Walmart topped the Fortune 500 list for the sixth straight year and Amazon made the Top 10 for the first time. 　The 64th annual Fortune 500 list ranks America’s largest companies, representing two-thirds of the US gross domestic product with $12.8 trillion in revenue. The companies on the list employ more than 28 million people.　Exxon Mobil and Berkshire Hathaway ranked No. 2 and No. 3 on the list with $244 billion and $242 billion each in annual revenue, respectively. 　The e-commerce giant run

World Business May 27, 2018

　Car sales in the top European markets rose sharply in April, statistics showed Thursday, confounding fears that a slowdown in the eurozone's recovery might put the brakes on the continent's vehicle industry.　“In April 2018, the EU passenger car market showed a strong return to growth (+9.6%) after demand declined in March,” the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a statement.　The Spanish car market grew the fastest - by 12.3 percent - followed by the UK at 10.4 percent, France

World Business May 24, 2018

　The average annual salaries of employees at South Korea’s top 30 listed companies grew in the mid-2 percent range in 2017, with the growth rate for women nearly twice that for men.　According to job portals Job Korea and Albamon, the per capita annual salary of leading companies increased at an average rate of 2.6 percent last year from a year earlier.　Top web portal operator Naver Corp. posted the highest increase of 18.3 percent (12.75 million won) on-year.

Business May 23, 2018

　Air pollution causes more than 480,000 premature deaths across Europe each year despite “slowly” improving air quality on the continent, the EU’s environment authority said.　Data collected at monitoring stations showed that 82 percent of the EU’s urban population was exposed to these microscopic particulates, known as PM2.5, in 2015, down from 85 percent in 2013.　Other sources of air pollution linked to the premature deaths include nitrogen dioxide, emitted in the air, and ground-level ozone ca

World News May 22, 2018

　More than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics have been produced since the 1950s, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.　As of 2015, humans had generated 8.3 billion tons of plastics, 6.3 billion tons of which had already become waste. Of that waste total, only 9 percent was recycled, 12 percent was incinerated and 79 percent accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.　The research predicts around 12 billion tons of plastic waste will be polluting the natur

World May 21, 2018

　Sixty-eight percent of the world‘s population will live in urban areas by the year 2050, the United Nation said Wednesday, up from the current 55 percent.　The UN report predicted an extra 2.5 billion people living in ever-expanding cities in the next 30 years, with as much as 90 percent of the urban growth centered on Asia and Africa.　The boom in city-dwellers will be concentrated in certain countries, with 35 percent of urban expansion occurring in India, China and Nigeria alone between 2018 a

World News May 20, 2018

　A stunning nude that is the largest painting produced by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani sold for $157.2 million in New York on Monday, becoming the fourth most expensive work of art sold at auction.　The exact value of private sales are often not revealed. But a Willem de Kooning painting and a Gauguin were reportedly sold separately for $300 million each in 2015, according to US media. (AFP)

Arts & Design May 17, 2018

　South Korean capital Seoul has been named the 10th best city in the world for university students, according to a report from the QS Best Student Cities Ranking.　London overtook last year’s top-placed city Montreal to rank No. 1. 　The Canadian city was demoted to fourth, behind Tokyo in second and Melbourne at third.　The study builds the rankings based on factors such as the number of top universities in a city, the local jobs market, the diversity of the culture and the quality of life.

World News May 16, 2018

　According to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, local courts in Korea granted permission for 863 children to be adopted both in the country and abroad in 2017, down from 890 a year earlier.　The decrease is partly attributable to changes in rules that mandate local courts to review and grant adoptions. Adoptions were previously possible upon registration.　A total of 465 children were adopted in the country in 2017, down from 545 in the previous year. Meanwhile, 398 children were sent

Social Affairs May 15, 2018

　Chinese President Xi Jinping has emerged as the world's most powerful person, according to Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful people. 　Russian President Vladimir Putin ranked second, while US President Donald Trump was third.　German Chancellor Angela Merkel was named the fourth most powerful person as well as the most powerful woman, followed by Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man.　South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ranked 54th and 36th respectively.

World News May 14, 2018

　There is widespread interest about autonomous vehicles in India, Malaysia, China and South Korea, according to a survey by IPSOS in selected countries.　The poll results show that 58 percent of global respondents were curious about the technology, but 13 percent swore they would never use it. Thirty percent reported their excitement.　India, which records the highest number of road deaths across the globe, has the most people excited about self-driving cars. While 1 in every 10 road deaths is rep

World Business May 13, 2018

　Nearly 9,300 artists or groups were unjustly excluded from state support or even illegally inspected under the past two conservative administrations for political reasons, a civilian-government fact-finding committee said.　After an about 10-month probe into nine kinds of blacklists of artists by authorities under President Lee Myung-bak and his successor President Park Geun-hye from 2008 to 2016, the committee tasked with looking into the blacklists said that 8,931 individuals and 342 groups we

Social Affairs May 10, 2018

　According to a report from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, medical spending in South Korea jumped by an annual average of 6.8 percent from 2005 to 2015　The growth rate during the period outpaced the average of 2.1 percent expansion among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, marking the highest increase of the group.　The spending growth was attributed to an increase in public expenditure on medical care with an aging population.

Technology May 9, 2018

　US President Donald Trump may rule the roost on Twitter, but he lags far behind Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook, according to a study.　Modi is by far the most followed world leader on the gargantuan social networking platform, counting 43.2 million followers.　That is nearly twice the 23.1 million who follow Trump, according to a study by communications firm Burson-Martsteller.　Of course, Facebook tends to be more widely used in Asia than Twitter which may also account for the la

World May 8, 2018

　Global military spending rose in 2017 to its highest level since the Cold War, with the United States, China and Saudi Arabia topping the list, a Swedish research institute said.　The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that global military expenditure totaled $1.73 trillion in 2017, up 1.1 percent on 2016.　The United States remained the world’s largest spender with $610 billion, unchanged year-on-year. The US accounted for over a third of global military expenditure.　Seco

World May 7, 2018