The little prince was in need of a name, and now, by George, he's got one. Make that three: George Alexander Louis.The announcement Wednesday that Prince William and his wife, Kate, had selected a moniker steeped in British history came as royal officials said the new parents were seeking quiet family time away from the flashbulbs and frenzy that accompanied the birth of their first child. While the news put to rest intense speculation over what name the couple would choose, the extreme interest

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday he is nominating former first daughter Caroline Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Japan, offering the most famous living member of a prominent American family a new role of service to country.Kennedy, an attorney and bestselling book editor, is being rewarded for helping put Obama in the White House, where her father served until his assassination 50 years ago. If confirmed, she would be the first woman in a post where many other prominent Americans have se

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly rejected a challenge to the National Security Agency's secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records after a fierce debate pitting privacy rights against the government's efforts to thwart terrorism.Wednesday night's 217-205 vote was unlikely to be the final word on government intrusion to defend the nation and Americans' civil liberties. A vote marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the secret surveillance prog

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who fled to Moscow's airport a month ago, aims to stay in Russia for the near future and learn the country's culture and language, his lawyer said Wednesday.To get him started, Anatoly Kucherena said he gave Snowden a copy of “Crime and Punishment,” Dostoyevsky's lengthy novel about the torment and redemption of a man who thought himself outside the law.“I am not talking about the similarity of inner contradictions,” Kucherena said after meeting Sn

A U.S. House committee passed a bill Wednesday to extend the current South Korea-U.S. civilian nuclear energy accord until 2016, a move intended to give the two governments more time to negotiate a revised agreement."This extension would allow the negotiators time to focus on substantive matters of the agreement instead of focusing on the clock," Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a press release. He submitted the bill in June.It requires approval from th

Efforts to publicize the name "East Sea" for the body of water between Korea and Japan in the U.S. state of Virginia have gained momentum with growing support from local legislators. A senior Republican member of the Virginia House, Time Hugo, announced Wednesday that he will introduce legislation in next year's session to require all future textbooks approved by the Virginia Board of Education to note that the body of water is referred to as the East Sea as well as the currently used name of th

City police said Wednesday they have wrapped up an investigation into alleged sexual abuse involving a former South Korean presidential spokesman."The Metropolitan Police Department has presented the facts of this matter to the United States Attorney's Office for their determination," Gwendolyn Crump, director of the police office of communications, told Yonhap News Agency.Yoon Chang-jung, 56, is accused of molesting a Korean-American female intern while he was visiting Washington in early May a

South Korea's trade commission said Thursday that it has decided to recommend a three-year extension of anti-dumping duties on imports of stainless steel bars from Japan, India and Spain.Under the latest extension, Japanese and Spanish products will be subject to an anti-dumping tariff of 15.39 percent with those from India subject to tariffs ranging from 2.76 percent to 15.39 percent, according to the Korea Trade Commission.South Korea has been imposing anti-dumping tariffs, ranging from 3.33 p

 Korea’s economy grew 1.1 percent in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter, thanks to government spending and increased construction investment, the Bank of Korea reported Thursday.This marked the country’s first quarterly growth of above 1 percent in two years. Korea’s gross domestic product growth reached 2.3 percent year-on-year, the highest in 12 months.Despite the surprising recovery from low growth, the central bank said that the general public may not feel much b

Spanish investigators were trying to determine Thursday why a passenger train jumped the tracks and sent eight cars crashing into each other just before arriving in this northwestern shrine city on the eve of a major Christian religious festival, killing at least 77 people and injuring more than 140.Seventy-three people were found dead at the scene of the accident and four died in hospitals, said Maria Pardo Rios, spokeswoman for the Galicia region's main court. At least 141 people were injured

Japan's trade deficit was a smaller-than-expected 180.8 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in June as the weaker yen boosted exports. The deficit reported by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday was smaller than most forecasts and down from May's deficit of 996.4 billion yen. Still, it was more than triple the 56.1 trillion yen deficit recorded in June 2012. That's largely due to higher costs for fuel imports since most of Japan's nuclear reactors have been shut down since the March 2011 tsunami and nuc

