You are more likely to gain weight when your friends around you are heavier than you, according to a recent study conducted in Chicago.There is a high probability of gaining weight if students have friends who are heavier than them. On the other hand, students are likely to lose weight if their friends around them are slimmer than they are, according to Dr. David Shoham, an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of

TechnologyJuly 12, 2012

Looks may not kill, but they can get you fired.That's what a Northern California yoga instructor found after leading sessions at Facebook's Menlo Park campus.The instructor, Alice Van Ness, said she got fired after she glared at a Facebook employee who texted during a class in June."The whole point for most people going to yoga is that it's disconnecting from the outside world," said Van Ness, a 3

IndustryJuly 12, 2012

South Korea's central bank unexpectedly cut the key interest rate on Thursday, underscoring its urgency to cushion the bitter impact of the eurozone debt crisis on the local economy.Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his six fellow policymakers lowered the benchmark 7-day repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 3 percent for July. It marked the first rate cut since February 2009.The decision

July 12, 2012

South Korean stocks started a tad higher on Thursday on foreign buying, analysts said.After opening 0.08 percent higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 0.34 points, or 0.02 percent, to 1,826.73 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 0.36 percent and its smaller electronics rival LG Electronics rose 1 percent.Leading carmaker

July 12, 2012

The U.S. deficit in trade with South Korea has continued to jump since their free trade agreement went into effect in March, according to U.S. government data released Wednesday.The U.S. imported $5.4 billion in goods from South Korea in May, a 5.2-percent increase from the same period last year, the Commerce Department said.Exports to South Korea totaled $3.4 billion, down 6.4 percent from the pr

July 12, 2012

The government may reconsider its plan to resume whaling if there are other means to study marine mammals in Korean waters, officials said on Wednesday.Amid mounting criticism from conservationists, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that it will decide whether to push for the project after consulting with members of the International Whaling Commission.While the Fisheries Ministry had sought to tender a plan on whaling to the IWC scientific subcommittee this No

IndustryJuly 11, 2012

Samsung Electronics and POSCO ― the nation’s two leading players in the electronic and steel sectors, respectively ― will team up to develop new materials specially designed to be used for electronic home appliances, company officials said Wednesday. Yoon Boo-keun, Samsung Electronics’ president of TVs and appliances, and POSCO vice president Kwon Oh-joon are scheduled to attend the signing event of a memorandum of understanding held at Samsung’s headquarters in southern Seoul on Friday. A POSCO

IndustryJuly 11, 2012

Korea plans to introduce measures to help establish a new industry dealing with so-called shale gas that will also help ensure the country’s leadership in the global market for the energy resource, the government said Wednesday.A market for the previously inaccessible fossil fuel is currently almost non-existent globally as shale gas, or natural gas deposited in shale, had been considered uneconomical due to the lack of technologies to extract it.“We must all be aware that the world stands at th

July 11, 2012

Korean banks’ household loans grew at a slower pace in June than the previous month due mainly to an absence of a one-off seasonal factor, the central bank said Wednesday.Local banks’ household loans, including home-backed and credit loans, amounted to 457.1 trillion won ($399.1 billion) as of the end of June, up 1.3 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.The June growth eased from a 2.2 trillion won expansion in May when people took more loans to cover spending for

July 11, 2012

Samsung Network Services and Solutions said Wednesday that it won the top position for information and telecommunications construction capabilities, such as building Long Term Evolution and home networks, for the 11th consecutive year.In an evaluation performed by the Korea Information and Communication Contractors’ Association, an affiliate of state telecom regulator Korea Communications Commission, Samsung SNS scored the highest amount ― 278.1 billion won in total ― among 7,023 firms.The assoc

IndustryJuly 11, 2012

LG Display has been chosen by the government to lead a project to develop transparent and flexible organic light-emitting diode displays.Korea’s second-largest display-panel maker said that it will develop proprietary technology for ultra high-definition, 60-inch flexible OLED displays by 2017 as part of the government’s “Future Flagship Program” to promote next-generation technologies.The company will lead a consortium, which includes Avaco, an equipment maker for display production, for the de

TechnologyJuly 11, 2012

South Korean stocks edged down 0.17 percent on Wednesday as investors remained jittery over a global economic slowdown, analysts said. The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.The Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 3.06 points to finish at 1,826.39. Trading volume was light at 329.9 million shares worth 3.24 trillion won ($2.84 billion), with losers just outpacing gainers 393 to 388.“The latest decisions made by European political leaders failed to stimulate the market,” said analys

July 11, 2012