[Newsmaker] Beijing to host 2022 Winter Olympics

Supporters celebrate while watching a broadcast of International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (on screen) announcing Beijing as the host city of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, at the Olympic Park in Beijing on Friday. (EPA-Yonhap)KUALA LUMPUR -- Beijing was selected Friday to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first city awarded both the winter and summer games.Beijing narrowly defeated Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a vote of the International Olympic Committee. The vote was surpris

Olympic GamesJuly 31, 2015

[Newsmaker] Mullah Omar: Taliban’s one-eyed supremo

KABUL ― Taliban chief Mullah Omar has cast a long shadow over Afghanistan ever since he led a young band of zealots to power almost two decades ago, imposing brutal Islamist rule over the country.Afghanistan on Wednesday confirmed the reclusive warrior-cleric had died two years ago in Pakistan amid frenzied speculation about his demise. An undated image believed to be showing Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, died two years ago in Pakistan, a senio

World NewsJuly 30, 2015

[Newsmaker] Thirty-five of Cosby's alleged victims speak out

NEW YORK -- Thirty-five women who allege they were sexually assaulted by US comedy legend Bill Cosby were united Monday on a magazine cover to tell startlingly similar stories of abuse.   They include models, waitresses, Playboy bunnies and women who used to work in show business. One says he raped her while she was grief stricken over the recent death of her six-year-old son.   The New York magazine cover story is the largest expose yet of alleged abuse from nearly 50 women who have publicly ac

World NewsJuly 28, 2015

[Newsmaker] Obama focuses on S. Sudan peace

Barack Obama opened talks in Ethiopia on Monday during the first-ever trip by a U.S. president to Africa’s second-most populous nation and the seat of the African Union. Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (right) greets U.S. President Barack Obama upon his arrival at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa on Sunday. AFP-YonhapObama, who flew into a rainy Addis Ababa late on Sunday after a landmark trip to Kenya, his father’s birthplace, went into bilateral talks with Ethiopian Ethi

Latest NewsJuly 27, 2015

[Newsmaker] Pearson in talks to sell 50% Economist stake

British publishing company Pearson said Saturday it was in talks to sell its 50-percent stake in The Economist Group, owner of the prestigious magazine of the same name.The Economist magazine (Bloomberg)"Pearson confirms it is in discussions with The Economist Group Board and trustees regarding the potential sale of our 50 percent share in the Group," a Pearson spokesman said.The announcement comes just two days after Pearson agreed to sell the Financial Times to Japanese media group Nikkei for

World NewsJuly 26, 2015

[Newsmaker] Apple under pressure even after record profit

Apple Inc., after posting its best fiscal third-quarter profit ever, is facing fresh questions over whether it can keep making hit products.An attendee takes a photograph with an iPhone of the Apple Watches during the Apple Inc. Spring Forward event in San Francisco, California. (Bloomberg)Even though iPhone sales climbed 35 percent to 47.5 million units in the period that ended in June, the result fell short of the 48.8 million shipments projected by analysts. That, plus a revenue forecast for

World BusinessJuly 22, 2015

[Newsmaker] U.S., Havana renew ties despite discord

 WASHINGTON -- The Cuban flag has flown proudly over Havana's newly restored embassy as the US and Cuba relaunched diplomatic ties but swiftly cautioned that sharp differences lingered after five decades of enmity.Some seven months after President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro agreed to restore ties snapped in 1961 during the Cold War, Havana and Washington reopened full embassies in the two capitals Monday.The Cuban flag flies in front of the country's embassy for the first

World NewsJuly 21, 2015

[Newsmaker] KakaoTaxi expansion gets mixed reactions

Outside the headquarters of Daum Kakao in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday, two groups clashed over the Korean search giant’s hot-selling taxi-hailing service, KakaoTaxi. One group, representing chauffeur service companies nationwide, protested against the company’s possible entry into a market that is crowded with smaller players, while the other group, representing their drivers, urged it to enter and solve the industry’s unfair treatment of drivers. “It is true that we are working on the

TechnologyJuly 20, 2015

[Newsmaker] Trump calls McCain 'loser'

WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump, known for his incendiary rhetoric on the 2016 campaign trail, lobbed his latest verbal grenade Saturday, dismissing the military record of Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war.The flamboyant billionaire businessman, reality TV star and Republican presidential contender said McCain ― a decorated aviator who was tortured in a prison camp for five years ― did not deserve hero status for his Vietnam War service.“He’s not a war hero,” Trump told a gathering of social

World NewsJuly 19, 2015

[Newsmaker] NIS in hot water amid hacking allegations

South Koreans’ distrust of the National Intelligence Service escalated Thursday after allegations arose that the spy agency had spied on a local lawyer in addition to dozens of other ordinary citizens here, with help from an Italian contractor.WikiLeaks revealed on Twitter that the NIS may have used malware to spy on the unnamed lawyer, citing emails that NIS agents allegedly exchanged with Hacking Team, a Milan, Italy-based malware surveillance vendor that supplied the spy agency with malware p

