A high-ranking Syrian official called the U.S.-Russian agreement on securing Syria's chemical weapons a “victory” for President Bashar Assad's regime, but the U.S. warned Sunday “the threat of force is real” if Damascus fails to carry out the plan. The comments by Syrian Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haidar to a Russian state news agency were the first by a senior Syrian government official on the deal struck a day earlier in Geneva. Under the agreement, Syria will provide an inventory

Lawrence Summers had, for weeks, been considered the leading candidate to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman.A renowned economist, Summers built close ties to President Barack Obama when he led the president's National Economic Council in 2009 and 2010. In that role, he helped orchestrate the administration's efforts to combat the financial crisis and the Great Recession.But on Sunday, Summers withdrew from consideration for the Fed.  His withdrawal followed growing resistance from

 전세계적인 인기를 끈 ‘해리포터’ 시리즈의 작가 J.K. 롤링이 시리즈의 스핀오프 격 영화의 시나리오를 쓸 것이라고 영국언론이 12일 (현지시간) 보도했다.BBC는 워너 브라더스가 해리포터 소설에 기반한 시리즈를 제작할 예정이라고 밝혔다고 보도했다. 이 시리즈의 첫 영화인 “환상적인 짐승들과 이들을 찾을 수 있는 곳(Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)은 롤링이 쓴 동명의 책에 기반한 것이다.이 책은 시리즈에 나오는 다양한 ‘마법적인 존재’에 대해 다루고 있는 책인데, 해리포터 세계관에 존재하는 마법사 “뉴트 스캐맨더”가 집필했으며 해리포터를 포함한 어린 마법사들이 이 책을 교과서로 공부한다는 설정이다. 뉴트는 새로 제작될 영화에 주요 캐릭터로 나오게 된다.또한 이 영화는 시간상 해리포터 시리즈의 70년 전의 일을 다루게 된다고 한다. 영화의 제작일정은 아직 밝혀지지 않았다.롤링은 처음에 워너 브라더스가 이 책을 영화로 만들자는 제안을 했을 때

China on Friday took a swipe at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's move to lift a ban on exercising the right of collective self-defense, describing it as an "excuses for military expansion." China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks during a regular press briefing, when asked about comments made by Abe on Thursday that emphasized his eagerness to proceed with a national debate on lifting the ban on collective self-defense. Conservative Abe has been trying to lift the ban on

민주당은 13일 혼외아들 의혹이 제기된 채동욱 검찰총장이 전격 사의를 표명한 데 대해 "청와대와 국정원의 검찰 흔들기의 결과"라 고 비판했다. 정호준 원내대변인은 이날 국회 브리핑에서 "모처럼 검찰 독립이 뿌리내리려는 시점에 검찰총장을 흔들어 옷을 벗기는 건 검찰을 권력의 시녀로 길들이려는 음모로 규정한다"고 밝혔다. 그는 황교안 법무장관이 채 총장에 대한 감찰을 지시한 것에 대해 "검찰총장에 대한 감찰은 사상 유례없는 일로 검찰총장을 욕보여 옷 벗게 하려는 의도가 분명하다"며 "감찰 지시가 어떤 경위로 이뤄졌는지 철저히 따질 것"이라고 말했다. 정 원내대변인은 "민주당은 검찰 흔들기로 국정원 국기문란 사건의 진실규명을 방해하는 어떤 책동도 좌시하지 않을 것"이라고 밝혔다. 배재정 대변인은 채 총장 사퇴에 대해 "깊은 유감을 표명한다"며 "채 총장의 사의 표명으로 검찰이 다시 과거회귀, 정치검찰로 회귀해서는 안 된다"고 강조했다. 민주당 법사위원들은 성명을 내고 "황 장관의 감찰 지

The union of South Korea's second-largest automaker Kia Motors Corp. said Friday that its members have voted in favor of a tentative wage deal reached earlier this week.The deal calls for a hike of 97,000 won ($89) in basic salaries and 8.5 million won in incentive payments and performance-related bonuses as well as other benefits.The carmaker said it has agreed to double the amount of social contribution to 2 billion won to support the underprivileged in society.The endorsement came weeks after

Twitter, the short messaging service named after chirping birds, is finally ready to migrate to Wall Street.Fittingly enough, the company resorted to a tweet to titillate its more than 200 million users and a flock of potential investors with its long-awaited plans to pursue an initial public offering of stock.Twitter isn't baring everything about its business just yet because it's taking advantage of federal legislation passed last year that allows companies with less than $1 billion in revenue

National football head coach Hong Myung-bo on Friday departed for England to watch South Koreans in action, saying he will try to watch and meet everyone in the Korean contingent there. Hong is scheduled to return on Sept. 23. In August, he flew to Germany to see three South Korean players in the top-tier Bundesliga.Currently, four South Koreans are with English Premier League sides: Kim Bo-kyung of Cardiff City, Ji Dong-won and Ki Sung-yueng of Sunderland, and Park Chu-young of Arsenal.Two more

Top prosecutor Chae Dong-wook offered to resign Friday over allegations that he secretly had a son through an extramarital affair. The prosecutor general continued to deny the claim by a conservative newspaper, but said he might not be able to carry out his duties amid the scandal. The main opposition Democratic Party suspects that Cheong Wa Dae and the National Intelligence Service may be pulling the strings behind the scenes. Since he took office in April, Chae has spearheaded an investigation

