Gwangju International Center is running its first Korean course of the year starting Saturday, with the new addition of intensive afternoon TOPIK classes for levels 1-2 and 3-4.Classes are mostly on weekdays but also include a Saturday course, hallyu-based classes and a kids’ class. There are also classes available on weekends and evenings.The cost of tuition varies. The morning courses are 200,000 won for an intensive course of four days a week for two hours each or 100,000 won for two days a w

Busan Foundation for International Activities is offering free Korean classes to local foreign residents.The classes are available for different levels in the morning, afternoon or evening, with schedules varying for each class. Among those on offer are beginners classes for most schedules and a conversation class on Saturdays.The courses run from Jan. 28 to March 30 at the Busan Global Center. Tuition is free but students must supply their own materials and pay for textbooks.Registration is ope

The Camarata Music Company is auditioning for its Chamber Singers, a semi-professional choir with 27 singers. Auditions will be held through Jan. 10, and spots in every section are available. The 2013 season will begin in the middle of January. The CMC Chamber Singers perform regularly throughout the year. Recent performances have been at the Seoul Arts Center, and at a concert for President Lee Myung-bak and ambassadors at the presidential residence.Auditions are by appointment. Hopefuls should

A group of volunteers will meet to help residents at a home for disabled people in Yeonsinnae, in northwestern Seoul on Saturday.The Angel House volunteers usually visit on one or two Saturdays a month to clean the facilities, do laundry, cook food, help with basic personal hygiene and have fun with the residents.To get involved or find out more contact kikihero@gmail.com. First time volunteers should send their name and phone number or email address. The group must report to the Angel House how

The number of foreign nationals visiting Korea last year is estimated at over 11.1 million, generating $14.1 billion in tourism revenue, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday. The figure is a 13.4 percent rise from 2011 and the ministry expects it to increase in 2013. According to the ministry, the number of tourists rose sharply in early 2012 but stalled in September and October when the political dispute between China and Japan over territory deepened and the travel industry

CARACAS (AP) ― President Hugo Chavez’s new complications after cancer surgery prompted his closest allies to call for Venezuelans to pray for him on Monday, presenting an increasingly bleak outlook and prompting growing speculation about whether the ailing leader has much longer to live. Vice President Nicolas Maduro looked weary and spoke with a solemn expression as he announced in a televised address from Havana on Sunday that Chavez now confronts “new complications’’ due to a respiratory infe

NEW YORK (AP) ― The family of a woman accused of shoving an Indian man to his death in front of a subway train called police several times in the past five years because she had not been taking prescribed medication and she was difficult to deal with, authorities said Monday. Erika Menendez, 31, was being held without bail on a murder charge in the death of Sunando Sen. She told police she pushed the 46-year-old India native because she thought he was Muslim, and she hates them, according to pro

A 6-acre tract in Philadelphia, owned by a church group derided as a cult, is available in an eBay auction, starting at $4.5 million. The property, which includes a swimming pool, a basketball court and 10 rundown buildings, on an entire city block, is owned by the Church of Bible Understanding, an organization founded by Stewart Traill, a former vacuum cleaner salesman who rebranded himself a prophet and attracted followers beginning in the 1970s, The Philadelphia Inquirer said Monday.By 1985 t

A military bomb disposal team took care of some unfinished World War II business in eastern England after a boy found an old bomb, officials said.Sonny Carter, 7, was using a metal detector he got for Christmas during a walk with his parents Wednesday, the Lynn News reported. He got a hit on Roydon Common near the family's home in Gaywood, Norfolk. The family brought the mud-caked object home and washed it off. Then Sonny's father, Jem Carter, got concerned and called a friend who had been a Roy

Most U.S. adults sleep on their sides, forget their dreams in the morning and often sleep with someone who snores, a survey of 3,700 indicates. A survey for home furnishings retailer Anna's Linens to coincide with National Sleep Foundation found 74 percent of U.S. adults said they wear pajamas to bed, 8 percent said they slept naked, 74 percent said they failed to recall their dreams in the morning, 74 said they sleep on their sides and 47 percent said they shared a bed with someone who snored.