A Missouri woman was caught making meth in her purse inside of a Walmart store, police said.The woman and a man were pulled aside by store security who discovered that the woman was making methamphetamine in her purse, KMOX-TV, St. Louis, reported.The store was evacuated out of fear for customers' safety.St. Louis County Police Lt. Mark Cox said if the meth concoction leaked or spilled, fumes coul

South Korea’s securities brokerage industry has been a big underperformer for the past year, buffeted by the resurfacing of the European debt crisis and other negative factors, data showed Sunday.The return on the brokerage sector’s subindex stood at minus 30.6 percent during the past year, the third-worst record after minus 32.6 percent for medical and precision machines and minus 31.9 percent for chemicals, according to the data by the Korea Exchange, the local bourse operator.In addition, the

South Korea and the United States concluded two days of preliminary talks in Washington aimed at fueling trade following the implementation of the bilateral free trade pact, the foreign ministry said Saturday.Seoul and Washington established the minister-level Joint Committee and 19 subcommittees and working groups to oversee the implementation of the landmark free trade agreement that went into force on March 15.During the two days of talks, committees on trade in goods, trade remedy, service a

The government split up the rail sector’s management of infrastructure and transport services in 2005, judging that a single national railway firm would not be able to meet the demand for better products. Under the reform, the Transportation Ministry put about 80 percent of Korea’s railway stations under the ownership of state-run Korea Railroad Corp., which also operates railway services, as a form of investment-in-kind.About seven years on, the ministry is seeking to retrieve that ownership, s

The largest-ever number of Korean discount mega-retailers and mid-sized grocery chains shut their doors on Sunday as part of the nation’s new policy to help small, individually owned marts.Over 70 percent of such large marts throughout the nation took forced days off on the second Sunday of June. A total of 98 out of 143 E-Mart stores nationwide, 104 out of 129 Home Plus stores and 304 of 430 Lotte Marts were closed. For the three leading discount chains, about 72.5 percent of their stores natio

Antitrust regulator considers probe into alleged price-fixingRetail prices of imported whisky from Europe have not dropped but climbed in the local market despite the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement which took effect in July 1, 2011, according to the antitrust regulator.The Fair Trade Commission said Sunday that import prices of European-made whisky products rose by 1.41 percent during the first quarter of 2012, compared to the same period last year.Among the products whose import prices surpassed

South Korean credit card companies saw their default rates increase in the first quarter from three months earlier amid falling earnings, the financial regulator said Sunday.The average delinquency rate of seven credit card companies reached 2.09 percent as of the end of March, up 0.18 percentage point from the end of last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The watchdog said the rate rose due to an increase in fresh defaults, which was related to clear signs of the country’s ec

South Korean stocks will likely be exposed to volatility ahead of crucial Greek parliamentary elections that will determine the future of the eurozone, local analysts said Saturday.The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 1,835.64 points on Friday, up just 0.06 percent or 1.13 points from a week earlier.The weak gains came as the local bourse lost ground in the face of persistent debt and financial sector problems in the European Union and disappointments caused by the U.S. Federal Re

The echo-boomer generation, or the children of baby boomers, is facing a crisis in unemployment, credit and housing amid the economic slump, a local think tank said in a report released Sunday. Echo boomers are experiencing a painful entry into society under an economic environment that is distinctly different from the one their parents went through, Hyundai Economic Research Institute said.The population of echo boomers, born between 1979 and 1985, was around 5.1 million in 2010. Despite their