Hyundai Motor and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars unveiled their most prestigious segment cars separately on Wednesday in Cheongdam-dong, a district strewn with luxury designers’ boutiques in southern Seoul. Hyundai, Korea’s largest carmaker, introduced the more luxurious version of its upscale sedan Equus, four years after the previous launch ahead of its official sale starting early December. Though there is no drastic change in exterior design, the chrome grille and LED headlamps have a more sophistic

IndustryNov. 28, 2012

Korea’s mobile phone manufacturers are expected to capture 30 percent of the global market for the first time in history this year, brokerage industry data showed Wednesday.Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are anticipated to post market shares of 26.4 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively, for a collective 30.1 percent share of handset sales globally, Samsung Securities said in a report.The brokerage house predicted that the two companies’ 2012 sales would reach 440 million and 56 million

IndustryNov. 28, 2012

The 2012 presidential election is expected to be a watershed moment in Korean politics as it will decide the direction of Korean economic policies now that we’ve gone through administrations from all sides of the ideological spectrum. In 2008, the people cast their votes for President Lee Myung-bak on the desperate hope economic growth and material prosperity would resolve the nagging wealth disparity problems. Almost five years have passed, and the situation has worsened ― to the point that eve

IndustryNov. 28, 2012

Gone are the days when rival electronics firms set apart their parts supply businesses from current affairs such as patent disputes.It was in April of last year when Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit involving patent infringement against Samsung Electronics at a court in San Jose, and the two have been putting forward multiple suits against each other in nine different countries ever since. While Samsung has stressed numerous times that it will maintain its partnership with the Cupertino-based IT behem

TechnologyNov. 28, 2012

When an attacker approaches you from the front or you have little space between the opponent and yourself, the best way you can defend yourself is to throw them off balance. Follow these pictures to see how you can do this.1. An opponent close to you will instinctively grab at your clothes as shown in picture 1.2. Swing a leg behind the opponent’s knee against the calf while grabbing the opponent’s clothing as shown in picture 2. Move your body forward, instead of backward, to pull on your leg f

TechnologyNov. 28, 2012

U.S. teens and adults ages 13-24 represent more than a quarter of new HIV infections each year, but 6-in-10 are unaware they are infected, officials say.A Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said an estimated 12,200 new HIV infections occurred in 2010 among young people ages 13-24 -- 72 percent of estimated new HIV infections in young people occurred in young men who have sex with men and 57 percent were African-Americans.“That so many young people b

TechnologyNov. 28, 2012

A Texas veterinarian says she and fellow genetic researchers have confirmed the existence of "Bigfoot," though their findings have yet to pass peer review.Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, founder of DNA Diagnostics Inc. in the eastern Texas town of Timpson, said she and her team spent five years on their study of purported Bigfoot hair and concluded they have confirmed the existence of a hominin hybrid species, the legendary creature commonly called "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch," living in North

TechnologyNov. 28, 2012

NASA says it is conducting plant research aboard the International Space Station because life in space may depend on it during future long-duration missions.Using plants to provide a food source and to recycle carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen may prove critical for astronauts who will live in space for months at a time, the space agency said in a release Tuesday.Several plant-growing experiments have been conducted to help scientists understand the impact of zero gravity conditions on plant

TechnologyNov. 28, 2012

More than 80 common medications interact with grapefruit -- about half with serious complications, including death, Canadian researchers say.David Bailey, a clinical pharmacologist at the Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ontario, first discovered the interaction between grapefruit and certain medications more than 20 years ago. Since then the number of drugs with the potential to interact has jumped. “What I‘ve noticed over the last four years is really quite a disturbing trend and th

TechnologyNov. 28, 2012

U.S. scientists say they found metabolically active bacteria in the brine of an Antarctic lake sealed for thousands of years under more than 65 feet of ice.Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the finding sheds light on the limits of life in extreme environments.The brine has been isolated from the surface environment, and from any external sources of energy, for at least 2,800 years, they said."This provides u

TechnologyNov. 28, 2012

Korea’s national brand value was worth $1.6 trillion, ranking ninth among 39 countries worldwide, a local think tank found Tuesday. The Institute for Industrial Policy Studies evaluated the brand competitiveness of countries, cities and companies based on surveys and trade volume. The United States topped the rankings with its brand value worth $12.2 trillion, followed by Germany with $7.4 trillion and Japan with $3.4 trillion. Over the past three years, Asia-Pacific countries showed the highest

IndustryNov. 27, 2012