The Korea Herald

Amazon to acquire U.K. online bookstore

World BusinessJul 5, 2011

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. online retailer Amazon.com announced Monday it will acquire British online bookstore The Book Depository. The cost of the transaction remains undisclosed.The British company based in Gloucester was expected to chalk up sales of 120 million pounds ($180 million) for the fiscal year ending in June, according to industry specialist TheBookseller.com.The Book Depository last ye
Airlines positioned for big gains in efficiency

IndustryJul 5, 2011

Planes are being built out of the same lightweight materials used for Formula 1 race cars. Their engines are being redesigned to squeeze more thrust out of every gallon of fuel. And governments are developing air-traffic systems that will allow airlines to fly shorter routes.Those and other advances have positioned airlines for the biggest gains in fuel efficiency since the dawn of the jet age in
Radcliffe: I became ‘so reliant’ on alcohol

PeopleJul 5, 2011
Man eats 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes

PeopleJul 5, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― Joey Chestnut scarfed down 62 hot dogs to win his fifth consecutive Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island ― the equivalent of about 20,000 calories in 10 minutes. It wasn’t a personal best for the 27-year-old nicknamed Jaws, but it was enough to out-eat second-place finisher Patrick Bertoletti by nine wieners. Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif., won $10,000 and the covet
Man donates property to Sokcho city

PeopleJul 5, 2011

Kim Cheol-seop (Yonhap News)A resident of Sokcho, Gangwon Province, has donated his property to the city, where he wished to live with his mother left in North Korea 61 years ago. Kim Cheol-seop, 75, gave the 596-square-meter property valued at 190 million won ($178,605) to Sokcho last month in the hopes that the property would be used to help the elderly. Kim has lived in the city since 1953 afte
Actors visit a revived Rwanda

PeopleJul 5, 2011

Rwanda, a small country in Africa, came into the international spotlight because of a tragic genocide in the mid 1990s. More than 20 years later, the country is still calling for economic aid.But according to 30-year-old Jin Gu the country is taking steps for a better future.“It was impressive that Rwandans forgive each other for tomorrow and live in harmony. ‘Positive energy’ was overflowing anyw
[Doyle McManus] A real-world consequence of debt-limit delay

ViewpointsJul 5, 2011

In 2008, as financial crisis threatened the U.S. banking system, President George W. Bush asked Congress to approve an emergency bailout. Leaders of both parties blessed the idea; both presidential candidates ― Barack Obama and John McCain ― endorsed it. But conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats rebelled, the House defeated the bill ― and the stock market plummeted in real time during the
[Benedicta Marzinotto] EU budget’s outsize political role

ViewpointsJul 5, 2011

BRUSSELS ― The European Commission is now in the process of formulating the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), a medium-term budget framework that fixes the European Union’s revenues and expenditures, including how much should be allocated annually to each objective and each country. The next one starts in 2014 ― and much more than money is at stake.The debate over the next year will be s
[Editorial] Ruling party stewards

EditorialJul 5, 2011

The Grand National Party has elected its new executive council, including the party chairperson, which will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the governing party through next year’s parliamentary and presidential election campaigns. What is special about the five new stewards of the party, who will be added with two appointed members is that they are barred from presidential candidacy
[Editorial] Incomplete service

EditorialJul 5, 2011

Upon resigning from his office Monday, Supreme Prosecutor General Kim Jun-kyu cited the legal maxim, “pacta sunt servanda,” which means “promises (agreements) must be kept.” He was referring to the National Assembly’s passage of a revision to the Criminal Procedure Act overriding an agreement between the prosecution and the National Police Agency concerning the distribution of criminal investigati
[Meghan Daum] The sanctimony of San Francisco

ViewpointsJul 5, 2011

Dear San Francisco,Will you please get a life? First you passed a law prohibiting the sale of most Happy Meals. Then you set your sights on banning circumcision. Now you’re trying to make it illegal to sell almost every kind of pet, including goldfish, within city limits.In one way, this isn’t entirely surprising. In order to buy a goldfish, you usually need to carry it home in a plastic Ziploc ba
[Pankaj Mishra] Rising Turkey is no resurrection of Ottoman threat to Western world

ViewpointsJul 5, 2011

Like many of Asia’s antique cities, Istanbul is a palimpsest, continuously inscribed by new movements of people and ideas, even as older writings on its parchment remain faintly visible. Few Istanbul neighborhoods manifest a multilayered identity as much as Kuzguncuk, which lies on the Asian shore of the Bosporus. Legend has it that Jews expelled from Spain in the late 15th century first settled h
[Kim Seong-kon] Is Korea a conqueror of the world?

ViewpointsJul 5, 2011

We should be more discrete and modest when it comes to evaluating the popularity of Korean culture overseas.With the rise in popularity of Korean television dramas and movies across Asian countries, the headlines of our newspapers invariably proclaim, “Hallyu (the Korean Wave) has conquered Asia.” When our K-pop group singers succeeded in attracting a huge crowd in Paris and London, our media once
Diplomats: Security Council to talk Syria nukes

World NewsJul 5, 2011

VIENNA (AP) ― The U.N. Security Council plans to meet next week to discuss what to do about Syria’s refusal to cooperate with an investigation of its alleged secret nuclear activities, diplomats told the Associated Press on Monday.The move comes just weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency referred it the council. The closed session could result in anything from debate to sanctions of t
Kolleen Park returns to the theater

TheaterJul 5, 2011

Music director-TV celeb to show her acting talent for first time in 20 years with musical ‘Next to Normal’It was difficult to recall charismatic conductor Kolleen Park seeing her on a musical stage ― looking somewhat frail and vulnerable, her voice even trembled slightly as she led the song “You don’t know” in front of the press on Monday at Doosan Art Center in Yeonji-dong, central Seoul. Park, a