South Korean electronics giant Samsung is set to buy a three-percent stake in struggling Japanese rival Sharp via a capital increase, a press report said Tuesday, a deal that would give Samsung greater access to smartphone and tablet computer screens.The Japanese economic newspaper Nikkei said in its online edition that Sharp would sell Samsung new shares worth around 10 billion yen (83 million euros, $108 million), and use the funds it earned to bolster its bottom line.An official announcement

South Korea's central bank said Wednesday it increased its holding of gold in three months in February in a bid to diversify the portfolio of its foreign exchange reserves worth more than US$320 billion.The Bank of Korea (BOK) said it bought 20 tons of gold, raising the central bank's gold holdings to 104.4 tons valued at US$4.79 billion as of end-February.The move marked the BOK's fifth purchase of the yellow metal since July 2011 when the bank bought gold for the first time in 13 years. It als

A U.S.-China draft resolution aimed at reining in North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program would impose some of the strongest sanctions ever ordered by the United Nations, in a move certain to infuriate the regime and inflame tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The proposed resolution put forward by the United States and China _ North Korea's closest ally _ followed Pyongyang's third nuclear test on Feb. 12. It reflected the U.N. Security Council's growing anger over the country's defia

Feb. 4, 1992 -- Army paratrooper Lt. Col. Chavez leads botched coup against President Carlos Andres Perez. Faces possible 30-year prison term.March 26, 1994 -- After two years in jail awaiting trial, Chavez and fellow plotters set free when President Rafael Caldera dismisses charges.Dec. 6, 1998 -- Wins presidential election, promising to seek “third way” between socialism and capitalism.Feb. 2, 1999 -- Hours after being sworn in, decrees referendum on whether to rewrite constitution.April 25, 1

Reactions to the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were as mixed, polemical and outsized as the leader was in life, with some saying his passing was a tragic loss and others calling it an opportunity for Venezuela to escape his long shadow.Seen as a hero by some for his anti-U.S. rhetoric and gifts of cut-rate oil, others considered him a bully.A teary-eyed Bolivian President Evo Morales, one of Chavez's closest allies and most loyal disciples, declared that “Chavez is more alive than ev

Vice President Nicolas Maduro is taking over leadership of Hugo Chavez's political movement after the socialist leader died Tuesday at age 58 following a nearly two-year bout with cancer. Maduro now faces the daunting task of rallying support in a deeply divided country while maintaining unity within his party's ranks.Maduro decidedly lacks the vibrant personality that made Chavez a one-man political phenomenon in Venezuela, but he has the advantage of being Chavez's hand-picked successor.The mu

President Hugo Chavez was a fighter. The former paratroop commander and fiery populist waged continual battle for his socialist ideals and outsmarted his rivals time and again, defeating a coup attempt, winning re-election three times and using his country's vast oil wealth to his political advantage.A self-described “subversive,” Chavez fashioned himself after the 19th Century independence leader Simon Bolivar and renamed his country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.He called himself a “hum

South Korea was knocked out of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) on Tuesday, despite a 3-2 win over Taiwan.In the first-round Pool B meeting on Tuesday at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, Kang Jung-ho hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the three-run eighth inning, but it wasn't enough to give South Korea the necessary margin of victory to advance in the tournament.South Korea needed to beat Taiwan by at least six runs to qualify for the next round outright, or win by five for a chance

스티븐 스필버그의 1993년작 ‘쉰들러 리스트’에 아역배우로 출연했던 여성이 이 경험으로 인해 심한 고통을 받았었다고 고백했다.올리비아 다브로브스카 (24)는 최근 영국 언론과의 인터뷰에서 만 세 살 때 촬영했던 이 영화를 11살 때 처음보고 “몸서리를 쳤다(horrified)”라고 말했다.“이 영화에 출연한 게 수치스러웠고, 제 영화 내의 역할에 대해 부모님이 누군가에게 말할 때마다 화가 났죠”라고 그녀는 말했다.‘쉰들러 리스트는 제 2차 세계대전 나치에 의해 자행된 유대인 대학살을 다룬 흑백영화로서, 다브로보스카는 여기서 한 어린 유대인 희생자 역을 맡았다. 주인공인 오스카 쉰들러는 수용소에 있는 군중 속에서 어린 소녀의 모습을 보고, 나중에 그녀의 시신을 본 다음 유대인을 최대한 많이 살려야겠다는 마음을 먹게 된다.이 장면에서 붉은 옷을 입고 있는 소녀의 모습은 영화에서 유일하게 색을 띠고 있는 장면이다.다브로보스카는 감독 스필버그와 “18세가 되면 영화를 보겠다”라고 약속했음

A breakdown of a ventilator at a chemical factory in southeastern South Korea caused the leakage of chlorine gas on Tuesday, injuring 11 employees, police and company officials said.Around 1 liter of the toxic gas was leaked at around 8:50 a.m. at the Gumi Chemical factory located in the Gumi National Industrial Complex, some 200 kilometers southeast of Seoul, while workers there were trying to transfer the liquid gas from a tanker.A 35-year-old employee was sent to a nearby hospital for difficu

