South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Friday on gains in logistics and construction heavyweights, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) edged up 1.47 points, or 0.07 percent, to 1988.82 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Logistics shares gathered ground, with Hyundai Glovis increasing 0.68 percent, while CJ Korea Express climbed 1.47 percent. Korean Air, South Korea's top flight carrier, added 0.22 percent.Construction firms also traded higher, with No. 1 bui

Dec. 28, 2012

Fontella Bass, a U.S. soul singer who hit the top of the R&B charts with “Rescue Me” in 1965, has died. She was 72.Bass died Wednesday night at a St. Louis hospice of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago, her daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said. Bass had also suffered a series of strokes over the past seven years.“She was an outgoing person,” Mitchell said. “She had a very big personality. Any room she entered she just lit the room up, whether she was on stage or just going out

Performance Dec. 28, 2012

Avery Johnson was fired Thursday as coach of the Brooklyn Nets, who have struggled recently in their season of new surroundings and elevated expectations.After a strong start to their first season in Brooklyn, the Nets have lost 10 of 13 games to fall well behind the first-place New York Knicks, the team they so badly want to compete with in their new home.“We don't have the same fire now than we did when we were 11-4,” general manager Billy King said at a news conference in East Rutherford, New

More Sports Dec. 28, 2012

The “fiscal cliff” took the stock market on a roller coaster Thursday. Small developments in the tense budget standoff yanked stocks back and forth throughout the day.In the end, U.S. stocks closed lower for the fourth day in a row, sending the unwelcome message that the budget standoff is still far from solved, the economy still far from healed.The erratic performance underscored how the “fiscal cliff” can yank the market back and forth. The term refers to automatic tax increases and government

World Business Dec. 28, 2012

Greece's four biggest banks need 27.5 billion euros ($36.4 billion) in recapitalization funds by the end of April, the national central bank said in a report released Thursday."Capital needs for all Greek commercial banks were estimated in May 2012 at 40.5 billion euros, of which the 27.5 billion euros corresponded to the four core banks," it said.The four banks, identified as the National Bank of Greece (NBG), Alpha, Eurobank, and Piraeus, will receive support from the state because they are co

World Business Dec. 28, 2012

South Korea's industrial output bounced back in November, raising expectations that industrial activities might be picking up, a government report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries gained 2.9 percent last month from a year earlier, turning around from the previous month's 0.8 percent on-year contraction. The output also grew 2.3 percent on-month, marking the third straight month of expansion. The ser

Dec. 28, 2012

South Korea posted a record current account surplus for November as exports gained ground, the central bank said Friday, giving support to the already-strong local currency to the U.S. dollar.The current account surplus reached US$6.88 billion in November, up from a revised $5.78 billion in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.The November surplus marked the 10th straight month of a surplus run, making the acc

Dec. 28, 2012

Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the power plant which had the world’s biggest nuclear disaster since 1986, was sued by eight U.S. sailors claiming they were exposed to radiation and the utility lied about the dangers. The sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier were involved in disaster relief operations following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan that caused the meltdown, according to the complaint filed in U.S. federal court in San

World News Dec. 27, 2012

A local court ordered two Hyundai Motor Co. contract workers Thursday to end their two-month protest atop a power-transmission tower, saying rejection of the ruling will cause them to pay daily fines of 300,000 won (US$280).The two workers began the protest on Oct. 17, demanding permanent employment of contract workers. They complain that contract workers are paid far less than regular workers, although both groups do the same type of work. Hyundai Motor currently has about 6,800 contract worker

Social Affairs Dec. 27, 2012

Japan's new leaders set to work Thursday on dismantling plans to rid the country of nuclear power by 2040, pledging to review a post-Fukushima policy.The pro-business Liberal Democratic Party-led government also said they would give the green light to any reactors deemed safe by regulators, indicating shuttered power stations could start coming back online."We need to reconsider the previous administration's policy that aimed to make zero nuclear power operation possible during the 2030s," Toshi

World News Dec. 27, 2012

President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that French troops would not interfere in the internal affairs of its former colony the Central African Republic, where rebels have seized a large chunk of territory in recent weeks."If we are present, it is not to protect a regime, it is to protect our nationals and our interests, and in no way to intervene in the internal affairs of a country, in this case Central Africa," he said. "Those days are gone."His comments came a day after hundreds of prot

World News Dec. 27, 2012