A man in Gwangju was charged with stealing his wife’s car from their apartment parking lot, the police said Tuesday. The man identified by his surname Oh was in deep debt and decided to put his wife’s car up as collateral for a 12 million won ($11,000) loan. Oh’s wife noticed a week later that her car -- worth 35 million won --was missing. Once she reported the missing automobile, police spotted h

LOS ANGELES, July 18, 2011 (AFP) - Hollywood stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have accepted YouTube invitations from two US marines, one serving in Afghanistan, to accompany them to military balls.And singer-turned-actor Timberlake and "Black Swan" star Kunis are having fun with the invitations by a male and female Marine, which went viral on the video-sharing site last week."Marines have a

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — A 17-year-old boy is accused of bludgeoning his parents with a hammer, then hosting dozens of friends for a party while their bodies lay in the bedroom, police said Monday.Tyler Hadley of Florida is charged with twin counts of first-degree murder in the deaths, which authorities say happened Saturday. He is being held without bond at a juvenile detention center and

A photo that shows Pyongyang residents suffering from heavy rain has been digitally altered, the Associated Press said in a letter to editors and other subscribers Monday afternoon.The news agency asked them to immediately eliminate the photo from their system and archives.“The content of this image has been digitally altered and does not accurately reflect the scene,” the news agency said in a st

This year’s summer high school proms in Europe sparkled with a touch of China, thanks to a growing trend of Western teenagers going in for Middle Kingdom fashion bargains.An increasing number of dresses made in China adorned the dance floors of high schools worldwide this year as clothing wholesalers in the East market their Oscar-style dresses online at a fraction of the normal cost. With parents

Taiwan’s 2012 presidential campaign candidates have been actively interacting with supporters online, and they are taking advantage of social networking websites differently, research reveals. Results from research recently done by the Internet Buzz Research Center (iBuzz) on President Ma Ying-jeou and Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s Facebook pages indicated that

Coffee has been demonized and blamed for many ailments including heart disease, but evidence has emerged that the drink might actually help prevent liver cancer.A study done in Singapore has found that the more coffee you drink, the more you lower your risk of liver cancer. If you take three or more cups a day, for example, your risk could be up to 44 percent lower than for a total abstainer. Hot

SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- French fashion company Chanel S.A. will soon cut prices of its key items such as garments and handbags by up to 10 percent after a free trade pact between South Korea and the European Union (EU) took effect early this month, industry sources said Monday.But the French fashion firm has yet to decide the timing of the price cuts, according to the sources. Under the free tr

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) _ Somali pirates holding South Korean hostages have demanded the release of prisoners and compensation from their government for a commando raid that killed several pirates earlier this year.The demand is the second time that pirates have sought to use hostages to negotiate a prisoner exchange in addition to a ransom.One of the pirates holding 25 crew aboard the MV Gemini t

MIRYANG, South Korea, July 15 (Yonhap) -- A high-speed train from Seoul was forced to stop in the southeastern city of Miryang on Friday after passengers complained of smoke rising from the back of the train, railroad officials said.The KTX-Sancheon, the first locally made high-speed train that runs at a speed of up to 300 kilometers per hour, came to an abrupt halt Friday morning in this city 386

A girl from Arizona reportedly died after suffocating in a box while playing hide-and-seek. The 10 year-old victim, whose name has not been released, was playing with cousins at her home.The girl hid in a container, but could not open it by herself and suffocated.She was found the next morning. Her family tried in vain to revive her with CPR.The girl reportedly enjoyed the game, and once hid insid

When it comes to treatment for obesity, Korean men are most concerned with their abdomen, while women want thinner thighs, a survey showed.365MC, an obesity clinic, released the result of a study of 70,249 clients -- 67,753 women and 2,503 men.A man had bariatric surgery and then transferred his addiction to food to an alcohol. He checked himself into rehab, and has been sober ever since. Here he

The iPhone’s popularity is creating a buzz around the world with rumors of the smartphone possibly out during mid-August, according to reports. Tech media website Cnet said the rumor started with a notice posted by Gekko Ltd, a staffing firm located in the United Kingdom.Gekko said it is looking for full-time iPhone sales staff who were willing to work five days a week from Aug. 16 until Oct. 29 i

The Coca-Cola Company officially denied the local news reports on making inroads into the North Korean market.“No representative of The Coca-Cola Company has been in discussions or explored opening up business in Pyongyang, North Korea,“ Kent Landers, a PR official of the company, told the Korea Herald via email on Friday.Meanwhile, Park Chul-soo, president of Chosun Daepoong Group also denied the

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab have come up with "social x-ray specs" that can interpret others’ facial expressions, according to reports. The creator of the glasses, Rosalind Picard said that they can identify human facial expressions such as thinking, agreeing, concentrating, interest and disagreement. This is made possible with the help of a built-in camera

Online retail giant Amazon plans to unveil a tablet computer before October in a bid to carve out a slice of a growing market dominated by Apple's iPad, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The newspaper, citing "people familiar with the matter," also said Amazon plans to release two updated versions of its Kindle electronic reader in the third quarter of the year.The Journal said the tablet

Coca-Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken have recently agreed with North Korean officials to open branches in Pyongyang, according to news reports. (MCT)Some 10 executives from the companies visited Pyongyang from July 5-9 on the invitation of the North’s Korea Taepung International Investment Group, a major channel for attracting foreign investment. Sources said their branches will be established as

SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- A total of 174 people died "solitary deaths" in Seoul last year, with no one to take care of their bodies and funerals, the city government said Wednesday.Among the 25 administrative wards, Joong-gu and Yeongdeungpo-gu-- districts with the highest number of homeless -- had the largest number of such deaths, 43 and 27, respectively, said the city government, citing a 2010

SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- The number of smartphone subscribers in South Korea hit 15 million this week, according to data from the country's three mobile operators released Wednesday. South Korean smartphone subscribers numbered 15.35 million as of Monday, including 7.8 million users at the industry leader SK Telecom Co., 5.45 million at KT Corp. and 2.1 million at LG Uplus Corp., the mobile carr

 About half of American adults watch online videos unrelated to work while on the job, a U.S. survey showed. Men watch twice as often as women.The study showed that 25 percent watch news clips and 15 percent view viral videos. Other popular choices were sports (11 percent) and television shows (9 percent). Some are bold enough to view full-length feature films (4 percent) and even pornography (3 p