South Korea on Tuesday reported a "significant progress" at the U.N. Security Council debate over how to punish North Korea for conducting a nuclear test last month, the foreign ministry said, as the council is set to hold a meeting in New York."A significant progress has been made (at the U.N. Security Council over sanctions against North Korea), but no final agreement has been reached yet," foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said. Cho confirmed that the Security Council will hold a meeti

최근 온라인에서 인기를 끈 ‘맥도날드 27만원’이란 명칭이 붙은 사진이 외신에도 소개가 되는 등 화제가 되고 있다.지난달 말엽에 등장한 이 사진에는 테이블에 앉아 어마어마한 양의 감자튀김을 먹는 청소년들이 등장한다. 설명에 따르면 이 청소년들은 부산대역에 있는 맥도날드 패스트푸드점을 찾아가 27만원어치 감자튀김을 주문했다고 한다.영국의 데일리 메일, 가디언, 미국의 ABC뉴스 등은 외신은 “아시아에서 ‘감자파티’가 유행하고 있다’라며 놀라움을 표했다. 가디언은 “한국의 아이들이 맥도날드에서 어마어마한 양의 감자튀김을 주문해 마구 먹는 (stuffing their face) 모습을 찍는 유행을 따르고 있다”라고 보도했다.온라인 게임 사이트 코타쿠닷컴에 따르면 이와 같은 유행이 시작된 곳은 일본이라고 한다.일본 맥도날드는 작년에 모든 사이즈의 감자튀김 가격을 150엔 (한화 약 1,700원)으로 균일화하는 세일을 했다고 한다. 이에 한 트위터 사용자가 라지 사이즈의 감자튀김 23통를 사

The United States and China have reached agreement on a new draft sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, U.N. diplomats said late Monday.The U.N. Security Council announced late Monday evening that it will hold closed consultations on North Korea and non-proliferation at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made, said the United States is expected to circulate a draft resolution to the full c

China targeted 2013 economic growth of 7.5 percent and vowed an unwavering fight against corruption Tuesday at the start of an annual parliamentary session that will seal its transition to new leadership.Outgoing premier Wen Jiabao pledged to protect China's "territorial integrity" as the government laid down another double-digit rise in military spending to modernize the world's largest standing army, at a time of mounting tensions.In his final major act after a decade in charge of day-to-day g

The BP executive who led the company's probe of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion denied Monday that his investigators narrowly focused on rig workers' actions to spare onshore engineers and managers from blame for the disaster.At the start of the second week of a trial over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a lawyer for rig owner Transocean Ltd. asked the BP executive, Mark Bly, why his team's report doesn't mention a call from BP rig supervisor Donald Vidrine to an onshore engineer l

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that diplomacy has so far failed to deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, warning it was getting closer to crossing a crucial "red line.""Iran enriches more and more uranium, it installs faster and faster centrifuges," and it is "running out the clock" on diplomatic efforts to prevent the Islamic republic from obtaining nuclear capability, Netanyahu said."We have to stop its nuclear enrichment program before it's too late," he warned

A professional basketball coach is expected to be summoned for questioning over allegations of game rigging, state prosecutors said Monday.Prosecutors in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, said they already arrested one person for carrying out illegal activities and plan in the near future to summon a coach suspected of playing a leading role in the game-rigging scheme.No names were given, but investigators claimed the coach received 30 million won ($27,500) for fixing a game that occurred roughly two y

The White House scoffed Monday at reports that North Korea's young leader hopes for a phone conversation with President Barack Obama."The United States has direct channels of communications with the DPRK (North Korea)," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at a press briefing.Instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain his nation's elite, he stressed, the North Korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people, who suffer from starvation and human righ

Cyprus police said on Sunday they had alerted Interpol over a possible sighting of missing British girl Madeleine McCann in the holiday resort of Ayia Napa.Police spokesman Andreas Angelides told AFP that a Briton informed police he had "seen a girl who looked like Madeleine with a British couple as one of their three children."He said this information was given to police on February 20 and they passed it on to the European authorities."We asked Interpol to also look into the matter," Angelides

세계적인 바이올리니스트 김민진의 도난당한 바이올린의 소재가 파악되었을 가능성이 있다고 영국 언론이 3일 (현지시간) 보도했다.데일리 메일 보도에 따르면, 불가리아 당국은 최근 김민진의 도난당한 스트라디바리우스 바이올린일 가능성이 있는 악기를 확보했다고 한다. 보도에 따르면 현지 집시 범죄조직의 우두머리 흐리스토 바르바노브가 불가리아의 비밀경찰에게 이 바이올린을 2만5천 파운드에 팔려고 시도했다고 한다.영국 경찰은 이 악기가 김민진의 것이 맞는지 조사하고 있으나, 현재 도난상태에 있는 스트라디바리우스는 3대밖에 없기 때문에 김민진의 악기일 가능성이 높다고 밝혔다.이 바이올린은 김민진이 2010년 런던의 유스턴 기차역에서 샌드위치를 사다가 도난당했다는데, 당시 스트라디바리우스의 가치를 전혀 알지 못한 도난범 존 모건은 고작 100파운드에 이 악기를 팔려고 했다고 한다.김민진이 2000년에 구입한 걸로 알려진 이 악기의 현재 가치는 약 120만 파운드 (한화 약 19억 7천만원)에 달한다