PoliticsJuly 16, 2015

[Newsmaker] Greek crisis strains Franco-German ties

France`s President Francois Hollande (left) welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a meeting in Paris on July 6. (AP-Yonhap)BRUSSELS (AFP) -- On the frontline of the Greek debt crisis, the Franco-German partnership has been in open conflict with Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande deeply divided over how far to go to keep Greece in the eurozone.On Monday, Greece reached a desperately-needed bailout deal with the eurozone after marathon overnight talks, in a histor

World NewsJuly 13, 2015

[Newsmaker] Park's new political aide faces challenges

President Park Geun-hye’s new top political aide faces the daunting challenges of restoring the frozen relationship between her and her party and putting her reform drive back on track by normalizing communication with the parliament.Hyun Ki-hwan, a former Saenuri lawmaker and one of the Park’s faithful retainers, was named as the new senior presidential secretary for political affairs Friday. Though his parliamentary career has been relatively short, Park appointing the one-term lawmaker as her

PoliticsJuly 12, 2015

[Newsmaker] Samsung pushes to win over foreign investors

Samsung C&T, the construction and trading arm of Samsung Group, on Friday unveiled detailed new shareholder-friendly policies, including the establishment of a special committee of six experts that will oversee shareholders’ rights, as part of last-minute efforts to win a vote of shareholders on July 17 over the proposed merger with Cheil Industries. Samsung C&T CEO Choi Chi-hun (Yonhap)The committee will be composed of three outside directors and three experts. One of the three outside director

BusinessJuly 10, 2015

[Newsmaker] Objectors challenge conscription law

The Constitutional Court held a public court hearing Thursday on the conscription law, after three conscientious objectors challenged the much-disputed law that does not recognize people’s right to refuse mandatory military service based on their religious or personal beliefs.It marked the third challenge on the law’s legitimacy, with the previous cases also being tied to conscientious objection. In both 2004 and 2011, the court ruled the law constitutional. A member of a civic group supporting

Social AffairsJuly 9, 2015

[Newsmaker] Obama holds talks with Vietnam party chief

WASHINGTON ― U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the leader of Vietnam’s Communist Party on Tuesday to the White House for historic but “candid” talks marking two decades of rapprochement between the former enemies.Nguyen Phu Trong is the first general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party to visit the United States and the White House, and was given the rare honor of an Oval Office meeting ― usually reserved for heads of state and government.U.S. President Barack Obama meets in the Oval

World NewsJuly 8, 2015

[Newsmaker] Greece’s discreet new finance minister

ATHENS ― Greece’s new finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos is as discreet and tight-lipped as his predecessor Yanis Varoufakis was flamboyant and confrontational. Tsakalotos, a 55-year-old leftist economist who had been a pointman in Greece’s bailout talks, was named as Varoufakis’ replacement hours after his resignation on Monday.He is far less likely to irritate Athens’ exasperated creditors.Euclid Tsakalotos, Greece’s finance minister, addresses journalists during a handover ceremony in Athens,

World BusinessJuly 7, 2015

[Newsmaker] Algal blooms stoke ecological concerns

A thick green tide spreading across Korea’s major rivers due to low water flow and warm temperatures is stoking concerns over the ecosystem and public health. Since mid-May, algal blooms have been seen in the Nakdonggang River in the south of the peninsula. In June, the algal blooms spread in the Hangang River in Seoul as well, and Seoul Metropolitan Government issued an algal bloom warning on June 30 in the downstream section of the river, spanning from Jamsil Bridge to Haengju Bridge. It was t

NationalJuly 6, 2015

[Newsmaker] Korea’s MERS concerns more about politics than health

South Koreans tend to perceive the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome as a political issue, not a health issue, illustrating a different attitude from what they showed during the flu pandemic that hit the country in 2009, a study revealed Sunday.According to research led by a public health professor at Seoul National University, Koreans appeared to be more concerned about politics than the deadly virus itself, with the popular words used on Twitter in relation to the outbreak being one

Social AffairsJuly 5, 2015

[Newsmaker] U.S., Cuba declare end of hostility

WASHINGTON ― After more than a half century of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared Wednesday they will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals this month, marking a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes. For President Barack Obama, the opening of the U.S. Embassy in the heart of Havana is one of the most tangible demonstrations of his long-standing pledge to engage directly with U.S. adversaries. Heralding the embassy agreement, Obama declared:

World NewsJuly 2, 2015

[Newsmaker] Busan port chief to head U.N. maritime body

Since Ban Ki-moon was first named new secretary-general of the United Nations in 2006, South Korea has waited for another Korean global leader to be named. Nine years later, the president of Busan Port Authority, Lim Ki-tack, has been elected to head the United Nations maritime body. Lim Ki-tack (Yonhap)The 58-year-old veteran is the first South Korean to take the secretary-general position of the International Maritime Organization, the U.N. agency responsible for the safety and security of shi

Social AffairsJuly 1, 2015