US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump vowed to renegotiate trade deals as he clashed with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton during their crucial first television debate."We have to renegotiate our trade deals and we have to stop these countries from stealing our companies and our jobs," Trump said during the nationally televised debate held in New York, once again displaying deeply negative views of free trade.Trump called the North American Free Trade Agreement "defective" and "one

South Korean refiners may report stronger-than-expected earnings for the third quarter as their refining margins are forecast to have rebounded sharply in August, industry sources said Tuesday.The benchmark Singapore complex gross refining margin hovered above $7 per barrel this month, sharply up from $3.9 in August, according to the sources. Singapore is the regional trading hub of the benchmark Dubai crude.The margin is the difference between the total value of petroleum products from oil refi

Seventy three credit-specialized finance firms in South Korea, excluding credit card companies, saw their net profits jump more than 25 percent on-year in the first half of this year thanks to less loan loss costs and lower interest rates, official data showed Tuesday.Their aggregate net profits amounted to 959.7 billion won ($866 million) during the six months, up 25.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.It's mainly attributable to a reduction in delinque

Smuggling by airline crews has been increasing, mostly from gold bars snuck in by staff on Vietnamese carriers, a customs agency tally showed Tuesday.A report submitted by the Korea Customs Service to ruling party Rep. Park Myung-jae said the monetary value of items smuggled in by flight crews from 2014 to June this year totaled 1.08 billion won ($973,850). The amount compares with less than 100 million won in 2013 before jumping to 440 million won in 2014.The report highlighted repeated smuggli

The United States on Monday blacklisted a Chinese firm, its owner and three other company officials, and announced criminal charges against them for assisting North Korea with its nuclear and missile programs, a landmark move representing the first-ever sanctions on a Chinese entity over Pyongyang's weapons programs.The sanctions on Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Company Ltd and its officials followed recent revelations that the firm exported aluminum oxide, which can be used in enrich

North Korea threatened to use nukes to retaliate against the United States if Washington policymakers continue to blackmail Pyongyang with nuclear weapons, the North's state media said Tuesday.North Korea's Institute of International Studies on Monday unveiled a memorandum exposing what it called Washington's nuclear crimes, according to the Korean Central News Agency.It said the criminal nature of Washington's nuclear policy can be most evidently found in its stance toward North Korea."As long

South Korea's opposition parties said Tuesday the head of the ruling Saenuri Party should end his hunger strike and work to normalize the regular audit session that has been paralyzed by partisan dispute.The remarks came as Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, who heads the Saenuri Party, announced he will go on an indefinite hunger strike on Monday, demanding National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun resign amid the controversy over his political neutrality.Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, who heads the ruling Saenuri Party,

The number of South Koreans with sleeping disorders has been increasing over the past few years, data showed Tuesday, urging the government to come up with campaigns on the proper use of related treatment drugs.According to the data compiled by Rep. In Jae-keun of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, the number of South Koreans diagnosed with insomnia came to 456,000 in 2015, up 40 percent from 325,000 tallied in 2011.The amount of related medical expenses also reached 50.2 billion won ($4

Hospitals have put their staff on alert for violations of a new, strong anti-corruption law that prohibits and punishes what have been considered common practices with patients, medical officials said Tuesday.The law, referred to as the Kim Young-ran law after the former Supreme Court justice who initiated it, bars hospital staff from rearranging the order of appointments, surgeries and other medical services to insert a patient ahead of others or to give favors in selecting rooms for hospitaliz

 A local court sentenced a 35-year-old South Korean man to a year in prison on charges of placing a fake explosive with a warning written in Arabic at the country's main airport, court records showed Tuesday.The appeals department at the Incheon District Court found the man, whose identity was withheld, guilty of disrupting normal operations at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul in late January. This photo shows a threatening note found at Incheon International Airport, released by the

26일 오전 6시 30분(현지시간)께 미국 텍사스 주 휴스턴 시 남서부에 있는 한 쇼핑몰에서 총기 난사 사건이 발생했다.이 사건으로 9명이 다쳤다. 출동한 경찰은 용의자를 현장에서 사살했다고 밝혔다.미국 언론에 따르면, 마사 몬탤보 휴스턴 경찰국장은 기자 회견에서 "사살된 용의자는 사건 현장 주변에 사는 변호사이며 소속 법률회사와 문제를 겪었다"고 발표 했으나 구체적인 신원 정보는 공개하지 않았다. (Yonhap-AP)경찰은 자신들을 향해 총을 겨눈 용의자에게 곧바로 대응 사격해 사살했다. 부상자 9명 중 3명은 현장에서 응급 의료진의 치료를 받았다. 병원으로 옮겨진 6명 중 3명의 상태는 양호하고 1명도 괜찮은 편이나 나머지 2명의 상태는 각각 위중 과 심각으로 좋지 않다고 몬탤보 경찰국장은 소개했다.총기 난사 현장에서 다수의 화기를 발견한 경찰은 폭발물 탐지 로봇을 용의자의 차량에 투입해 추가 인화 물질이 있는지를 살폈다. 아울러 용의자의 집도 수색할 예 정이다.경찰은 추가 용의

