Korea’s two leading shipbuilders are upping the ante for natural gas carriers with new orders as they scramble for a bigger slice in the lucrative market amid a looming industry slowdown.Hyundai Heavy Industries said Tuesday it has won orders worth $1.1 billion in total to build four liquefied natural gas carriers and an LNG storage vessel along with its affiliates from Europe.The shipbuilder said it has clinched a deal for one LNG floating storage and regasification unit with Norway’s Hoegh. It

Seoul denies any discussion with Washington on percentage of oil import cutsIran’s top envoy to Korea said he was informed by the Korean government that it might cut Iranian oil imports to the level of 2010 ― a reduction of 10 to 15 percent ― as part of the U.S.-led sanctions to pressure Tehran to end its nuclear ambitions.“They (The Korean government) informed us that they might decrease at the level of 2010 oil imports,” Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Masoumifar told The Korea Herald. “Maybe decreas

(Yonhap News) --  KT Corp., South Korea’s top fixed-line operator, on Tuesday resumed services for Internet-enabled TVs produced by Samsung Electronics Co., four days after it restricted access to its high-speed network, the country's telecommunications watchdog said.The service was resumed at

Debts held by homeowners in Korea grew faster than their income in 2011, data showed Tuesday, indicating that the slowing economy and heavy financial burden from housing loans are causing many to become the so-called “house poor.”According to the data offered by the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea, household debt among homeowners came to 63.53 million won ($56,570) last year, up 12.9 percent from 56.29 million won a year earlier.Over the same period, their disposable income rose 9.3 percent f

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Google's $12.5 billion bid to buy cellphone maker Motorola Mobility has won approvals from U.S. and European antitrust regulators, moving Google a major step closer to completing the biggest deal in its 13-year history.Monday's blessings mean Google Inc. just needs to clear regu

Siemens AG and Samsung C&T Corp. are among the European and Asian companies that may vie to build and operate a $21 billion rail link between Moscow and St. Petersburg before the 2018 World Cup soccer tournament.Alstom SA, Bouygues SA of France, Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA and UniCredit SpA and a unit of South Korea’s Hyundai have also expressed interest in the high-speed link, said Yelena Shebunina, deputy head of OAO High-Speed Rail Lines, in an interview in Moscow. A Portuguese group led by Braz

E-Land Group, a Korean retailer, said Monday that it has clinched a deal to buy an Italian fashion brand in a bid to expand its presence in Asia’s fashion markets.Under the deal with Italy’s Marialla Burani Fashion Group, E-Land will purchase its fashion brand Coccinelle, a maker of leather goods. The company declined to reveal its takeover prices.E-Land said that the move will pave the way for it to expand its presence in emerging markets like China. The deal came as Coccinelle’s parent group i

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a Korean shipbuilder, said Monday it has signed a $2.73 billion deal to build an offshore facility that processes natural gas.Under the agreement with Inpex Corp. of Japan, Samsung Heavy will construct the offshore gas processing facility by the end of 2015, the company said.The facility, 110 meters wide and high, is expected to be the world’s largest offshore plant once built, Samsung Heavy claimed.The facility will be built in Australia, it added.Shares of Samsung

South Korea’s central bank said Monday that it will establish a 1 trillion won ($890 million) special credit line for small and medium enterprises in a bid to spur local lenders to increase loans to them.The move by the Bank of Korea, slated to take effect on April 2, comes as local banks remain reluctant to provide unsecured loans to SMEs with insufficient collateral.“The new credit line is designed to help high-risk smaller firms take out bank credit loans more easily,” a BOK official said.As