BANGKOK (AP) -- The sister of Thailand's fugitive former prime minister led his loyalists to a landslide election victory Sunday, a stunning rout of the military-backed government that last year crushed protests by his supporters with a bloody crackdown that left the capital in flames.The results pave the way for Thaksin Shinawatra's youngest sister, widely considered his proxy, to become the nati

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) decided Friday to pay out an interim dividend of 1,510 won ($1.42) per share for the second quarter, a move that will allow its biggest shareholder Lone Star Funds to rake in large profits. This marks the record amount of quarterly dividends that Korea's fifth-largest lender has ever paid out, enabling U.S.buyout fund Lone Star to receive dividends worth 496.8 billion won

A talk between representatives of workers and management to set the mandatory minimum wage broke down on Friday due to an unbridgeable price gap, dimming prospects of reaching an early agreement.The Minimum Wage Council, in which representatives of the government, labor and corporate management jointly set the wage level, managed to hold a last-ditch meeting on Thursday to determine the new minimu

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese President Hu Jintao warned the ruling Communist Party faced severe "growing pains" as it turned 90 on Friday and said corruption, and alienation from China's masses, could erode public support.But in a speech on the anniversary of its 1921 founding, Hu gave no sign that the party intended to loosen the iron grip on political power it has maintained for more than six tumultu

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Incoming US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who takes the helm at the Pentagon on Friday, is determined to avoid gutting the US military despite the prospect of difficult budget decisions.Panetta, 73, who is stepping down as head of the CIA, is due to take over at 8:45 am (1245 GMT) from Robert Gates, who is retiring after more than four years on the job supervising troubled war

NEW YORK (AP) -- Prosecutors have serious questions about the credibility of a hotel housekeeper who has accused former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, and he is expected to have his strict bail conditions reduced today, according to people familiar with the case. In this May 19 file photo, former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kah

Korean workers’ loyalty to their company has been decreasing, a recent survey showed.In a poll conducted by Incruit, a local online recruitment website, employees only gave 4.6 points out of 10 on average when asked about their rate of commitment to their companies.The rate averaged 6.4 points three years ago, Incruit said.The loyalty tended to be lower among younger employees. Those in their 20s

A 39-year-old man was jailed for 10 months Thursday for secretly videotaping women who were taking part in a belly-dancing class.The man identified only by his surname Lim videotaped the group on seven occasions in March from the rooftop of a nearby building in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.Clad in tank tops, the women were dancing in a studio in a building next to where the man was taping, the court

(MCT)A cat in Britain survived after being shot by 30 air gun bullets, the Daily Mail reported.When the owner found the pet, Hope, bleeding, he assumed that she had been attacked by a dog.After being transferred to a vet, it was then revealed that her body was full of gunshot wounds. Most damage was on her back, with four bullets in her head.Medical specialists removed some 10 fragments, but gave

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- Republican U.S. senators on Thursday boycotted a crucial session to discuss free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, dealing a setback to President Barack Obama's strong push to get the long-pending deals ratified before early August.On Tuesday, the White House announced a breakthrough in efforts to move forward the free trade agreements (FTAs) with the n

A Korean shipbuilder has been picked among the final candidates to export submarines to Indonesia, officials here said Friday.According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. will compete with a French company for the project."The project is worth about $1 billion," an official with the DAPA said. "Companies from Germany and Russia

Korea's consumer prices rose at a faster pace in June, raising concerns that inflationary pressure is mounting despite the government's price stability efforts, a report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 4.4 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from the previous month's 4.1 percent gain. The figure represents the sixth

LONDON (AP) -- The FBI's most-wanted list features a dated black-and-white photograph for the man wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Saif al-Adel, reads the glaring red banner, alias Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi.But intelligence officials and people who say they know al-Adel and Makkawi tell The Associated Press that they are two different men.In the wake o

 A British family reportedly stands accused of attempting to kill their 89-year-old grandfather.The mother, her two daughters, son and his girlfriend stood trial on Tuesday for conspiring and savagely attacking him for inheritance in November.Police found Google searches on their computers including the “easiest way to kill an old person,” “can you kill someone with a punch” and “1,000 ways to die

Young South Koreans learn the best from computers and the Internet according to a survey of 15 year-olds in 19 countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Monday. The OECD, which groups 34 of the world’s most advanced economies, tested the digital literacy of students in 16 member countries as well as Colombia and the Chinese cities of Hong Kong and Macao as part o

North Korea opened the floodgates of the Hwanggang Dam Monday night without warning, sending a wall of water across the border, Seoul sources said Wednesday. In September 2009, the North released about 40 million cubic meters of water from the dam into the Imjin River near the border. Water flow down from Chunchen Dam on Wednesday after officials opened floodgates in response to heavy rains that h

The government will selectively allow South Korean business professionals to visit North Korea for checks on their past investments there, an official said Wednesday, amid a prolonged suspension of trade with the communist state following its deadly attack on a Southern naval ship last year.For business purposes, these individuals will also be allowed to meet their North Korean counterparts in a t

PARIS (AP) -- Christine Lagarde has traveled tirelessly to save the euro and blazed a trail for women from Chicago to Paris in halls of power long dominated by men.The French finance minister with a broad grin and long stride now faces her toughest job yet: heading the International Monetary Fund. She takes over a post vacated by a man accused of attempting to rape a New York hotel maid just as th

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has reached a deal with congressional Republicans on the terms of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, clearing a major obstacle to the ratification of bilateral trade pacts with Korea, Colombia and Panama, the White House announced Tuesday."As a result of extensive negotiations, we now have an agreement on the underlying terms for

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News)-- The incoming top American military commander in Korea said Tuesday that the United States and Korea should prepare for the possibility of a regime collapse in North Korea.In his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, Gen. James Thurman, the nominee to lead 28,000 U.S. forces in Korea, raised doubts over the North's heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, who is said t