The Korea Herald

Apple customers complain software update didn’t fix battery

Apple Inc. customers say devices with the new iOS 5 operating system are still suffering from weak battery life, even after the company issued a software update meant to fix the malfunction. An advertisment for the Apple Inc. iPhone 4S is displayed at a Sprint Nextel Corp. store in Palo Alto, Califo

TechnologyNov. 13, 2011

Apple customers complain software update didn’t fix battery

Monti tipped to lead Italy after Berlusconi quits

ROME (AFP) - Italy starts forming a new government Sunday after the momentous resignation of Silvio Berlusconi, with economist Mario Monti tipped as the man to lead the country through its debt crisis.In this July 17, 2002 file photo, European Union Commissioner for Competition Mario Monti speaking

Nov. 13, 2011

Monti tipped to lead Italy after Berlusconi quits

Innovative cholera vaccine receives WHO stamp of approval

An innovative oral vaccine that can be used to prevent and control cholera around the world has received a stamp of approval from the World Health Organization (WHO), a Seoul-based international health research institute said Friday. The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) said its joi

TechnologyNov. 11, 2011

Businesses target style-conscious men

On a weekday afternoon, men populate the sixth floor of Shinsegae Department Store in Banpo-dong, southern Seoul, which has recently been renovated in a push for more male customers. Many of them shop alone or with their male friends ― a rare scene in Korea where mothers, wives or girlfriends still dominate purchases of men’s fashion.“Women used to stroll through the men’s floor on weekdays and then bring their sons or husbands on weekends for a quick purchase,” said Lee Sang-heun, a sales manag

IndustryNov. 11, 2011

Household finance squeezed with growing debt: report

A government report showed Friday a steep deterioration in household finances, citing a much faster rate of debt growth than asset increases.A joint report by the Statistics Korea, the Bank of Korea, and the Financial Supervisory Services said the average household debt expanded 12.7 percent to 52.05 million won ($46,143) for a year ending March, outgrowing the 7.5 percent expansion of total assets to 297.65 million won per household on average.People with mortgages saw a particularly tight sque

Nov. 11, 2011

Seoul shares up 2.77% on European optimism

South Korean stocks finished 2.77 percent higher on Friday as investor sentiment was boosted by eased Italian debt woes, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index jumped 50.2 points to 1,863.45, rebounding from a massive 94-point fall on the previous session. Trading volume was light at 291.7 million shares worth 5.15 trillion won ($4.57 billion) with gainers leading losers 682 to 170.“The European Central Bank bought Italian b

Nov. 11, 2011

Ex-KDB chief, execs probed over takeover

Prosecutors said Friday they have opened an investigation into several executives of the state-run Korea Development Bank, including former chairman Min Euoo-sung, on suspicion of incurring massive losses to the bank in a 2009 acquisition of a life insurance firm.Min and several other incumbent and former KDB executives are under suspicion of taking over Kumho Life Insurance Co. for an above-market price, inflicting losses to the bank run with taxpayers’ money, the financial sector bureau of the

Nov. 11, 2011

SK Telecom named as preferred bidder for Hynix

Hynix Semiconductor Inc. shareholders on Friday named SK Telecom Co. as the preferred bidder, a day after the mobile carrier submitted a final bid for a controlling stake in the chipmaker.The stake in Hynix on the block is estimated at around 3 trillion won ($2.64 billion).Hynix shareholders had extended the bidding deadline twice to attract more bidders with STX Group pulling out of the race that resulted in a solo bid by SK Telecom. The stake sale contract will be signed on Nov. 14 after Hynix

TechnologyNov. 11, 2011

Insurer loan surges, boosting default rate

Insurance firms saw their loans grow at the fastest pace in two years as a result of the authorities’ tight control on bank loans, data showed on Friday. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea’s insurers lent a combined 95.5 trillion won ($84.2 billion) to companies and households as of the end of the third quarter, up 4.1 trillion won, or 4.45 percent from the previous quarter. The rapid growth marked the highest level since September 2009, when the figure reached 4.75 percent. T

