Lee’s chief of staff says he will step down in Dec. after budget bill, FTA passesCheong Wa Dae was scrambling to deal with mounting pressure over last week’s defeat in the mayoral by-election, with its chief of staff saying he will quit after the National Assembly passes the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement bill and next year’s budget bill.The presidential office is planning an organizational shake-up, officials said Monday, as it has often done after losing elections.Dong-a Ilbo, a local newspap

A group of doctors here has successfully transplanted parts of a pig’s pancreas to a monkey, opening the way for new treatments for diabetes in people.Professor Park Sung-heo of Seoul National University College of Medicine and his team said Monday they transplanted the islets of Langerhans, a region of the pancreas, of a number of pigs to eight monkeys, of which four have survived for more than six months without complications. “It is rare even among the same species to experience no noticeable

Despite a flurry of meetings on Monday, rival political parties failed to move forward a long-pending motion to ratify the Korea-U.S Free Trade Agreement. Opposition lawmakers physically obstructed a session of a parliamentary committee on foreign trade, where the FTA bill was scheduled to be handled. “I am not going to push anymore to hold a session today, causing a physical clash between members,” Rep. Nam Kyung-pil of the ruling Grand National Party, the committee’s chair, said outside the me

Rovio Entertainment Oy, the creator of the “Angry Birds” mobile-phone games, will open its first retail stores this year in China, its fastest-growing market. The company aims to hit $100 million in retail sales in China in the first year of store operations, Chief Marketing Officer Peter Vesterback

Disgraced comedian-turned-director Shim Hyung-rae has been banned from leaving the country in connection with suspicions that he embezzled huge company funds, police said Monday.Police have recently launched an internal probe into suspicions that Shim, chairman of the movie production company Youngg

MANILA (AFP) - Asia welcomed the world's first symbolic "seven billionth" baby on Monday, but celebrations were tempered by worries over the strain that humanity's population explosion is putting on a fragile planet.The United Nations says that by its best estimates the seven billionth baby will be

ATLANTA (AP) — Republican Herman Cain on Sunday said he opposes abortion even in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at stake, contradicting previous statements in which he favored some exceptions.The tough stand that Cain staked out during an interview with CBS' "Face the

Microsoft founder Bill Gates coolly parried some harsh criticism from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in an interview with ABC television Sunday, saying their professional rivalry was positive.Bill Gates (Bloomberg)Gates, who maintained a long rivalry with the Apple innovator, was asked about an a