개그맨 고명환과 탤런트 임지은이 교제 중이다. 7월 24일 한 매체는 복수의 연예관계자 말을 빌려 “고명환과 임지은이 교회를 함께 다니면서 신앙생활을 하고 있고 남들처럼 예쁘게 사랑을 키워가고 있다”며 데이트 하는 사진과 함께 보도했다.이에 고명환의 소속사 더솜엔터테인먼트 관계자는 “두 사람이 오래 전부터 친구 사이로 지냈다. 지인들과의 모임을 통해 자주 만나던 사이다. 최근 서로의 마음을 확인하고 연인으로 발전했다. 이제 막 시작하는 단계”라고 밝혔다.임지은의 소속사 DMCC엔터테인먼트 측 역시 “두 사람이 열애 중인 것이다. 모임을 통해 친구로 지내오다 최근 연인으로 발전한 것”이라고 열애를 공식 인정했다.고명환은 1997년 MBC 공채 8기로 데뷔해 ‘개그야’ ‘웃고 또 웃고’ 등 개그 프로그램에 출연했고, 드라마 ‘경성 스캔들’ ‘자체발광 그녀’ ‘그래도 당신’ 등에도 출연했다.임지은은 1998년 드라마 ‘하우등’으로 연예계 데뷔, ‘용서’ ‘결혼합시다’ ‘흥부네 박 터졌네’

지난 2011년 성추문으로 미국 하원의원 자리에서 사임했던 앤서니 위너 (49. 민주당)뉴욕시장 후보가 최근에 온라인 상에서 만난 젊은 여성에서 외설적인 사진과 대화를 서로 교환한 것으로 알려져 파문이 일고 있다.AP통신 등 미국 언론이 23일 (현지시간) 보도한 바에 따르면 자신이 위너와 사진 등을 주고 받았다고 주장한 여성은 이러한 행위가 작년 12월까지 이어졌다고 말했다. 이는 위너가 여러 명의 여성들에게 가운데 부분이 불룩 솟은 사각팬티를 입은 자신의 모습 등 외설적인 사진을 보낸 사실이 발각되면서 의원직에서 사임한 2011년 6월 이후 1년 이상이 지난 시점이다.이는 위너가 사임 이후 이와 같은 행동을 그만두었다고 믿어왔던 그의 지지자들에게는 충격적인 소식이다.위너의 소식을 처음 전한 웹사이트 “더티(The Dirty)”는 그가 보낸 것으로 추정되는 남성의 노출된 성기 사진을 모자이크 처리한 채 공개했으며, 두 사람 사이에서 오간 대화도 공개했다. 이 여성은 자신이 위너를

A parliamentary probe into the state spy agency's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election began Wednesday with a hearing attended by justice ministry officials as rival parties questioned the legitimacy of a now-complete prosecution investigation into the scandal.The parliamentary probe aims to uncover the truth behind allegations that former National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Won Sei-hoon ordered an online smear campaign to sway public opinion in favor of the ruling Saenuri

A fire broke out at a plant of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip and mobile phone maker, on Wednesday, firefighters and company officials said, adding that no one was injured. The fire started at 12:36 p.m. at a chimney above one of the production lines in Samsung's Giheung plant, located in Yongin, just south of Seoul, according to the firefighters.The blaze was put out in about 20 minutes, they added.No casualties were reported, company officials said, adding that the th

South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its second-quarter earnings declined 8 percent from a year earlier largely due to increased marketing costs and one-off costs.Net profit reached 156 billion won (US$140 million) in the April-June period, compared with a profit of 169 billion won a year earlier, LG Electronics said in a regulatory filing.Revenue jumped 10.1 percent on-year to 15.23 trillion won over the cited period, while operating profit declined 9 perce

South Korean stocks were almost flat late Wednesday morning, as large-caps traded mixed amid upbeat expectations on improved corporate earnings, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 1.63 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,905.78 as of 11:20 a.m.Top-cap Samsung Electronics lost 0.3 percent, while second-largest Hyundai Motor went up 0.2 percent. Chemical companies and shipyards were bullish but financial blue chips lost ground. No. 4 lender Shinhan Financial Gro

South Korean stocks reverted to a slight gain on Wednesday after a bearish start, following the 1.3 percent rally of the previous session, analysts said. After opening a tad lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) inched up 0.34 points, or 0.02 percent, to 1,904.49 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Tech and auto blue-chips led the decline, with Samsung Electronics slipping 0.3 percent and Hyundai Motor falling 0.2 percent. But LG Chem, a leading chemical maker, and top g

A House Democratic leader on trade policy on Tuesday said the time is right to press Japan on its closed markets as Japan formally joins the United States and 10 other Asia-Pacific nations in negotiations to create a major new trade bloc.Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, proposed that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks should link the reduction of U.S. auto tariffs to the opening of the Japanese auto market. He said there should also be an enf

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's leading smartphone marker, was found to have one of the most favorable working conditions in South Korea and to have contributed the most to the local economy, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report released by Chaebul.com, a business researcher, the tech giant saw its working environment index reach 66.3 points out of 100, marking the highest grade among 300 local companies tallied.The index takes four criteria -- contributions to the economy, emp