KT, the nation's largest fixed line operator and No. 2 mobile carrier, has taken a major step toward owning a new professional baseball team after receiving rave reviews for its application for an expansion club, officials said Friday.KT received more "positive grades" from evaluators than its rival, a local business conglomerate Booyoung, as they both try to launch an expansion team in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), league officials said.A group of 22 independent evaluators went over th

Baseball Jan. 11, 2013

South Korea's central bank froze the key interest rate for the third straight month on Friday amid signs of some improvements in the global economy.Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his six fellow policymakers held the benchmark 7-day repo rate steady at 2.75 percent for January. The central bank cut the rate in July and October to prop up the slowing economy.The decision was widely anticipated as 15 out of 21 analysts forecast the rate freeze in a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financi

Jan. 11, 2013

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday on improved economic data from China and the eurozone, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) increased 7.39 points, or 0.37 percent, to trade at 2014.19 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Tech blue chips led the market gain, with industry leader Samsung Electronics moving up 0.72 percent and its smaller rival LG Electronics climbing 0.66 percent. Top chipmaker SK hynix edged up 0.56 percent.Logistics shares also gathered gr

Jan. 11, 2013

International credit rating agency Moody's drove Cyprus deeper into junk on Thursday with a three notch downgrade from B3 to Caa3 over concerns that the country may ultimately default on its burgeoning debt level.Moody's says more downgrades are possible for the country that is trying to finalize a bailout with international lenders to rescue its banks, which sustained massive losses on bad Greek debt and loans. The agency said that an anticipated increase in the amount of money that Cypriot ban

World Business Jan. 11, 2013

The European Central Bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.75 percent even though the economy in the euro area remains stuck in recession. Markets were waiting to hear ECB head Mario Draghi talk about his outlook for the economy at a news conference later Thursday.The bank held off cutting rates after recent economic survey data supported its position that the economy in the 17 European Union member countries that use the euro will recover gradually this year. 

World Business Jan. 11, 2013

The Obama administration is assembling proposals to curb gun violence that would include a ban on sales of assault weapons, limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and universal background checks for gun buyers. The country's most powerful pro-gun group made clear its opposition to such moves.President Barack Obama has pushed reducing gun violence to the top of his domestic agenda following last month's massacre of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school. The president

World News Jan. 11, 2013

The office of President Lee Myung-bak is positively considering vetoing a recently passed law on providing state subsidies to the taxi industry, an official said Friday, amid criticism the measure is a populist bill that would cost the nation too much.The ruling and opposition parties passed the taxi bill through parliament last week. It calls for including taxis in the category of mass transportation, along with buses, subways and trains, a designation that makes the industry eligible for gover

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2013

The presidential transition team will consider shortening working hours by stretching the weekly limit across all seven days of the week, not five, an official said Friday.Working hours in South Korea are notoriously long, despite a legal limit of eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. A government report published last September showed that the country's average weekly working hours ranked the highest among the member states of the rich nations' club -- the Organization for Economic Coopera

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2013

A series of bombings killed 115 people across Pakistan on Thursday, including 81 who died in twin blasts on a bustling billiards hall in a Shiite area of the southwestern city of Quetta.Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslims have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics, and a militant Sunni group claimed responsibility for Thursday's deadliest attack _ sending a suicide bomber into the packed pool hall and then detonating a car bomb five minutes later.It was one of th

World News Jan. 11, 2013

배우 톰 크루즈가 부산 명예시민으로 위촉된 것과 관련,“설레고 기대된다”고 전했다.10일 영화 ‘잭 리처’의 홍보를 위해 내한한 그는 이날 오전 10시 30분 서울 여의도 콘래드 서울 그랜드 볼룸에서 열린 기자회견에서 이와 같이 전했다.크루즈는 "부산시로부터 부산 명예시민 제안을 받아 위촉식을 갖게 됐다. 흔하지 않은 기회를 얻게 되어 매우 영광스럽다"며 기자진들 앞에서 활짝 웃었다. 이어 " 생애 처음으로 부산에 간다. 서울이 이렇게 아름다운데 부산은 또 어떨지 기대가 많이 된다"고 설레는 모습을 보였다. 지난 1994년 첫 내한 이후, 6번째 내한으로 역대 최다 내한 스타가 된 톰 크루즈는 이날 기자회견 이후 부산으로 향해 레드카펫 행사를 진행한다. 이번 내한이 특별한 것은 서울이 아닌 부산에서 주요행사를 진행하기 때문이다.  이에 부산시에서는 크루즈를 비롯해 로자먼드 파이크와 크리스토퍼 맥쿼리 감독을 부산의 명예시민으로 위촉한다. 영화 '잭 리처'는 한복판에서 벌어진 저격 사건

Podcast Jan. 10, 2013