BANGKOK (AP) -- The sister of Thailand's fugitive former prime minister led his loyalists to a landslide election victory Sunday, a stunning rout of the military-backed government that last year crushed protests by his supporters with a bloody crackdown that left the capital in flames.The results pave the way for Thaksin Shinawatra's youngest sister, widely considered his proxy, to become the nati

World News July 4, 2011

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) decided Friday to pay out an interim dividend of 1,510 won ($1.42) per share for the second quarter, a move that will allow its biggest shareholder Lone Star Funds to rake in large profits. This marks the record amount of quarterly dividends that Korea's fifth-largest lender has ever paid out, enabling U.S.buyout fund Lone Star to receive dividends worth 496.8 billion won

July 1, 2011

A talk between representatives of workers and management to set the mandatory minimum wage broke down on Friday due to an unbridgeable price gap, dimming prospects of reaching an early agreement.The Minimum Wage Council, in which representatives of the government, labor and corporate management jointly set the wage level, managed to hold a last-ditch meeting on Thursday to determine the new minimu

Social Affairs July 1, 2011

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese President Hu Jintao warned the ruling Communist Party faced severe "growing pains" as it turned 90 on Friday and said corruption, and alienation from China's masses, could erode public support.But in a speech on the anniversary of its 1921 founding, Hu gave no sign that the party intended to loosen the iron grip on political power it has maintained for more than six tumultu

World News July 1, 2011

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Incoming US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who takes the helm at the Pentagon on Friday, is determined to avoid gutting the US military despite the prospect of difficult budget decisions.Panetta, 73, who is stepping down as head of the CIA, is due to take over at 8:45 am (1245 GMT) from Robert Gates, who is retiring after more than four years on the job supervising troubled war

World News July 1, 2011

Korean workers’ loyalty to their company has been decreasing, a recent survey showed.In a poll conducted by Incruit, a local online recruitment website, employees only gave 4.6 points out of 10 on average when asked about their rate of commitment to their companies.The rate averaged 6.4 points three years ago, Incruit said.The loyalty tended to be lower among younger employees. Those in their 20s

Social Affairs July 1, 2011

A 39-year-old man was jailed for 10 months Thursday for secretly videotaping women who were taking part in a belly-dancing class.The man identified only by his surname Lim videotaped the group on seven occasions in March from the rooftop of a nearby building in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.Clad in tank tops, the women were dancing in a studio in a building next to where the man was taping, the court

Social Affairs July 1, 2011

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- Republican U.S. senators on Thursday boycotted a crucial session to discuss free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, dealing a setback to President Barack Obama's strong push to get the long-pending deals ratified before early August.On Tuesday, the White House announced a breakthrough in efforts to move forward the free trade agreements (FTAs) with the n

Politics July 1, 2011

A Korean shipbuilder has been picked among the final candidates to export submarines to Indonesia, officials here said Friday.According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. will compete with a French company for the project."The project is worth about $1 billion," an official with the DAPA said. "Companies from Germany and Russia

Industry July 1, 2011

Korea's consumer prices rose at a faster pace in June, raising concerns that inflationary pressure is mounting despite the government's price stability efforts, a report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 4.4 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from the previous month's 4.1 percent gain. The figure represents the sixth

July 1, 2011

LONDON (AP) -- The FBI's most-wanted list features a dated black-and-white photograph for the man wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Saif al-Adel, reads the glaring red banner, alias Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi.But intelligence officials and people who say they know al-Adel and Makkawi tell The Associated Press that they are two different men.In the wake o

World News June 30, 2011