South Korea’s exports of lipsticks are anticipated to hit a new record in 2023, the customs agency said, on the back of increasing demand, as people have taken off face masks around the globe. The outlook came as exports of the products reached a record high of $198 million over the January-July period, soaring 63.5 percent on-year, according to data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The agency said the sharp growth came as social distancing measures were eased around the world, with

The magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Morocco on Sept. 8 has killed more than 2,862 people (as of Sept. 12), with the death toll expected to increase as rescuers struggle to reach some areas. Elsewhere this year, a magnitude 7.8 temblor that shook Syria and Turkey killed more than 56,000 people. The most devastating earthquakes in recent history have been above magnitude 7.0, including a 2015 tremor in Nepal that killed over 8,800 people and a 2008 quake that killed 87,000 in China. (AP)

  South Korea’s rice paddy area decreased 2.6 percent in 2023 from a year earlier amid a reduction in domestic consumption, data showed. The country’s rice cultivation area came to 708,041 hectares, compared with 727,054 hectares tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. South Jeolla Province accounted for the largest area at 149,896 hectares, followed by South Chungcheong Province with 131,643 hectares and North Jeolla Province with 107,383 he

Spending by English and Saudi Arabian clubs fueled a record-setting year for soccer’s international transfer market, which reached highs in deals done, money spent and agent fees, FIFA said. FIFA's analysis of male players moving between member countries from June through Sept. 1 counted 10,125 transfers, $7.36 billion spent by clubs and almost $700 million paid to intermediaries representing players and clubs. English clubs spent almost $2 billion — while recouping $956 million

Child gun deaths in the United States have hit a record high, according to a new study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mortality database, the study published on Monday in the AAP journal Pediatrics found that 4,752 children died from gun-related injuries in 2021, the latest year for which data was available, up from 4,368 in 2020 and 3,390 in 2019. Gun violence has been the No. 1 cause of death for children in the Uni

The draw for the group stage of this season’s UEFA Champions League took place at a ceremony in Monaco on Sept. 1. The Champions League is an elite club competition with top clubs across the continent playing for the right to be crowned the European champions. Manchester United and Bayern Munich will meet in a clash of giants in Group A. Meanwhile, Group F with Milan, Dortmund, Newcastle and Paris Saint-Germain, where Lee Kang-in plays, form a group of death. The UEFA Champions League grou

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics maintained its dominant position with the largest share of the TV market. According to market research firm Omdia, Samsung's market share was 31.2 percent in the first half of this year on the back of robust sales of premium and ultralarge models. LG Electronics ranked second with a 16.2 percent market share, followed by TCL, Hisense and Sony. LG, however, maintained its No. 1 position in the OLED TV market with 51.7 percent of the market share based

The number of infectious diseases carried by mosquitoes, such as malaria and dengue fever, is increasing in Korea and abroad. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the cumulative number of confirmed cases this year increased to 574, as 25 new malaria patients were added in the 34th week of this year, Aug. 20-26. It exceeded twice the number of confirmed cases in the same period last year (258) and is already the highest number of confirmed cases since 2018 (576).

More than 7 out of every 10 South Koreans are opposed to Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, a public opinion poll showed. The survey conducted on 1,000 South Korean adults on Aug. 22-23 by Research View showed 72.4 percent objecting to the discharge, while 20.4 percent were in support. Two civic groups, the Asian Citizen's Center for Environment and Health and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, commissioned and r

A judge set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting a defense request to push back the case by years. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan rebuffed claims by Trump’s attorneys that an April 2026 trial date was necessary to account for the huge volume of evidence they say they are reviewing and to prepare for what they contend is a novel and unprecedented prose

China’s COVID-delayed Asian Games are set to be the largest ever, organizers said, as host city Hangzhou ramps up preparations ahead of the opening ceremony in September. The Games in Hangzhou were due to take place in September 2022 but were postponed by a year because of China’s strict “zero-COVID” rules. Over 12,500 athletes from 45 countries and regions have signed up, with organizing official Ding Jiong telling reporters that Hangzhou would host “the Asian Game

Global household wealth fell last year for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008, as inflation and the appreciation of the US dollar wiped some $11.3 trillion off assets. Total net private wealth across the world decreased by 2.4 percent to a total of $454.4 trillion, according to Credit Suisse’s annual global wealth report. The bulk of the decline was felt in North American and European households, which lost a combined $10.9 trillion. Not all regions suffered a hit to wealth.

Samsung Electronics retained its top spot in the global memory chip market in the first quarter despite lackluster earnings amid the chip glut, a report showed. SK hynix, on the other hand, was pushed back to third place from No. 2 compared to a year earlier, due largely to the output cut that came before Samsung, according to the market tracker Omdia. Samsung Electronics kept the largest share of 42.8 percent in the DRAM market, unchanged from the previous quarter. Samsung’s DRAM revenu

　India made history as it became the first country in the world to land its spacecraft near the moon’s south pole, an uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water. 　India is the fourth country to achieve a moon landing.

South Korea’s exports of farm and fisheries products fell 3.8 percent on-year in the first half of the year, data showed. Outbound shipments of agricultural and fisheries goods came to $5.95 billion in the January-June period, down from $6.19 billion a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. Last year’s tally marked an all-time high for the first half of any year, and it was the first time that the figure surpassed the $6 billion mark. This

　India’s wild tiger population is estimated to now exceed 3,600, according to new government figures, in a vindication of conservation efforts for the endangered species. 　Tigers once roamed throughout central, eastern and southern Asia, but have lost nearly 95 percent of their historical range in the past century. India is currently home to 75 percent of the world’s tigers, and the country declared its population of the big cats had risen to 3,167 in April after a camera-based sur

Sales of cigarettes in South Korea moved down 0.6 percent on-year in the January-June period, data showed. South Korean smokers purchased 1.77 billion 20-cigarette packs in the first half, falling from 17.8 billion packs posted a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Heat-not-burn tobacco products took up 16.5 percent of the market, advancing from 14.8 percent posted for all of 2022. Meanwhile, the government collected 5.7 trillion won ($4.4 billion) in taxes from cigar

Close to half of American adults support a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey that also asked questions about national security concerns and China. TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance and used by tens of millions of Americans, has faced calls from US lawmakers for a nationwide ban over concerns about possible Chinese government influence. Some 47 percent of respondents to the two-day poll, which concluded on Aug. 15, said they at l

The combined US market share of Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia inched up in the first half of the year from a year earlier, managing to stay above the 10 percent range amid the recovery in demand and output, data showed. Their combined share came to 10.6 percent in the January-June period, up 0.3 percentage point from the previous year, according to the data by the US-based Automotive News outlet. Hyundai and Kia saw their combined market share rise to double digits for the first ti

South Korea’s exports of ice cream reached a record high in the first half of 2023, data showed, on the back of the growing popularity of Korean entertainment content across the globe. Outbound shipments of ice cream and similar products reached $59 million in the January-June period, up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The figure almost doubled South Korea’s ice cream imports, which came to $30 million, up 7.5 percent ove