목성의 위성 가운데 가장 큰 유로파 에서 수증기 발산 흔적이 발견됐다.미국 항공우주국(나사)은 26일(현지시간) 허블 망원경을 통해 유로파에서 수증기 발산 흔적을 찾아냈다고 발표했다. 앞서 나사는 "유로파에서 '놀라운 활동 증거'(Surprising evidence of activity)를 허블 망원경으로 찾았다"고 공표한 바 있다. 나사의 이날 발표는 유로파 지하에 바다의 존재 가능성을 입증할 단서를 찾았다는 점에서 주목된다. (Yonhap-AFP)실제로 유로파는 생명체 존재 가능성이 높게 거론되는 후보지 중 하나로 꼽혀왔다. 유로파 표면 아래에 바다의 존재 가능성 때문이다. 지난 2013년에는 위성 남반구에서 거대한 물기둥이 솟구치는 장면이 포착되기도 했다.나사는 지난 2011년 8월 아틀라스Ⅴ 로켓에 무인 탐사선 주노(Juno)를 실어 발사했다. 무게 4t의 육각형 모양인 주노는 5년간의 비행 끝에 지난 7월 목성 궤도에 진입해 탐사 작업에 들어갔다.유로파는 목성이 보유한 67

KT Corp., South Korea's largest broadband Internet operator, said Monday it has acquired the nation's top online advertising agency N Search Marketing Corp.The acquisition paves the way for KT to make inroads into the growing market for search-based ads.KT and its online ad affiliate Nasmedia Corp. purchased a 100 percent stake in N Search Marketing from the ad agency's parent company Hahn & Company for 60 billion won ($54.1 million).KT owns a 33.3 percent stake in N Search Marketing, while Nasm

South Korea's railway and subway workers will go on strike against the government's performance-based pay system later this week, marking the first joint strike between the two sectors in some two decades, labor unions said Monday.The walkout scheduled to begin Tuesday is part of a series of strikes carried out by union workers in the public sector, which started last week with the Federation of Korean Public Industry Trade Unions.The Seoul Metropolitan Government said subway services will run w

The justice ministry said Monday it has recently started sharing the fingerprint information of all foreigners in the country with police as part of efforts to better deal with domestic crimes committed by aliens.In South Korea, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for collecting personal information on all foreigners.This has often been cited for a delay in police investigations to arrest foreign suspects, as they had to send official documents to the ministry to gain access to such informati

South Korea's imports increased sharply in August in both quantity and value, led by the machinery and chemical sectors, the central bank data showed Monday.The import volume index jumped 7.5 percent to 124.58 in the month from a year earlier, marking the largest growth since late 2014, according to the Bank of Korea. It's a 5.6 percent rise from 117.94 recorded in July.By item, the imports of machinery and chemical products rose 22.7 percent and 18.9 percent on-year, respectively.Metal, coal, p

South Korea's agrofisheries sector has been getting older rapidly amid the low birthrate and urbanization, statistics data showed Monday.The average age of South Korean farmers and fishers who head households were 65.3 years old on average in 2015, up 3.3 years from 62 years old tallied five years earlier, according to the latest census data compiled by Statistics Korea.The percentage of those aged 65 years and over reached 37.8 percent last year, much higher than the 13.2 percent in the total p

A B-1B strategic bomber returned to its base in Guam on Sunday after a short stay in South Korea that aimed to warn North Korea against any further provocations, military officials said Monday."The B-1B Lancer returned to Andersen Air Base last night after remaining at Osan Air Base since Wednesday in a show of force against the North's latest nuclear test," a defense ministry official told Yonhap News Agency. Pyongyang conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 9 despite intern

The number of refugees seeking to settle in South Korea jumped five-fold in 2015 from three years earlier, data showed Monday. According to data compiled by Rep. Jung Sung-ho of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, the number of asylum seekers in South Korea came to 5,711 in 2015, jumping from 1,143 posted in 2012. Around 4,800 refugees also knocked on South Korea's door through end-August this year, the data also showed. Jung, however, said the number of immigration-handling workers is fa

National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun on Monday requested the opposition parties to delay the regular parliamentary audit, as the ruling party vowed to stage a boycott questioning the political neutrality of the parliamentary speaker.The 20-day audit officially commenced proceedings despite predictions of a bumpy road amid the absence of the ruling Saenuri Party.The boycott came after South Korea's opposition parties passed a motion to dismiss the country's farm minister over alleged ethical