Nov. 11, 2011

Probe targets chaebol heiresses’ bakery businesses

The Fair Trade Commission has launched a probe into allegations that some bakery businesses run by heiresses of conglomerate families have received preferential treatment from those business groups’ affiliates.Industry sources said Friday that antitrust authorities raided the head office of Bliss, owned by Jang Sun-yoon, daughter of Lotte Shopping president Shin Yong-ja, on Oct. 16 and probed transaction details. The Korean license of the French gourmet food company Fauchon has opened 12 shops a

IndustryNov. 11, 2011

BOK holds rate steady for 5th month

Gov. Kim rules out immediate rate cut; emphasis on inflation softenedThe Bank of Korea held benchmark rates steady, as expected, for the fifth straight month on Friday, amid heightened fears about the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis that is spreading from Greece to Italy. Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow Monetary Policy Committee policymakers unanimously decided to freeze the rate at 3.25 percent, a decision partly affected by the inflation falling last month. “As long as current economic sit

Nov. 11, 2011

Gov't to raise state-run companies wages by 3 pct in 2012

South Korea's government said Friday that it will raise wages of state-run companies by a maximum 3 percent in 2012 to reflect the general rise in living expenses. The finance ministry said a committee governing public sector management passed the increase motion after reviewing demands

Nov. 11, 2011

Gov't bans humidifier sterilizers for causing mysterious lung disease

The government on Friday banned the sale of six types of sterilizers used in household humidifiers because they may have caused the mysterious hardening of lung tissue that killed nine people this year. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said detaile

TechnologyNov. 11, 2011

BOK freezes key rate at 3.25 percent for 5th month

South Korea's central bank left the key interest rate unchanged on Friday for the fifth straight month in the face of the deepening eurozone debt crisis and moderated inflation growth.Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers froze the benchmark seven-day repo rate at 3.25

Nov. 11, 2011

EEG scan helped contact patients in vegetative state

Electro-encephalography (EEG) helped doctors realize that several patients diagnosed as being in a permanently vegetative state were in fact aware, according to a study published on Thursday in The Lancet.The technique could be developed as a portable, cheaper way of helping doctors make more accura

TechnologyNov. 11, 2011

NASA readies launch of 'dream machine' to Mars

The US space agency is getting ready to launch later this month the biggest, most expensive robotic vehicle ever built to explore Mars for signs of previous life there, NASA said Thursday.The Curiosity rover, known formally as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), is a $2.5 billion state-of-the-a

TechnologyNov. 11, 2011

NASA readies launch of 'dream machine' to Mars

Apple launches iPhone 4S in S. Korea to fanfare

SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Yonhap) -- Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4S was released in South Korea on Friday with great fanfare as the country's two largest mobile carriers heated up their competition to lure customers.SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile operator, and the runner-up KT Corp. invited fans to cele

TechnologyNov. 11, 2011

Apple launches iPhone 4S in S. Korea to fanfare

Scientists identify new cell to lower risk of hardening of arteries

A group of scientists, including one of the two recipients of this year's Nobel prize in medicine, the late Ralph M. Steinman, has identified a new cell that helps reduce risks of the hardening of the arteries, South Korea's science ministry said Friday.The research, published Thursday (U.S. time) o

TechnologyNov. 11, 2011

Insurer loan default rate goes up in Q3

The default rate on loans extended by South Korean insurance companies inched up in the third quarter from three months earlier, due mainly to a rise in overdue corporate loans, the financial watchdog said Friday.The average ratio of overdue loans came to 1.18 percent of total lending by local life

Nov. 11, 2011

KOSPI tumbles on Italian woes

Seoul shares lost 4.94 percent to 1,813.25 Thursday on deepening woes over Europe’s debt crisis as soaring borrowing costs in Italy renewed fears that the region’s currency union may be breaking up. The benchmark KOSPI opened sharply lower, with losses led by bank and oil refiners, tracking worsening performance of market indices across Asia and the U.S. The local currency lost 1.5 percent to close at 1,134.2 won against the U.S. dollar. “It wasn’t a surprise that investors cut their holdings, e

Nov. 10, 2011