HONG KONG (AP) -- A pioneering 3-D erotic comedy has taken the Hong Kong box office by storm, beating the first-day record set by ``Avatar'' and drawing viewers from mainland China as it eyes a global rollout.The $3.5 million Cantonese-language production ``3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy'' had earned 17 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.2 million) as of Tuesday since opening last week on 73 screens,

An Italian man was reportedly arrested for pretending to be blind in order to receive disabilities benefits.Since 2003, the 67-year-old man allegedly to be sightless applied for governmental welfare for his ‘disabilities’ and had been receiving about $85,000 worth of support, according to ANSA, the Italian news agency.His swindle came to the end when his automobile was pulled over by police at a r

(MCT)An Australian teacher who allegedly tied a 5-year-old boy to a chair with some skipping rope was arrested on Wednesday.The child, who misbehaved during the class, was initially punished by having his hands tied to the back. However, as the student consistently became disruptive, the teacher than again tied his body to a chair for five minutes.The accused was a part-time who was in charge of 1

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- The United States Tuesday blacklisted a North Korean bank for its alleged involvement in arms trade banned under U.N. resolutions adopted after the North's nuclear and missile tests in 2009.The Treasury Department said in a statement that it has designated the Bank of East Land, or Dongbang Bank, "for its facilitation of weapons-related transactions for, and other suppo

A North Korean village (Yonhap News)The number of mobile phone users in North Korea jumped nearly fivefold in 2010 to exceed 430,000, nearly 2 percent of its population, Orascom Telecom, the sole telecom operator in the communist country. The Egypt-based wireless carrier said in its annual report that North Korean subscribers totaled 431,919 in December last year, an increase of 470 percent from 9

A hungry 6-year-old boy in Oregon was reportedly rescued after crashing his mother’s minivan which he had driven to buy food on Sunday.The boy, whose name has not been revealed, had managed to drive his mother’s vehicle to buy some food, according a local newspaper.Though he did not wear the seatbelt, the boy was not injured because the car was running very slowly. It crashed into some mailboxes a

A man who was helping to fly a huge kite in Huai’an, Jiangsu province, was nearly killed when it lifted him 7 meters off the ground.The incident happened on April 5 when several professional kite fliers took the phoenix kite, which was 40 meters long and 30 meters wide, to a plaza but could not get it off the ground because of its size.With the help of some local residents and a gust of wind, it f

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday that it will seek legal action against Apple Inc. over the U.S. company's accusation that the maker of the Galaxy S smartphone infringed upon Apple's patents.  Samsung's response comes on the heels of Apple's allegation in a complaint with a U.S. court that the Galaxy S phone and the Galaxy Tab tablet computers copied design, mobile software and other patents o

A 12-year-old boy was reportedly handcuffed and detained by a U.S. school resource officer after an argument over milk he spilt. The sixth-grader at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Indiana was to face juvenile probation, according to a local newspaper.On Tuesday, the school staffer ordered him to clean up after he spilt milk on the table during lunch. The boy refused and shouted back at him.The

Actor Hyun Bin (Yonhap News)A popular TV actor who enlisted in the Marine Corps last month for his mandatory military service has been assigned to serve on a frontline island on the Yellow Sea border with North Korea, Marine officials said Monday. Hyun Bin, 29, who starred in "Secret Garden," one of this season's most popular TV dramas in South Korea, is scheduled to finish six weeks of basic trai

Prosecutors said Saturday they plan to summon witnesses to determine why the banking network of the country’s farm cooperative crashed.The Seoul Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said about 20 National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup) and IBM Korea employees will be questioned in relation to the network glitch that has affected services since late Tuesday.People have not been able to use N

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― Worldwide inflationary pressure brought on by soaring commodities and farm prices should stabilize after the second quarter of this year, Korea’s finance minister said Friday.In a meeting with reporters in Washington, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said supply shortages in the agricultural sector, triggered by bad weather, are showing signs of stabilizing this month. H

Korean stocks should be able to maintain their steady gains and strive to reach record-high levels this week, despite downside risks, local analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended last week at 2,140.50, up 12.53 points, or 0.6 percent, from a week earlier, extending its rally of weekly gains to a fifth straight week.The total market cap also reached a n

Seoul unveils plans to foster green, high-tech industriesThe government on Thursday pledged to provide 6.5 trillion won ($5.98 billion) this year in financial support for developing new growth engine businesses. Finance, economy and industry affairs ministries reported the plan to President Lee Myung-bak. “The government will boost financial support tailored to new growth engine sectors which tend

Korean stocks rose 0.9 percent to a fresh high on Thursday as auto and chemical shares got a boost from optimism over their first-quarter earnings, analysts said. The local currency edged up against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 19.14 points to a new record-high close of 2,141.06. The previous record was 2,130.43 set on April 5. Trading volume was

The government will recruit more tech experts and personnel in a bid to beef up the safety of its high-speed train service that has suffered a series of accidents over the past few months, the Transportation Ministry said.The ministry added that the government will operate a safety-management unit independently for the KTX high-speed train service. It will also shorten the period of replacing majo

Korean financial companies’ derivatives trading jumped 36.2 percent on-year in 2010 on increased transactions of stock-linked investment products, the financial regulator said Thursday.The total trading volume of such derivatives as bond and stock futures and options at home and abroad came to 6.7 quadrillion won ($6.1 trillion) in 2010, compared with 4.9 quadrillion won in the previous year, the

Korea is seeking to boost its business presence in Africa by establishing three new business centers to support Korean businesses and African importers there, a state-run trade agency said Wednesday.The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said it had opened one of the new Korea Business Centers in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Tuesday.The agency is also set to open a KBC in Accra, th

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Hyundai Motor Co., Korea’s No. 1 auto maker, has established a research center in Beijing in an effort to expand its business in China, company officials said Wednesday.The recent launch of the “Hyundai Motor Research Institute for the China Management” comes after China replaced Korea as the largest market for Hyundai Motor last year. The Korean company sold 700,000 cars

“Do you have any of the credit cards listed here? You can get up to 20 percent discount,” a restaurant cashier asks a diner settling her bill, indicating a wall chart.Kim Lee-soo, 22, shuffles quickly through a stack of cards in her bulging wallet. After passing on five or six of them, she finally finds one that matches the list and claims the full discount.It’s a typical scene in Korea, where peo