(London Olympic Joint Press Corps)LONDON - The United States Dream Team of NBA stars captured their second Olympic men's basketball gold medal in a row and the 14th overall for America by beating Spain 107-100 in Sunday's championship game.The US multi-millionaire lineup of NBA elite claimed their fifth crown in the past six Olympics, improving to 62-1 since revamping the national team program aft

LONDON -- Korean athletes wowed the crowd at the London Olympics with their medal-winning performances.But they also made headlines with other, at times less flattering, issues on and off the field.In the opening week, Korea found itself at the center of high-profile judging disputes. First, freestyle swimmer Park Tae-hwan, the 400-meter freestyle gold medalist from Beijing, was disqualified for a

LONDON  -- After the opening weekend of the London Olympics in late July, it seemed for a moment that Korea would have more difficulty meeting its gold medal target than anticipated.But the country's athletes saw to it that the mission, which was to win at least 10 gold medals for a top-10 finish in the medal table, would be accomplished -- with relative ease, it turned out.At this year's Summer O

South Korean stocks closed marginally higher on Friday, as investors held onto an anticipation that major central banks will roll out a set of stimulus measures to boost economic growth, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 5.81 points to finish at 1,946.40. Trading volume was moderate at 320.8 million shares wo

Surprise move seen as reaffirming claim to islets; Japan protests stronglyPresident Lee Myung-bak visited Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Friday in an apparent bid to reassert the country’s control over the windswept outcrops that Japan has claimed for decades.Lee landed on Dokdo by helicopter at around 2 p.m. and took a long look around there. He stopped at nearby Ulleungdo earlier in the

(AFP)LONDON - Great Britain's Jade Jones took revenge for her World Championship final defeat last year by beating Hou Yuzhuo of China for Olympic under-57kg gold on Thursday.In a tactical final the teenager from Wales triumphed 6-4 to win Britain's first Olympic taekwondo title.France's sixth seed Marlene Harnois took a bronze medal with a 12-8 victory over Mayu Hamada of Japan.Top seed Tseng Li-

(AP)LONDON - David Rudisha of Kenya won the men's 800 metres Olympic title on Thursday and set a stunning world record of 1min 40.91sec.The 23-year-old world champion was five metres clear of Nijel Amos of Botswana after taking control of the race from an early stage and charged down the home straight at the capacity crowd rose to their feet.Amos timed 1:41.73 - a world junior record for the 18-ye

LONDON -- The South Korean men's football team takes on rival Japan for the bronze medal at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. South Korea was blanked by Brazil 3-0 in the semifinals earlier this week but can still salvage its Olympics with its first-ever football medal.In women's taekwondo, Hwang Kyung-seon goes for her second straight gold medal in the under-67-kilogram class on Friday. She is one o

(London Olympic Joint Press Corps)CARDIFF, Britain -- Ahead of the latest grudge football match between Korea and Japan at the London Olympics, Korean head coach Hong Myung-bo said Thursday his focus is solely on the action on the pitch.The two regional rivals will clash in the men's football bronze medal contest at Millennium Stadium here Friday evening. Korea is seeking its first Olympic footbal

There were no medals won Thursday for South Korea, and its women's handball and volleyball teams were both eliminated from the semifinals.In the handball contest, South Korea lost to Norway 31-25. The volleyball team fell to the U.S. in straight sets.Against Norway, South Korea failed to put up much of a fight from start to finish. Norway exploited the slow-footed, exhausted South Korean defense w

(London Olympic Joint Press Corps)LONDON -- Korea dropped to the U.S. in straight sets in the women's volleyball semifinals Thursday.Destinee Hooker led the Americans with 24 points in the 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 victory. Kim Yeon-koung countered with 20 points and Han Song-yi had 13 in the losing cause.Korea has been relegated to the bronze medal match, where it will face Japan on Saturday.Korea is g

(London Olympic Joint Press Corps)LONDON -- Korean rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae put together solid performances on Thursday, the first day of the qualification round, to give herself a chance to advance to the all-around final at the London Olympics.After the hoop and ball routines at Wembley Arena, Son finished fourth overall among 24 gymnasts. She earned 28.075 points in hoop and 27.825 points

South Korean stocks closed 1.96 percent higher Thursday on strong foreign buying fed by optimism over a global economic recovery, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shot up 37.33 points to 1,907.13. Trading volume was moderate at 483.1 million shares worth 6.32 trillion won ($5.60 billion) with advancers outstrippi

North Korea has been plagued by ising rice prices and the falling value of its currency since the inauguration of its young leader Kim Jong-un, a government source here said Thursday, an apparent reflection of the northerners' anxieties over the inexperienced son of former leader Kim Jong-il.Prices of official market-traded rice, a staple for Koreans, have increased sharply, while the North Korean

(AFP-Yonhap News)LONDON - America's Allyson Felix made it third time lucky to win the Olympic 200m crown here Wednesday and deny Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce a sprint double.Felix, a silver medallist at the 2004 and 2008 Games over the distance, powered to victory in 21.88sec to thwart Fraser-Pryce's hopes of adding the 200m title to her newly acquired 100m crown."Finally, it has been a long

LONDON - Usain Bolt stayed on track for an Olympic sprint double as he and Jamaican rival Yohan Blake eased into Thursday's final of the 200m with commanding runs in their semi-finals on Wednesday.Blake strolled to victory in his heat in 20.01sec but eased up before the line, while 100m champion Bolt was imperious as he held off the field to win his race in 20.18sec, looking around all the way dow

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 10.75 points, or 0.56 percent to 1,913.98 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Blue chips pushed up shares, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics rising 0.23 percent and No. 4 lender Shinhan Financial climbing more than 2 percent.U.S. mark

LONDON - Russia will have the chance to play for an Olympic medal for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union after beating Lithuania 83-74 Wednesday to reach the men's basketball semi-finals.Andrei Kirilenko scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and TimofeyMozgov added 17 points to spark Russia into a Friday matchup against reigning European champion Spain, which advanced by defea

The ruling Saenuri Party on Thursday launched an internal investigation into allegations that one of its lawmakers bribed her way into parliament as it tries to minimize the fallouts ahead of December's presidential election.The scandal centers on suspicions that Rep. Hyun Young-hee secured a proportional representative seat in April's general elections after paying 300 million won ($265,960) to H

Self portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover taken by its Navigation cameras, located on the now-upright mast (AFP-Yonhap News)The edge of NASA's Curiosity rover, showing the shadow of the rover's now-upright mast in the center, and the arm's shadow at left (AP-Yonhap News)The first two full-resolution image set of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover, which are loc