South Korea's ruling party suffered a humiliating defeat in Wednesday's by-elections, heralding a political upheaval ahead of next year's presidential polls.   In the most closely-watched contest, Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), defeated Kang Jae-sup, former head of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).    Sohn's win bolstered his profile as a potential presid

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Apple Inc. denied Wednesday that iPhones store a record of their users' movements for up to a year and blamed privacy concerns partly on a misunderstanding.   A data file publicized by security researchers last week doesn't store users' locations, but a list of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in their general area, the company said. It promised software fixes to address concerns

 Sohn Hak-kyu, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), scored a victory in the ruling party's stronghold of Bundang, just south of Seoul, which is considered the biggest match of Wednesday's by-elections, according to an exit poll by a local TV station.  Sohn's triumph, if confirmed, will boost his bid to become South Korea's next president, while dealing a blow to the Lee Myung-b

(Asia News Network)Amateur Yan Donglong, afire in a petrol blaze, sprints through the SenBhola Forest Theme Park, Fogang county, South China's Guangdong province on April 25. Yan, 32, also known as "Fire King," is challenging the Guinness World Record for "Running the longest distance while on fire" and "Man plays the most items with fire." The previous record holder is a British amateur Keith Mal

SELANGOR - An angry husband, who was awakened from his morning slumber, beat up and stabbed his wife, Harian Metro reported. The woman is now in a coma and fighting for her life at a hospital, the paper said.A police source told the daily that the couple in their 30s had quarrelled at their home after the wife woke him up at about 6am on Sunday and asked him to perform his dawn prayers.After repea

KUALA LUMPUR: A 30-year-old man spent RM80,000 on a weight loss programme but ended up having 30 open wounds, with one as big as a fist, around his waistline.The man, who only wanted to be known as Lim, said he got to know about the “needleless injection” treatment when a friend suggested that they enter into the cosmetics business in October 2009.“Initially, I was not interested, but after much p

Apple CEO Steve Jobs (Yonhap News)Apple’s founder Steve Jobs reportedly sent an e-mail to a customer that iPhones and iPads are not being used to track users, according to a U.S. website on Monday.“We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false,” wrote Apple CEO Jobs in an e-mail to a customer asking for clarification on the issue, MacRumors reported.The blog says that the customer fo

CAPE TOWN (AFP) ― South Africa’s apartheid state locked him up, Nelson Mandela was a fan and Jacob Zuma is suing for millions: all have been rich pickings for the fearless satire of cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro.From slapping down AIDS denials to taking a dig at Zuma’s multiple wives and offspring, his distinctive cartoons spark furious outrage to applause for their spot-on commentary of South Afric

After long period of research on Tibetan Tripitaka, a Buddhism text, researchers found out that brain surgery was practiced even during ancient times.The text contained information that originally had been passed down orally until being written down in the third century B.C. It was then translated into the Tibetan language from Sanskrit.“The 2,900-year-old Tibetan Tripitaka states clearly why and

About 184 staff at Thermal Ceramics in France have gone on strike against what they called ‘Aglo Saxon Imperialism,’ according to reports. The London based company was established in 1856 and is a division of Morgan Crucible Company.Thierry Juvin, the workers’ representative, said “We say hello in French but then communication stops.“We have to have someone who translates everything into English,

(MCT)Right-handers not only far outnumber left-handers today, but did 500,000 years ago as well, reported LiveScience.com and Science Daily.Today, the ratio of right-handers to left-handers is 9:1. But according to the research of American scientists in UK scientific journal “Laterality,” 93.1 percent of humankind was right-handed 500,000 years ago.A researcher at the University of Kansas analyzed

(MCT)A man who allegedly sent more than a hundred text messages to his ex-girlfriend was arrested and charged with stalking, according to Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The 38-year-old man surnamed Jang had sent 147 text messages to the victim since October 2009. He kept following his ex by hiding around her house as well as workplace. With the internet ID and password he had learned during the

Seo Tae-ji(left) and Lee Ji-ah (Yonhap News)To the great shock of fans, musician Seo Tai-ji and actress Lee Ji-ah are in a divorce suit, Sports Seoul reported Thursday.Seo, the media-shy enfant terrible of Korean hard rock, is famous for leading a secretive life but the report that he is married shocked the nation via cyberspace.The report is all the more shocking because Lee created top headlines

FT Island’s new single “Satisfaction” hit the No. 2 on Japan’s Oricon single chart on Wednesday, demonstrating the band’s surging popularity in the biggest music market of Asia.The fourth single by FT Island was released Wednesday. First-day sales topped 17,665, sending the Korean music group's latest single to No. 2 slot on Oricon’s daily single chart. The title song, “Satisfaction,” has been use

  Samsung Life Insurance Co., South Korea's top life insurer, said Thursday that its earnings more than doubled in fiscal 2010 from a year earlier thanks to investment gains from its securities holdings.   Net income came to 1.93 trillion won ($1.8 billion) during the fiscal year that ended on March 31, compared with 906.1 billion won a year earlier, Samsung Life said in a regulatory filing.    Sa

Eight out of 10 Internet users are using or have used at least one social network service, according to the survey conducted by Nielsen Company Korea.The survey was conducted on 1,000 Internet users in major cities in Korea including Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju and Busan from Feb. 25 to March 4 this year. Among the SNS platforms, Cyworld ranked most popular with 74.9 percent of respondents usin

Hanjin shipping container (Yonhap News)South Korea's Hanjin Shipping container carrier with 14 South Koreans aboard lost contact with its company Thursday (Korean time) as it was sailing in the pirate-infested waters off Somalia, an official said.The 75,000-ton container ship had departed from Spain for Singapore, the foreign ministry official said. "The ship made its last communications at around

KT, a major telecom operator here, launched on Wednesday a prepaid financial service named “Mobile Money” that will be linked with accounts of Industrial Bank of Korea. The service is designed for smartphones equipped with the Android operating system 2.1 or higher. Compared with other “smart” banking systems, Mobile Money has a faster and easier authentication procedure, KT said.Users can charge

Mariah Carey hasn’t even given birth to her twins yet, but she’s already dismissing the idea of more children. Mariah Carey in the nursery of her Los Angeles home in the current issue of “Life & Style” magazine. (AP-Yonhap News)The expectant mother talked about her pregnancy to Life & Style magazine in an issue that hits newsstands nationwide Friday.When asked if she would like to have more childr

Chung Chung-kil took office as president of the Academy of Korean Studies on Wednesday, as outgoing Kim Jung-bae finished up his three-year term.  Chung Chung-kilChung, who studied law at Seoul National University and obtained a Ph.D in politics at University of Michigan, had worked as professor at Seoul National University until 2008.Chung also served as presidential chief of staff last year befo