South Korean stocks are expected to trade higher next week despite automatic spending cuts in the United States, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed up 0.1 percent to 2,026.49 on Friday from the previous week.The KOSPI rebounded later this week as Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, made comments that suggested a continuation of the monetary easing policy.Weekly foreign net-buying totaled 70 billion won (US$64 million), while

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Huge spending cuts will start to hit the U.S. military and a vast array of other government programs Saturday after President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans failed to find a compromise that would have blocked the $85 billion budget reduction, a move designed to whittle away at the country's enormous debt but one that could threaten the still-weak economy.Both Obama and the Republican leaders in the House and Senate declared themselves still deadlocked after a last-

Actor Park Si-hoo returned home after nearly 10 hours of questioning by police on Friday over allegations that he sexually assaulted a 24-year old aspiring actress last month.“Although there is much that I would like the say, I have clarified (my position) enough with the police,” Park told reporters, saying the truth will come out.Park’s friend identified as his surname Kim, who is accused of sexually harassing the woman, also returned home after receiving investigation with Park.The well-known

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- The U.S. government accused the North Korean leadership Friday of "wining and dining" former NBA star Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters while many of its people are starving."Clearly, you've got the regime spending money to wine and dine foreign visitors when they should be feeding their own people,"Patrick Ventrell, acting deputy spokesman for the State Department, said at a press briefing.He was answering a question about Washington's view on Rodman's trip

SAN FRANCISCO (Yonhap News) -- Overturning her previous ruling, a U.S. federal judge in charge of a Samsung-Apple patent suit on Friday almost halved Samsung's penalty.U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ordered Samsung to pay Apple $598.9 million, about $450 million less than before.In a ruling in August, Koh set Apple's award at $1.05 billion, accepting the jury's conclusion that the South Korean tech giant infringed on some of Apple's patents.The jury said Samsung copied some designs and technologie

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan has decided to cancel his planned visit to India, the final leg of his ongoing five-nation trip to Africa and Asia, and will return home later this week in view of a decision that will force the ministry to lose its jurisdiction over trade, an official said Wednesday. The Tuesday decision by President-elect Park Geun-hye's transition team to hand over the ministry's trade division to the commerce ministry has sent shock waves through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

LONDON (AP) -- A helicopter crashed into a crane and fell on a street in central London during rush hour Wednesday, sending black plumes of smoke into the air as it smashed into a crowded street. Two people were killed and nine others injured, officials said.The helicopter crashed just south of the River Thames near the Underground and mainline train station at Vauxhall, and near the British spy agency MI6.Police said one person had critical injuries. Several people were taken to a nearby hospit

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- Islamist militants from Mali attacked a natural gas field partly operated by BP in southern Algeria early on Wednesday, killing a security guard and kidnapping at least eight people, including English, Norwegian and Japanese nationals, an Algerian security official and local media said.Algerian forces, however, caught up with and surrounded the kidnappers and negotiations for the release of the hostages are ongoing, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity b

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday they are aiming to increase their combined sales in China by 10 percent to 1.47 million units this year. The sales target represents 20 percent of the carmakers' total global sales of 7.41 million units planned for this year, they said. The Chinese car market is expected to grow 9.6 percent to 13.94 million units this year from last year, but its outlook is not all upbeat due to the prolonged global e

South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra agreed Wednesday to boost their countries' cooperation in the field of water resources management, a spokesman said.Kang, now on a 13-day trip through Southeast Asia, paid a courtesy call on the Thai leader in Bangkok earlier in the day and the two sides discussed ways to deepen their economic ties, National Assembly spokesman Bae Sung-rye said in an e-mailed press briefing.Citing the two nations'

The foreign minister of Australia vowed Wednesday that his government will make utmost efforts to track down those suspected of attacking South Korean nationals in his country and bring them to justice. In a Korean-language statement provided by the Australian embassy in Seoul, Bob Carr said investigations have been under way to trace suspects in four assault cases against South Korean nationals in the last three months. The cases took place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Gold Coast, with s

Heavy snowfall that hit the central part of South Korea disrupted dozens of domestic and international flights on Wednesday, the state-run airport operator said. At least 15 international flights and two domestic flights bound for the Incheon International Airport were canceled as the weather agency issued a warning for snow earlier in the day, the Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) said.Heavy snow forced 29 flights bound for Incheon and 66 flights departing from the main gateway to be delayed, it

President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner spoke for the first time in days Wednesday in a telephone discussion over the fiscal cliff, following several days of political sparring over steps to prevent a looming year-end series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.The call, disclosed by a Boehner spokesman, raises the possibility that negotiations will soon resume between the White House and congressional leaders to head off what some economists warn could b

Rapper Psy's international smash single "Gangnam Style" has been certified by the United States record association as "double-platinum" for more than 2 million digital sales, his agency here said Saturday.Since its release in July, Psy's digital singles have been purchased more than 2 million times in the U.S., which earned him the certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc., according to YG Entertainment. Psy will continue his tour in the U.S. and Europe, his agency sai

An ad hoc inspection team of prosecutors on Saturday began its investigation into their disgraced colleague who has been under a police probe for allegedly taking tens of millions of won in bribes from a notorious swindler and a mid-sized conglomerate, which renewed tension between police and the prosecution.The senior prosecutor, identified only by his surname Kim, has been under police investigation on suspicion of taking 200 million won (US$183,908) in 2008 from the side of Cho Hee-pal, the c

BANGKOK (Yonhap News) -- South Korea and Thailand agreed Saturday to launch preliminary talks and a joint study toward a possible free trade deal as their leaders pledged to upgrade relations between the two countries to a "strategic partnership."South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reached the agreement during summit talks in Bangkok, pledging to work closely together to expand bilateral trade volume to US$30 billion by 2016, according to a joint stat

COLOMBO (AFP) -- Sri Lankan troops found 11 bodies of convicts Saturday raising the death toll in an overnight prison riot in the capital to 27, prisons minister said.Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera told parliament that 27 people were killed in Friday's rioting at Colombo's maximum security Welikada prison where inmates fought gunbattles with elite police commandos who carried out a search."Sixteen bodies are at the hospital and another 11 were found in the prison today," Gajadeera said in a spec

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) -- China's trade surplus widened in October from the previous month as exports grew faster than imports, the Chinese customs office said Saturday. The world's second-largest economy posted a trade surplus of US $32 billion last month, compared with $27.7 billion in September, according to the General Administration of Customs. Exports went up 11.6 percent on-year to $175.6 billion in October, while imports rose 2.4 percent to $143.6 billion.The expansion both in exports a

WASHINGTON (AP) -- David Petraeus, the retired four-star general credited for salvaging the U.S. war in Iraq and later taking charge of the military campaign in Afghanistan, abruptly resigned Friday as director of the CIA, admitting to an extramarital affair.  Petraeus' resignation shocked Washington's intelligence and political communities. It was a sudden end to the public career of the best-known general of the post 9/11 wars, a man sometimes mentioned as a potential Republican presidential c

The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Saturday they've accepted the highest of sealed bids by a Major League Baseball (MLB) club for their star pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin, clearing the path for the left-hander to reach the big leagues in 2013.The Eagles said the bid was worth about US$25.7 million. It is the highest amount of bid ever for a South Korean player attempting to reach the majors.The MLB club that has submitted the bid has not yet been disclosed. Reports earlier sa