LONDON -- The South Korean men's football team plays its final group stage match against Gabon Wednesday for a chance to reach the quarterfinals. It can do that with at least a draw. South Korea has never won an Olympic football medal in its previous eight attempts.Female shooter Kim Jang-mi, a 19-year-old sensation who set a world record in 25-meter pistol in April this year, will make her Olympi

Olympic Games Aug. 1, 2012

South Korean stocks finished 2.07 percent higher Tuesday as investors' sentiment was boosted by expectations that stimulus measures from Europe and the U.S. will come, analysts said. The local currency rose sharply against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) soared 38.2 points to close at 1,881.99 Trading volume was moderate at 353.6 million shares worth 5.55 tr

July 31, 2012

PARIS — A gang of thieves dressed as knights and armed with a sword and an axe robbed the organizers of a medieval festival in northeast France Monday and made off with 20,000 euros ($25,000), police said.The theft took place in the early hours of Monday as organizers were counting revenues from the festival in Bitche, near France's border with Germany, a spokesman for regional police in Lorraine

World News July 31, 2012

A Stradivarius violin -- possibly worth several million euros -- was handed in at a Swiss lost-property office after a hapless musician left it on a train, police said Monday.The owner had lent the precious instrument to a musician friend who took it on a train on Friday but forgot it when he got off at Bern, police said.After a fruitless search by train staff, surveillance cameras spotted a passe

World News July 31, 2012

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday on eased eurozone debt concerns ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 2.99 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,846.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares traded mixed with market bellwether Samsung Electronics rising 1.49 percent and the country's biggest

July 31, 2012

LONDON - Ajmal Faisal, Afghanistan's sole boxer at the Olympics, said just getting to London for the Games had been a triumph after he lost in the first round here on Monday.The 21-year-old was well beaten 22-9 by experienced French flyweight Nordine Oubaali but said opposition from Taliban insurgents and a dearth of facilities in Afghanistan had severely hampered his ability to train."I lived out

Olympic Games July 31, 2012

LONDON - Ihab Almatbouli made history as he became the first boxer from Jordan to win an Olympic bout here on Monday.The 26-year-old, put on a classy display to defeat Nigerian Lukmon Lawal 19-7 in a light-heavyweight contest.Alamtbouli, who lives in and comes from the Palestinian refugee camp of Al-Baqaa (which has a population of around a 100,000) on the outskirts of Amman, was already the first

Olympic Games July 31, 2012

LONDON  - Wendy Houvenaghel is preparing to return to her profession as a dentist -- but only once she has helped Britain bid for Olympic gold in the inaugural women's team pursuit event.The Northern Irishwoman, who became a full-time athlete at the late age of 31, won Olympic silver in the individual event at Beijing four years ago.Now with the event no longer part of the Olympic programme, she i

Olympic Games July 31, 2012

South Korean stocks finished 0.8 percent higher Monday on optimism that European policymakers will take action to ease the debt crisis, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 14.63 points to close at 1,843.79. Trading volume was moderate at 333.1 million shares worth 3.8 trillion won ($3.3 billion) with gainers

July 30, 2012