SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., emphasized the importance of software technologies, a talented workforce and patents in a speech to Samsung's executives, the electronics giant said Friday. His remarks came after the consumer electronics giant reported a slump in its second-quarter profit as consumer spending in the advanced economies is weighed down by

Popular Korean actor Yoo Seung-ho was injured in a major car accident Friday in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province while heading to a filming set for the television show he stars in, according to reports.The car that carried Yoo lost control on a highway due to heavy rainfall. After the accident, Yoo was transferred to a hospital in Seoul and was reportedly suffering from fractures around his ey

An American nursing assistant had been charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault of a 93-year-old patient suffering from dementia.Robert Phelan Jr., 56, was allegedly witnessed by another staff member while having inappropriate contact with the victim at Lexington Health Care, Illinois. Phelan had been working at the facility for less than two weeks.Aggravated criminal sexual assault is refe

Fans dedicated a Facebook group to a local celebrity to make him the town’s official Olympic torch bearer, according to reports.　 Gordon Roberts from Bournemouth, England, is getting the support of 4,500 people who plan to nominate him as their “inspirational member of the community.”With his trademark white beard, scarf and jacket, the 82-year-old is known as a “big part of the community and alwa

SK Communications Co. said on Thursday that personal information of its 35 million online users has been hacked, marking South Korea’s worst online security breach and sparking fears that the leak could lead to massive online and voice scams in coming weeks. “The company has confirmed that a leak of customers’ information has taken place due to hacking on July 26,” SK said in a statement. “The spe

LONDON (AP) _ Before he carried out the attacks that killed scores of people in Norway, Anders Behring Breivik wrote of his allegiance to the Knights Templar, which he described as a secret society created to carry out a crusade against Islam in Europe.While law enforcement agencies said they had never heard of the group, a man named Paul Ray, who writes an anti-Muslim blog called ``Lionheart,'' h

A McDonald‘s Cheeseburger Happy Meal with the new apple slices option is shown on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 in Pittsburgh. McDonald’s Corp. says it is adding apple slices to every Happy Meal, part of the chain‘s larger push to paint itself as a healthy place to eat. (AP-Yonhap News)McDonald’s plans to include fruit and vegetables in its children’s meal sets in response to growing health concerns rela

A cargo plane operated by Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-largest flagship carrier, crashed into the sea off Jeju Island early Thursday, killing two, the Coast Guard said.Debris of the Boeing-744 aircraft, which departed from Incheon International Airport at 3:05 a.m. heading for China's Pudong, was found in waters about 107 kilometers west of the city of Jeju by a Coast Guard patrol boat at

A Chinese couple is being accused for selling their children so that they could play video games at internet cafes, according to reports.Li Lin and Li Juan, who first met at an Internet café in 2007, decided to sell their second child, daughter, for 3,000 yuan (about $500).After spending their earnings, the couple sold their first child, a son, for 30,000 yuan. When their third son was born, the p

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The wealth gaps between whites and minorities in the United States have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tabulating them a quarter-century ago. The recession and uneven recovery have erased decades of minority gains, leaving whites on average with 20 times the net worth of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics, according to an analysis of new Census da

BRUSSELS (AFP)— An unidentified flying object photographed high in the Belgian sky that puzzled even NASA scientists turns out to have been a fake made out of foam, the man behind the hoax said Tuesday.Though scientists pored over the picture of a triangular-shaped flying saucer with four lights, allegedly photographed in April 1990 by a young worker, the mystery remained intact until the man's re

The Norwegian mass murderer wished to meet South Korean President Lee Myung-bak along with other global leaders, according to reports.Anders Behring Breivick included President Lee on the list of global leaders that he want to meet in his 1,518 page document entitled “2083: A European Declaration of Independence.”　He mentioned the Pope and Putin, and other global leaders such as Geert Wilders and

OSLO, Norway (AP) _ When Anders Behring Breivik launched his assault on the youth campers of Utoya Island, he expected Norway's special forces to swoop down and stop him at any minute.Instead, Delta Force police officers made the 25-mile (40-kilometer) journey by car _ they have no helicopter _ then had to be rescued by a civilian craft when their boat broke down as it tried to navigate a one-minu

OSLO, Norway (AP) _ A dreadlocked teenage musician who made it onto a television talent show. A secretary who might have survived if her bicycle hadn't been in the shop. A gentle young man whose last phone conversation with his father broke off with the words, ``Dad, someone is shooting.''All were among the 76 victims of Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo and the island summer-camp shooting spree t

OSLO, Norway (AP) _ The suspect in the bombing and mass shooting that killed 76 people in Norway sees himself as ``some kind of savior'' and is likely insane, his attorney said Tuesday, though the lawyer said he did not know whether he would use an insanity defense.Geir Lippestad told The Associated Press in an interview that his client, Anders Behring Breivik, is unaware of the impact of the atta

OSLO, Norway (AP) _ The father of a victim of the Norway massacre said Tuesday his son was full of love for people and for the outdoors _ and the young man's last words to him were ``Dad, someone is shooting.''Norwegian police on Tuesday began releasing the names of those killed in last week's bomb blast and massacre at a Labor Party youth camp, an announcement likely to bring new collective grief

CHUNCHEON, South Korea (Yonhap) -- Heavy torrential rains pounded the nation's central regions, causing a landslide in a mountain resort east of Seoul that killed nine and destroyed four buildings, emergency rescue workers said as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning.The landslide, which occurred just after midnight near the Soyang River Dam about 100 kilometers east of Seoul, destroyed a pension and th

Korean heartthrob Hyun Bin has contributed to a book on his daily life in the marines, according to reports.In the book titled “I am a Marine,” Hyun is one of the eight writers who portrayed their lives as marines and talked about how their duties have changed them. The photo shows marine Hyun Bin preparing for military training.(Yes24 via Yonhap)The book is drawing public attention, particularly

CHICAGO (AP) _ To some, Park Ji-sung seemed to be nothing more than a human marketing ploy when he arrived at Manchester United in 2005.Fans figured the English Premier League team simply wanted to raise its profile and sell more merchandise in Asia, and adding a South Korean player seemed to be the easiest path for the world's most popular club to reach an even broader audience.So much for that:

OSLO, July 25, 2011 (AFP) - Anders Behring Breivik, who admitted carrying out last week's twin attacks in Norway, should have committed suicide instead of killing 76 people, his estranged father told TV2 in an interview shown Monday."I think that ultimately he should have taken his own life rather than kill so many people," Jens Breivik said in the interview recorded in Cournanel in the south of F