsurprisingly, the show devised by Oscar-winning British director Danny Boyle drew accusations from the British political right that it had strayed into "leftie" issues.Aidan Burley, a

LONDON (AFP) - Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle said he had felt liberated rather than daunted by Beijing 2008's spectacular opening ceremony as his quirky but impressive show opened the London Games in style.In front of 80,000 spectators and VIPs, women in smocks and bonnets shepherded sheep, geese and cows on landscaped grass in the "Isles of Wonder" vision dreamed up by Boyle as the ceremony

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- U.S. President Barack Obama issued a proclamation Friday to commemorate the end of the Korean War 59 years ago, as the Pentagon hosted a formal ceremony to mark the anniversary."Today, on the 59th anniversary of the Military Armistice Agreement signed at Panmunjom, we honor all who served in the Korean War, and we pay lasting tribute to the brave men and women who gave

LONDON (Yonhap News) -- South Korean archers were off to a rousing start at the London Olympics Friday, as both men and women secured high seed positions in the ranking rounds held hours before the opening ceremony.On a cloudy but calm day at the training range at Lord's Cricket Ground here in the host city of the 2012 Summer Games, Im Dong-hyun fired 699 to break his own 72-arrow record by three.

LONDON (Yonhap News) -- The 2012 London Summer Olympics kicked off here Friday with a lavish opening ceremony celebrating Britain's rich history and great figures, by turns dramatic, imaginative, humorous and solemn.With light rain falling early on at the Olympic Stadium, London began its third Summer Olympics with the ceremony titled "Isles of Wonder," as thousands of performers weaved the story

The pilot of a U.S. military fighter jet that crashed into the sea off northern Japan on Sunday has been rescued six hours after the accident, Japan's Coast Guard said.The unnamed pilot was placed safely on a nearby U.S. container ship around 6 p.m., according to the agency, which sent ships and a plane to the accident site."The F-16 jet crashed some 470 nautical miles northeast of Nemuro" at arou

NEW DELHI (AFP) -- Former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was elected Indian president on Sunday after votes from national and state lawmakers were counted in the race for the mainly ceremonial post.Some analysts believe Mukherjee, a veteran from the ruling Congress party, may take a more active approach to the job than his predecessors as India struggles with a parliamentary deadlock and slowin

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The global economy is in the worst shape since the dark days of 2009.Six of the 17 countries that use the euro currency are in recession. The U.S. economy is struggling again. And the economic superstars of the developing world _ China, India and Brazil _ are in no position to come to the rescue. They're slowing, too.The lengthening shadow over the world's economy illustrates on

AURORA, Colorado (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will visit Colorado on Sunday to meet victims of the Batman cinema massacre, a day after police entered the gunman's booby-trapped apartment.The visit also comes after police revealed the names of the 12 people who died -- including a six-year-old girl whose mother was seriously injured -- while asserting that the alleged killer had been planning

Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest lender, is under investigation for allegedly falsifying customers' loan agreements, police sources said Sunday.Thirty people who took out loans with the lender filed complaints with the Financial Supervisory Service and law enforcement agencies after they found signs that bank employees had intentionally tampered with due dates on loans.Those demanding the probe

PHNOM PENH (Yonhap News) -- South Korea, the United States and Japan announced Thursday the establishment of a three-way security consultative body, laying the groundwork to build a trilateral alliance in the face of North Korean aggression.The announcement was made after South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gem

PHNOM PENH (Yonhap News) -- South Korea will soon open a diplomatic mission dedicated to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta this year, as Asia's fourth-largest economy seeks to deepen economic ties with the 10-member regional bloc, Seoul officials said Wednesday.Vice Foreign Minister Kim Sung-han and foreign ministers of Southeast Asian nations pledged to work closely together t

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's president-elect Mohamed Morsi began selecting a new government on Monday as his supporters pursued a sit-in to pressure the ruling military to hand over full powers to the Islamist.After a tight race in which Morsi was forced to reach out to pro-democracy groups, the former Muslim Brotherhood politician is expected to include ministers who will have the support of his movemen

Park Geun-hye, daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, was slightly ahead of Ahn Cheol-soo, software magnate and popular professor, in a new opinion poll of potential candidates for the December presidential vote, the poll showed Monday.Park, a former head of the ruling Saenuri Party, received 45.8 percent of support, compared with 43.8 percent for Ahn, in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up

TOKYO (AP) -- Long-time Japanese rivals Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. are working together to develop next-generation TV panels called OLEDs in a reversal of decades of rivalry as they try to catch up with South Korea's Samsung Electronics.The companies said in a joint statement Monday they will share core technologies to develop OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, panels. They are aiming for

BEIJING (AFP) - Moscow and Beijing on Wednesday reaffirmed their strong opposition to intervention in Syria, under mounting international pressure to change a stance that has infuriated Western powers.A joint statement issued after talks between China's leaders and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing said the two countries opposed any attempt to impose regime change in Syria after

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday made his second speech at a major public event since taking power in December, addressing a children's rally aimed at winning a new generation's support.About 20,000 young people gathered at Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Stadium for a speech that capped an unprecedented six-day children's festival. The celebrations took p

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union's executive branch proposed Wednesday a system of centralized banking regulations that would ensure that taxpayers would never again have to bail out ailing banks whose collapse would threaten the wider economy.Under the European Commission proposal, banks that posed no systemic risk to the national or international economy would simply be allowed to fail. But t

BEIJING (AFP) - Leading Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, jailed for more than 22 years after the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests, died in strange circumstances in central China Wednesday, his family and rights groups said.Li, 62, was found dead in a ward at Daxiang hospital in Shaoyang city, Hunan province Wednesday morning, his brother-in-law Zhao Baozhu told AFP by telephone.Police appeared to s