Scotland may have to reapply for membership of international organisations such as the U.N. and EU if it votes for independence, according to legal advice published by the British government on Monday.The rest of the United Kingdom would be a "continuing state" with the same status it currently has in international law if Scotland secedes after a 2014 referendum, two experts said in a legal opinion commissioned by London.But Scotland would become a "new state" and therefore would not automatical

Three doctors murdered in a knife attack in a northeastern town in Nigeria originally thought to be South Koreans were of North Korean nationality, said South Korean officials on Sunday quoting remarks by police in the African country.Earlier, foreign media reports said that attackers killed three South Korean doctors by slitting their throats and beheading one of the physicians Saturday night in Potiskum, a town in Yobe State that has long been under attack by the radical Islamic sect Boko Hara

A young mother accused of sorcery was stripped naked, doused with petrol and burned alive in front of a crowd including schoolchildren in Papua New Guinea, reports said Thursday.The woman, named by The National newspaper as Kepari Leniata, 20, was reportedly tortured with a branding iron and tied up, splashed with fuel and set alight on a pile of rubbish topped with car tires.According to the rival Post-Courier newspaper she was torched by villagers who claimed she killed a six-year-old boy thro

U.S. President Barack Obama, under pressure over a lack of diversity in top cabinet appointments, on Wednesday picked business executive Sally Jewell to head the vast Interior Department.Obama has been criticized for naming middle-aged white men to top jobs on his second-term team, but he has pledged to promote diversity in his other picks and has now settled on several prominent females.If confirmed by the Senate, Jewell -- who heads Recreational Equipment Inc., an outdoors retail chain -- will

South Korea's economy is facing slowing employment and sluggish domestic consumption despite overall improvements in other major indicators, a government report showed Thursday, emphasizing that it will continue its policy efforts to boost economic vitality down the road. "Recently, our economy is seeing its inflation stabilize with production, investment, exports and other major indicators also improving," the finance ministry said in the monthly report that analyzes the latest economic trends

파밍 수법을 이용해 개인 정보를 낚아 예금 수억원을 가로챈 금융사기 조직원들이 경찰에 구속되었다. 파밍 수법은 각 이용자의 컴퓨터를 악성코드에 감염시켜 즐겨찾기 또는 포털사이트 검색을통해 금융회사 등의 정상홈페이지 주소로 접속해도 피싱사이트로 유도하는 신종 사기 수법이다. 파밍 수법을 이용해 총 120회에 걸처 6억원 상당을 가로챈 최씨는 피해자들이 오인 위 사이트에 접속하면 ‘보안승급’을 강화하여야 한다 라는 내용의 팝업창을 띄워 계좌번호, 비밀번호, 보안카드번호 등을 입력하게 했다. 파밍 수법은 국제적으로 이루어졌다. 피의자들은 한국인 최씨로부터 배달된 타인 명의 현금카드를 중국에 있는 공범 이씨에게 알려주고 피해자들의 돈을 편취했다. 소요시간은 1분에서 10분 사이였다. ‘파밍’ 사이트는 금융업에 종사하는 전문인도 생김새로는 구분할 수 없어 피해를 본 사실이 있으므로 보안카드번호 전부를 요구하는 경우는 무조건 파밍사이트로 판단해 각별한 주의가 필요한 실정이라고 서대문경찰서는 전

The South Korean currency hit an 18-month high against the U.S. dollar last month following monetary easing by economic powerhouses, data showed Wednesday, sparking concern over exporters' profitability.The local currency changed hands at an average of 1,066.54 won against the greenback in January, the highest since July 2011, according to the data by the Korea Center for International Finance. Its previous monthly high against the dollar was 1,047.11 won quoted in August 2008. The won gained 8.

A U.S. study found Wednesday that Samsung Electronics has taken the top spot from Apple in smartphones in customer loyalty and engagement. According to the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, Samsung was ranked No.1 in the smartphone category recording the highest emotional engagement level with its customers.Apple came in second, followed by LG Electronics in third, Nokia and Sony tied for fourth and Motorola in fifth place, it said. Taiwanese HTC and BlackBerry maker RIM were also ne

North Korea could conduct a nuclear test soon with either plutonium-based devices or highly enriched uranium, or with both, "a destabilizing event" that would prevent the United States from returning to negotiations but would not threaten the country, a former U.S. secretary of defense said Wednesday.Pyongyang has vowed to conduct its third nuclear test in retaliation for the U.N. Security Council's resolution condemning its Dec. 12 long-range rocket launch, and there have been a series of signs

Major foreign investment banks' average growth outlook for the South Korean economy has been downgraded to the 2 percent range for 2013 as growth momentum remains weak amid the global downturn, a report showed Wednesday.A total of 10 investment banks forecast that Asia's fourth-largest economy will grow an average of 2.9 percent as of the end of January, down from a 3 percent estimate made in the previous month, according to a report by the Korea Center for International Finance.Their outlooks c

