South Korea ranked No. 4 among the easiest places in the world to do business, according to the “Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create” report released by the World Bank.　New Zealand was No. 1, followed by Singapore and Denmark.　Starting a new business in New Zealand takes the fewest procedures (one) and shortest time to fulfill (0.5 day), according to the report.　The ranking uses 11 indicators to measure aspects of business regulation across 190 countries worldwide. Of the top 20 economies

　Purchases made via the internet and mobile devices in South Korea continued to rise in October, as the use of smartphones has fully caught on with local consumers, government data showed.　Transactions made by smartphones and tablets reached 6.33 trillion won ($5.83 billion) in the one-month period, up a solid 9.9 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea.　In particular, the total amount of mobile transactions, valued at 4.03 trillion won, accounted for 63.6 percent of

　Asian countries contributed almost 25 percent of the UN’s regular budget, with Japan contributing the most in the region, followed by China, Australia, South Korea and India, according to the latest data. 　The UN’s total budget for the year 2016-2017 was $5.6 billion. China was the third-largest contributor in the world and second in Asia, providing 7.92 percent of the budget. 　Australia contributed 2.3 percent, which made it the third-largest contributor in Asia. South Korea was the fourth-lar

　The 2016 data hack on 57 million Uber riders and drivers is among the biggest ever thefts of online users’ personal information. 　Here are some previous cases:　　In 2013, Yahoo was hit by hackers that affected all 3 billion accounts, which was the biggest cyberattack in history, and another attack affected 500 million accounts in 2014. Both were revealed in 2016.　In 2014, South Koreans scrambled to stop money being siphoned from their bank accounts after it emerged that data on 20 million credit

　The number of car accidents caused by senior drivers more than quadrupled over the past 10 years, according to data.　The accident tally for private drivers from the Korea Insurance Development Institute showed there were some 29,000 accidents caused by drivers aged 70 or over, up from 7,000 in 2006. These senior drivers last year accounted for 3.8 percent of all car accidents, up from 1.3 percent in 2006.　The amount of damage caused by elderly drivers consequently increased, from 53.8 billion w

　Beijing’s Zhongguancun has unseated San Francisco’s Silicon Valley as the top technology hub in the world, according to a report by the US-based business resource company Expert Market.　Zhongguancun tech hub has become the top destination for the world’s brightest tech talents due to its favorable climate for early stage funding, good performance in startup output and the city’s affordable cost of living, revealed the Top Tech Cities in the World 2017 report.　The ranking was based on factors su

　Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is now the world’s richest person, with a net worth of over $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.　Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 and since his humble beginnings trading out of his garage, he has been in a race to the top of the billionaires index.　Gates has been knocked down to second wealthiest, with a net worth of approximately $88.9 billion. Investor Warren Buffett is third at some $78.9 billion.　Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee ranked No.

　The statistical yearbook of the Vatican registers an overall increase of 1,285 million of baptized Catholics in 2015, with 49 percent living in the Americas. 　In five years, Catholics in Asia, and especially in Africa, have grown from 15.5 percent to 17.3 percent of the world‘s total. 　Of the world‘s Catholics, almost 49 percent live in Latin America, including the Caribbean. Europe is home to 22.2 percent of the global Catholic population; 17.3 percent are in Africa; 11 percent are in Asia; an

　Copenhagen is found to be the ultimate smart city with Singapore trailing close behind in second place, according to the 2017 Smart Cities Index produced by European parking app EasyPark,　The Danish capital is ranked at the top for scoring particularly high marks in terms of smart parking, smart buildings, robust business ecosystems and smartphone penetration.　Cities like Stockholm, Zurich, Boston trailed close behind in third, fourth and fifth, with Tokyo being the only other Asian city making

　South Korea's Myeongdong has been ranked world’s 8th most expensive retail district with annual rents at $914 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s 2017 Main Streets Across the World retail report　New York's 5th Avenue retained the most expensive main street in the world with annual rents at an average of $3,000 per square foot per year. 　Hong Kong's Causeway Bay ranked as Asia’s most expensive street with annual rents at $2,725 and placed second globally　The report is based on re

　South Korean youths scored the highest in terms of their collaborative problem-solving abilities at the Program for International Student Assessment 2015 test among 51 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  　PISA is an international assessment of students’ abilities in reading, mathematics and science at age 15. In 2015, PISA examined for the first time how well students cooperate with one another in solving problems. They also looked at students’ attitu

　The most internal displacements are recorded in China, with 7.4 million people displaced in their own country due to conflict and disasters, followed by the Philippines (5.9 million) and India (2.4 million), according to a recent report of the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.　The world is faced with a rising crisis of internally displaced people. Each year millions of people are made homeless as a result of sudden disasters such as floods and storms, new figures show. The m

　Seoul ranked the seventh most popular city among foreign travelers in 2016, according to a report by financial services corporation Mastercard. 　The South Korean capital city moved up three notches from a year earlier, attracting 12.39 million foreign travelers. 　Bangkok topped the list with 19.41 million visitors, followed by London with 19.06 million, Paris with 15.45 million, Dubai with 14.87 million and Singapore with 113.11 million.

　32 countries have booked their place for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, after Peru beat New Zealand last week to guarantee the final spot.

　Earthquakes strike suddenly and without warning at any time of year, day or night. 　Supplies should be kept in an easy-to-carry emergency kit that you can either use at home or take with you if you have to evacuate.

　After a year of stagnation the luxury market has returned to growth and will likely set a new record of 1.2 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) in 2017, said a study released by consulting firm Bain and Company. 　The 5 percent growth in the overall market is likely to be matched in the personal luxury goods segment, which includes clothing, watches and leather goods, to reach 262 billion euros.　Sales of luxury cars have also shifted up a gear, growing by 6 percent to reach 489 billion euros.　Europe

　Seoul has been ranked as one of the world’s top cities for sustainable transport, according to the 2017 Sustainable Cities Mobility Index.　Hong Kong took first place, followed by Zurich and Paris. European cities dominated the list, making up seven of the top 10. 　The data examined 100 cities across 23 indicators to give an indicative ranking of the mobility and sustainability of the systems in place in each city. It mainly examined the social, environmental and economic pillars.

　Healthier lifestyles and higher incomes helped increase life expectancy by 10 years in 35 nations in the past half a century, according to the Health at a Glance 2017 report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. 　Out of the OECD’s 35 member countries, life expectancy exceeded 80 years in 25 nations. 　The leading countries are Japan with life expectancy of 83.9 years, as well as Spain and Switzerland with 83 years. Those with the lowest results are Mexico (75) and Latvia (

　The global smartphone market has momentum going into the year-end holiday shopping season, according to the International Data Corporation.　An estimated 373.1 million smartphones were shipped worldwide during the third quarter of this year, a 2.7 percent rise from the same period in 2016. 　The five top smartphone makers all shipped more units than they did in the same quarter last year.　South Korean smartphone titan Samsung remained the overall leader, shipping 83.3 million handsets in a 9.5 pe