South Korean stocks fell 0.49 percent Friday, snapping the latest streak of bullish runs as investors opted to take profit while taking a breather ahead of the holiday season and a key policy event in the U.S., analysts said.The local currency inched down against the U.S. dollar.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 9.74 points to close at 1,994.32. Trading volume was light at 247.4 million shares worth 3.94 trillion won ($3.62 billion) with decliners outnumbering g

A lower court on Friday handed down prison sentences to Koo Cha-won, chairman of embattled LIG Group, and his eldest son following convictions for fraud.Seoul Central District Court sentenced Koo to three years in prison for inflicting losses on minor shareholders by fraudulently issuing commercial papers. The 77-year-old chairman was put in prison immediately after the verdict.Koo Bon-sang, his first son and the vice chairman of LIG Nex1, was given eight years in prison on the same charge. They

The two Koreas on Friday exchanged lists of candidates for this month’s reunions of separated families. The North’s Red Cross confirmed the survival of 167 people on the list of 250, which was sent on Aug. 29. Excluding the deceased, sick and unwilling, 117 candidates are able to take part in the event on Sept. 25-30 at Mount Geumgangsan, a Unification Ministry official said. The South side said it has also verified the identity and whereabouts of 1,756 members of 149 families, out of 200. It fa

 배우 백윤식 (66)이 서른살 연하의 지상파 방송사 기자와 교제중인 것으로 알려졌다.백윤식은 소속사 나무엑터스 관계자는 13일 “두 사람이 지난해 6월부터 사귀기 시작했다”며 이들이 진지하게 교제 중이라고 밝혔다. 이들은 지인들과의 만남 자리에서 처음 만났다고 한다.백윤식과 이 여성은 아직까지 구체적인 결혼계획은 세우지 않은 것으로 알려졌다.백윤식은 2004년 아내와 이혼했으며 마찬가지로 배우인 아들 백도빈 (35), 백서빈 (29)을 두고 있다. 만약 백윤식이 현재 교제중인 여성과 결혼한다면 백도빈 입장에서는 한살 차이 새엄마가 생기는 셈이다.특유의 카리스마 넘치는 연기로 유명한 백윤식은 드라마와 스크린을 오가며 왕성한 연기활동을 펼치기도 했으며, “지구를 지켜라(2003)에서의 열연으로 대종상 등 주요 시상식의 남우조연상을 휩쓸기도 했다. <관련 영문 기사>Acclaimed actor dating reporter 30 years his juniorActor Baek Yoon-s

Senior citizens' medical expenses covered by South Korea's national health insurance jumped on-year in the first half of 2013, data showed Friday, apparently due to the country's fast-aging trend.According to the data by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), medical expenses for people aged 65 and older came to 8.9 trillion won (US$8.2 billion) in the January-June period, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier.The number accounts for nearly 36 percent of the 24.7 trillion won spent by the fi

An experiment that proved people who think they are drunk also think they are attractive and another that showed lost dung beetles can use the Milky Way to find their way home were among the winners at this year's Ig Nobel awards ceremony held Thursday.This is the 23rd year for the award, sponsored by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research and given out to honor weird and humorous scientific discoveries. The winners come from all over the world.Actual Nobel laureates announced

Striking a tough tone, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened swiftly convened talks with Russia on Syria's chemical weapons Thursday by bluntly rejecting a Syrian pledge to begin a “standard process” by turning over information rather than weapons _ and nothing immediately.That won't do, Kerry declared at an opening news conference, a stone-faced Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at his side. “The words of the Syrian regime in our judgment are simply not enough.”“This is not a game,” Ke

A French satirical weekly Thursday shrugged off Japanese outrage over cartoons mocking the decision to award the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo despite the Fukushima nuclear crisis.Japan angrily denounced the cartoons and said it would lodge a formal complaint with Le Canard Enchaine.But the popular weekly said it took "responsibility for the cartoons without the slightest soul-searching" and complained that the Japanese lacked a sense of humour.One cartoon showed sumo wrestlers with extra limbs competi

Voyager 1 has crossed a new frontier, becoming the first spacecraft ever to leave the solar system, NASA said Thursday.Thirty-six years after it was launched from Earth on a tour of the outer planets, the plutonium-powered probe is more than 11 1/2 billion miles (18.51 billion kilometers) from the sun, cruising through interstellar space _ the vast, cold emptiness between the stars, the space agency said.Voyager 1 actually made its exit more than a year ago, according to NASA. But it's not as if

The global economy faces greater risks of cyclic downturns as the financial markets have become more interconnected since the demise of Lehman Brothers five years ago, the Bank of Korea chief warned.In a meeting with commercial bankers on Friday, BOK Gov. Kim Choong-soo said the interconnectedness of markets worldwide had become “stronger” as economies tried to fix the global crisis.This market development is likely to increase financial risks worldwide, the central bank chief said.He added that

South Korea's flag carriers will work to further reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through improving the fuel efficiency of their aircraft and other measures, the government said Friday.The country's seven airlines will voluntarily cut their greenhouse gas emissions under an agreement signed with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The airlines will be given additional starting points, depending on their performance of the agreement, when applying for new air routes, the minis