Researcher apologizes for study of gay therapy

NEW YORK (AP) _ A prominent retired psychiatrist is apologizing to the gay community for a decade-old study that concluded some gay people can go straight through what's called reparative therapy.Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, formerly of Columbia University, now says he no longer believes his work showed that.For the study, Spitzer had interviewed 200 people who'd claimed some degree of change. The ``fat

TechnologyMay 20, 2012

S. Korea think tank cuts 2012 growth outlook

 South Korea's state-run think tank Sunday cut the nation's growth forecast for this year to 3.6 percent from 3.8 percent estimated in November, citing weakening demand amid a global slowdown.   The Korea Development Institute, in its twice-yearly economic forecast report, said however the global economy would likely pick up pace in 2013 to help Asia's fourth-largest economy to expand 4.1 percent

May 20, 2012

Seoul stocks to undergo adjustment weighed down by eurozone woes

South Korean stocks are expected to undergo further adjustments next week, weighed down by mounting eurozone uncertainties and their impact on the global economy,local analysts said Saturday.   The country's key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 1,782.46 onFriday, a drop of 7.03 percent or 134.67 points from a weekearlier, mainly due to fears that Greece may exit the eurozone andconcerns that the

May 19, 2012

Facebook falls flat in market debut

Facebook stumbled on its first trading day Friday as shares ended barely above the starting price after a glitch-plagued market debut on the Nasdaq that failed to live up to its enormous hype.   The stock, priced at $38 on Thursday in the largest-ever initial public offering for a technology firm, eked out a gain of just 0.61 percent to end at $38.23, amid record volume of more than 575 million sh

May 19, 2012

Asiana Airlines Q1 income posts W32.5b

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea’s No. 2 air carrier, said Friday its earnings plunged in the first quarter of 2012 from a year earlier, mainly due to soaring fuel prices.Net income stood at 32.5 billion won ($27.9 million) in the January-March period, down 94.7 percent from the 61.82 billion won recorded a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.Sales rose 7.6 percent on-year to 1.35 trillion won last quarter, while operating profit dropped 52.7 percent on-year to 35.48 billion won.A

MobilityMay 19, 2012

Hana Bank told to punish staff for irregularities

The nation’s top financial regulator ordered Hana Bank to punish 28 employees for irregularities including embezzlement of gift certificates, mishandling of project financing loans and violation of board rules. The Financial Supervisory Service also slapped Hana Bank with 37.5 million won ($32,000) in fines and issued a warning against it on Thursday. Hana Bank employees were found to have fabricated papers to embezzle gift cards worth some 17.4 billion won for three years after June 2008, the F

May 19, 2012

SK to join China’s city cleanup project

SK Group said it will participate in a large-scale environmental cleanup business in China in coordination with a group of Korean subcontractors.The group’s coming advancement into the Chinese government-led environment sector comes after the country unveiled its project to invest about $530 billion in environmental protection over the next four years.SK Group’ inroads into the overseas business feature group chairman Chey Tae-won’s commitment to “shared growth” with subcontractors.For the overs

IndustryMay 19, 2012

KOSPI crashes below 1,800 on eurozone woes

Seoul’s financial markets sank on Friday, with the benchmark KOSPI crashing below 1,800 points for the first time in five months as the eurozone crisis deepened.Bank runs and downgraded credit ratings in Greece and Spain, coupled with discouraging U.S. economic reports that caused overnight losses on Wall Street, increasingly unnerved investors. The KOSPI closed at 1,782.46 points on Friday, down 3.4 percent from the day before.Samsung Electronics Co., the biggest blue chip traded on the Seoul b

May 19, 2012

Woori sues Citigroup over securities losses

Korean lender also set to bring BOA-Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland to court for same reasonsWoori Bank sued Citigroup Inc. for fraud to redeem losses from collateralized debt obligations, a type of structured asset-backed security. The Korean lender said it was set to lodge lawsuits against BOA-Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland with a U.S. court on Friday for the same reasons. Woori Bank suffered heavy losses worth about 1 trillion won ($852 million) after the U.S. subprime crisis

May 19, 2012

Households’ monthly income grows 6.9%

South Korean households’ monthly income grew 6.9 percent on-year in the first quarter of this year thanks to improved employment conditions, a government report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, households’ monthly income averaged 4.12 million won ($3,540) in the January-March period, compared with 3.85 million won a year earlier. Inflation-adjusted household income gained 3.8 percent from a year earlier, an improvement from a 3.2 percent increase in the fourth quarter o

MobilityMay 19, 2012

Gold digging at hotels

Investors rush over to hotel funds to benefit from expected hotel boom in Seoul Keen investors are eying the hotel industry with new light. Buoyed by the Korean Wave, more tourists have been visiting South Korea during the last few years and have increased the demand for hotel rooms. More than 10.8 million are expected to visit Seoul this year, needing at least 43,000 hotel rooms, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The number of available hotel rooms, however, is only about 28,900.

IndustryMay 18, 2012