A 16-year-old boy charged with raping and beating a girl to death and discarding of the body received the maximum sentence for a juvenile offender of 10 years in prison, court officials here said Friday.A Goyang branch of the Euijeongbu District Court also handed down two- to nine-year sentences to eight other teenagers, including a 17-year-old girl, depending on the degree of their involvement in

Social Affairs July 20, 2012

Apple released its newest iPad in China on Friday after settling a lawsuit over ownership of its name and requiring buyers to place orders in advance to control crowds.Watched by security guards, a few dozen shoppers waited outside stores in Beijing and Shanghai, which opened on time at 8 a.m. That was in contrast to the chaotic scene outside Apple's main Beijing store in January, when some custom

World News July 20, 2012

The country's top science university said Friday its board of directors has put off the decision on whether to terminate the contract of its incumbent president. The council of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) was scheduled to vote on a motion to cancel its contract with the school's president, Suh Nam-pyo, as he refused calls to step down despite allegations of mism

Social Affairs July 20, 2012

Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance Thursday since a bomb killed some of his top lieutenants, looking calm and composed on state TV even as his forces turned parts of Damascus into combat zones and rebels seized two of the country's border crossings.The unprecedented attack on Assad's inner circle Wednesday, along with the government's inability to crush the rebels after five d

World News July 20, 2012

Rebels pushed their "Damascus Volcano" assault Thursday after three senior security chiefs were killed in a bombing Washington said indicated President Bashar al-Assad was losing control of Syria.The deaths Wednesday of Defence Minister General Daoud Rajha, Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and General Hassan Turkmani, head of the regime's crisis cell, came on one of the deadliest days in the 1

World News July 19, 2012

George Zimmerman said he was not "a racist" or "a murderer" and asserted his killing of unarmed black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was "God's plan.""I'm not a racist and I'm not a murderer," Zimmerman, a former crime-watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in Martin's death, told Fox News Channel in a recorded interview that aired Wednesday night.He said he believed he was owed an apo

World News July 19, 2012

Microsoft says Windows 8 will go on sale Oct. 26. The upgrade to its operating system is designed to work better with touch screens and on tablet computers.Microsoft announced the date in a blog post and at its annual sales meeting Wednesday. The software company had said earlier that Windows 8 would go on sale in October.Microsoft is releasing the software as a downloadable upgrade that day for P

Technology July 19, 2012

Comedienne Sarah Silverman released on online video offering a sex act to a Las Vegas billionaire if he donates to President Obama instead of Mitt Romney.The tongue-in-cheek "Indecent Proposal" video, posted to YouTube Monday, featured Silverman offering to engage in a non-intercourse sex act with Sheldon Adelson if he pulls the $100 million he has promised to Romney, the presumptive Republican pr

Television July 19, 2012

A 97-year-old Hungarian man suspected of abusing Jews and helping deport thousands of them during the Holocaust was taken into custody Wednesday, questioned and charged with war crimes, prosecutors said.The case of Laszlo Csatary was brought to the attention of Hungarian authorities last year by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish organization active in hunting down Nazis who have yet to be brou

People July 19, 2012

북한이 18일 낮 12시 ‘중대보도’를 할 것이라고 조선중앙방송과 평양방송이 전했다.AFP 통신 등 외신은 이와 관련해 최근 해임된 리영호 북한 인민군 총참모장 등 군부의 움직임이 있었음을 지적했다.<영문 기사>North Korea to make 'important' announcementNorth Korea said Wednesday an "important" announcement was imminent, after the communist state sacked its military chief in a surprise move."An important report will be issued in the DPRK at 12:00 (0300 GMT) Wednesday," the state-run Kore

Podcast July 18, 2012

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Wednesday but swung to positive territory on hopes for the U.S. Fed's further quantitative easing, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.44 points, or 0.02 percent, to 1,822.4 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Blue-chip exporters led the gains, with Samsung Electronics adding 1.11 percent and top automaker Hyund

July 18, 2012

South Korea's trade surplus with the European Union (EU) fell sharply after the free trade pact went into effect a year ago due to eurozone woes that hurt exports and caused a rise in imports, government data showed Wednesday.According to data by the Korea Customs Service (KCS), imports from the EU shot up 13 percent on-year to US$49 billion between July 2011 and June this year. Exports fell to $5

July 18, 2012