ULSAN (Yonhap News) -- Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker, resumed weekend production at some of its assembly lines on Saturday, a move that could help the company make up for production shortfalls and resolve unfilled orders.The resumption marked the first time Hyundai employees returned to the assembly lines in Ulsan for weekend work since March 4 when the carmaker ended its decades-long practice of running a graveyard shift.The weekend work stoppage prevented the carmaker from

Industry May 25, 2013

Former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui has been asked to appear for questioning by police sometime next week on suspicions that he received sexual favors from a local contractor in return for business favors, according to an officer Saturday.The sex bribery scandal centers around allegations that a number of high-profile figures, such as former and incumbent high-ranking government officials including Kim and the head of a hospital, received sexual services from about a dozen women hired by the

Social Affairs May 25, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- News Corp. said its board of directors has approved plans to split its entertainment and publishing businesses into two separate companies. The company also adopted a shareholder-rights plan designed to prevent a hostile takeover in the volatile trading period after the split is complete.The New York-based media conglomerate also said Friday that the target date for the split is June 28. The company holding its TV and movie properties will be 21st Century Fox. The new News Co

World News May 25, 2013

Kara M. Stein and Michael S. Piwowar, both senior U.S. Senate aides, were nominated today by President Barack Obama to join the Securities and Exchange Commission. Stein would replace Elisse B. Walter as a Democratic commissioner and Piwowar would succeed Troy A. Paredes as a Republican appointee on the five-member commission that oversees the country’s capital markets, according to a news release issued by the White House. Stein has served as a top aide to Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Demo

World Business May 25, 2013

TORONTO (AP) -- Qatar has abandoned its bid to relocate the United Nations civil aviation agency from Canada to the tiny emirate, ending a bitter fight between the two nations, both countries said Friday.Canada had accused Qatar, which has been trying to burnish its international presence, of trying to buy the U.N. agency located in Montreal. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said he received a call from Qatar's prime minister on Thursday."I'm going to be generous. I appreciate the call," Bai

Foreign Affairs May 25, 2013

TORONTO (AP) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied Friday that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict after a video purported to show him using the drug. The mayor of Canada's largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack.Ford did not take questions from reporters at a news conference at City Hall held after a week of silence and after close allies released a letter urging him to address the video. The video apparently shows Ford smoking crack."I do not use crack cocaine, nor

World News May 25, 2013

LONDON (AP) -- Both of the suspects accused of butchering a British soldier during broad daylight on a London street had long been on the radar of Britain's domestic spy agency, though investigators say it would have been nearly impossible to predict that the men were on the verge of a brutal killing.Still, counter-terrorism officials said they are reviewing what -- if any -- lessons can be gleaned from the information they had leading up to the slaying Wednesday.Authorities in the U.S. have sim

World News May 25, 2013

STOCKHOLM (AFP) -- Stockholm experienced a sixth straight night of riots early Saturday, with cars torched in several immigrant-dominated suburbs, as Britain and the United States warned against travelling to the hotspots.Nearly a week of unrest, which spread briefly Friday night to the medium-sized city of Oerebro 160 kilometers west of Stockholm, have put Sweden's reputation as an oasis of peace and harmony at risk.The unrest has also sparked a debate among Swedes over the integration of immig

World News May 25, 2013

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- After a landmark visit by Myanmar's leader, the United States is looking to a new phase of greater cooperation to encourage reform with the former pariah state as it runs out of major symbolic steps.President Thein Sein, a former general who startled observers by ushering in a wave of change when he took office in 2011, met with President Barack Obama on a four-day trip that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.In a sign of growing normalization, Senate Republica

Foreign Affairs May 25, 2013

PARIS (AFP) -- IMF chief Christine Lagarde avoided immediate charges on Friday but was named an "assisted witness" after French prosecutors grilled her for two days over a state payout to a disgraced tycoon when she was finance minister.Lagarde was questioned for a total of 24 hours by prosecutors working for a court that probes cases of ministerial misconduct over her 2007 handling of a row that resulted in 400 million euros ($515 million) being paid to controversial business figure Bernard Tap

World News May 25, 2013

BEIJING (AP) -- A top North Korean envoy has delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae's three-day visit was seen as a fence-mending mission after Pyongyang angered Beijing with recent snubs and moves to develop its nuclear program. Choe returned to

North Korea May 25, 2013

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- A close partnership between the air forces of South Korea and the United States will continue regardless of which model Seoul picks for its next-generation fighter jets, a senior U.S. official said Friday."They are strong partners and allies and I think will remain so in any situation going forward," Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said in a Pentagon press briefing.South Korea is in the process of selecting a contractor for the supply of 60 advanced jets to

Defense May 25, 2013

LONDON (AP) -- The role of central banks in shoring up the global economic recovery is set to be a key point of discussion among top financial officials from the world's seven leading economies when they gather in the UK this weekend.The Japanese yen's continuing weakness is also expected to come under discussion now that the dollar has breached the 100 yen mark for the first time in a little over four years.In a statement Friday ahead of the Group of Seven's two-day meeting at a country house a

World Business May 10, 2013