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, agreed Tuesday that the world's two supreme powers need to work together to deal with North Korea's threats to carry out another nuclear test.The two discussed North Korea and other pending issues over the phone "for quite a while," Kerry's department said."They agreed on the importance of continuing to work to strengthen U.S.-China relations, notably including in the economic, trade and investment sphere. They also dis

President Barack Obama asked Congress Tuesday to construct a package of short-term spending cuts and tax revenue to put off the automatic across-the-board cuts now scheduled to kick in March 1, in a bid to dodge a potentially disastrous hit on the still weak U.S. economy.Fearing that hard-core Republican budget-cutters in Congress are prepared to let the automatic cuts take effect, a move that some economists worry would send the country back into recession, Obama asked lawmakers to produce an i

아직 개봉 전인데도 한국의 해외합작영화이자 봉준호의 할리우드 데뷔작 <설국열차>에 대한 열기가 뜨겁다.  영화는 프랑스 SF 만화 “Le Transperceneige”를 원작으로 한 스릴러. 국내배우 송강호와 고아성이 에드 해리스, 크리스 에반스, 그리고 <케빈에 대하여>, <아이엠러브>로 국내 팬층이 두터워진 영국 배우 틸다 스윈튼과 함께 출연한다.  올 상반기엔 송강호와 스윈튼 외에도 반가운 얼굴들을 찾아볼 수 있을 예정이다. <설국열차>를 필두로 해외합작 프로젝트 영화들이 대거 개봉을 앞두고 있기 때문. 특히 이 영화들을 통해 컴백하는 아시아 스타들 중에는 한국의 대표적인 케이팝 가수  보아, 세계적인 중국계 여배우 양자경 등이 포함돼 있어 더욱 기대를 모은다. 아시아의 별 보아는 올해 댄스영화 로 할리우드에 데뷔한다. 미국의 댄서 출신 배우 데릭 허프와 호흡을 맞췄다.  영화는 셰익스피어의 고전 ‘로미오와 줄리엣’을 모티브로, 각기 다른 환경에서 자란 두 남녀

A Scottish university has discovered a remote-learning course on alien life is popular, attracting thousands of terrestrials from as far away as China.Charles Cockell, who teaches "astrobiology and the search for extra-terrestrial life" at Edinburgh University, told The Scotsman he was astonished by the geographical diversity of students attracted to the course.Those eager to learn about life on other planets -- from the comfort of their earthly homes -- include high school students, retirees in

SK Telecom Co., the country's top mobile operator, on Tuesday reported a two-fold growth in its fourth-quarter profit from a year earlier due to a decrease in marketing costs.Net profit came to 519.1 billion won (US$477.5 million) in the October-December period, compared with a profit of 195.5 billion won a year earlier, SK Telecom said in a regulatory filing.Revenue rose 6 percent on-year to 4.2 trillion won, and operating profit jumped 37.6 percent to 544.6 billion won.The stronger bottom line

He was king of England, but for centuries he lay without shroud or coffin in an unknown grave, and his name became a byword for villainy.On Monday, scientists announced they had rescued the remains of Richard III from anonymity _ and the monarch's fans hope a revival of his reputation will soon follow.In a dramatically orchestrated news conference, a team of archaeologists, geneticists, genealogists and other scientists from the University of Leicester announced that tests had proven what they s

South Korean game giant NCsoft Corp. said Tuesday it posted a record quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of last year on the back of its flagship game Lineage and the successful launch of new games.Consolidated net profit reached 101.9 billion won ($93.7 million) in the October-December period, growing nearly six-fold from 17.1 billion won the previous year, NCsoft said in a regulatory filing.Revenue more than doubled to a record 283.4 billion won in the cited period, while operating profit s

The 10th Special Olympics World Winter Games wraps up Tuesday in PyeongChang, after eight days of celebrating the dreams and hopes of those with intellectual disabilities, and urging the international community to help improve the lives of the intellectually disabled.The closing ceremony is set for 7 p.m. at Yongpyong Dome in PyeongChang, about 180 kilometers east of Seoul. More than 3,000 athletes and officials from 106 countries took part in this year's event, under the motto "Together, We Can

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday announced in the U.S. plans to pour some $1.1 billion into buttressing its business platform in Silicon Valley, still considered the heart of global IT industries.The Samsung Ventures America Fund ― originally formed to facilitate Samsung’s global investment into venture companies ― will be providing $1 billion, while another $100 million will come from the Samsung Catalyst Fund. “We see tremendous opportunities and transformations over the next five years driven b

South Korea's manufacturing sector growth lagged behind that of the service sector for the first time in three years in 2012 as exports were hurt by the global economic downturn, data showed Tuesday.The country's manufacturing sector grew 2.2 percent on-year in 2012, compared with a 2.4 percent on-year gain logged by the service industry, according to data by the central bank.The 2012 data marked the first time since 2009 that the growth of the service sector outpaced that of the manufacturing i