Seoul ranked the seventh most popular city among foreign travelers in 2016, according to a report by financial services corporation Mastercard. 　The South Korean capital city moved up three notches from a year earlier, attracting 12.39 million foreign travelers. 　Bangkok topped the list with 19.41 million visitors, followed by London with 19.06 million, Paris with 15.45 million, Dubai with 14.87 million and Singapore with 113.11 million.

　32 countries have booked their place for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, after Peru beat New Zealand last week to guarantee the final spot.

　Earthquakes strike suddenly and without warning at any time of year, day or night. 　Supplies should be kept in an easy-to-carry emergency kit that you can either use at home or take with you if you have to evacuate.

　After a year of stagnation the luxury market has returned to growth and will likely set a new record of 1.2 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) in 2017, said a study released by consulting firm Bain and Company. 　The 5 percent growth in the overall market is likely to be matched in the personal luxury goods segment, which includes clothing, watches and leather goods, to reach 262 billion euros.　Sales of luxury cars have also shifted up a gear, growing by 6 percent to reach 489 billion euros.　Europe

　Seoul has been ranked as one of the world’s top cities for sustainable transport, according to the 2017 Sustainable Cities Mobility Index.　Hong Kong took first place, followed by Zurich and Paris. European cities dominated the list, making up seven of the top 10. 　The data examined 100 cities across 23 indicators to give an indicative ranking of the mobility and sustainability of the systems in place in each city. It mainly examined the social, environmental and economic pillars.

　Healthier lifestyles and higher incomes helped increase life expectancy by 10 years in 35 nations in the past half a century, according to the Health at a Glance 2017 report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. 　Out of the OECD’s 35 member countries, life expectancy exceeded 80 years in 25 nations. 　The leading countries are Japan with life expectancy of 83.9 years, as well as Spain and Switzerland with 83 years. Those with the lowest results are Mexico (75) and Latvia (

　The global smartphone market has momentum going into the year-end holiday shopping season, according to the International Data Corporation.　An estimated 373.1 million smartphones were shipped worldwide during the third quarter of this year, a 2.7 percent rise from the same period in 2016. 　The five top smartphone makers all shipped more units than they did in the same quarter last year.　South Korean smartphone titan Samsung remained the overall leader, shipping 83.3 million handsets in a 9.5 pe

　The average annual salary of South Koreans ranked mid to low among major economies last year, with its growth rate over the past six years also hovering below the median, a report said.　According to a report by Rep. Park Kwang-on of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, South Koreans earned an average of $29,125 in 2016, the 23rd-highest among the 34 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, excluding Turkey.　Switzerland topped the list with an average annual

　South Korea’s Korean Air has been named the 8th best airline in the world, according to the international aviation website AirlineRatings.com.　Air New Zealand claimed the top award for the fifth straight year followed by Qantas and Singapore Airlines.　The data was based on 13 major criteria including passenger reviews, in-flight product offerings, safety, profitability, fleet age and environmental policies.

　Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump, at their summit meeting in Seoul on Tuesday, agreed to lift all restrictions currently imposed on the payload of S. Korean missiles, as part of measures to greatly expand South Korea’s military capabilities. 　That means that Seoul can develop its own weapons to eliminate N. Korea's strategic assets. 

　Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump, facing the common challenge of dealing with North Korea, have spoken to each other through telephone calls and face-to-face meetings. 　Although both are less than a year into their terms, the leaders have held three in-person summit meetings already, with the latest taking place Tuesday during Trump’s state visit to S. Korea. 

　South Korea’s has been announced as the third powerful passport in the world with visa-free access to 157 countries, according to the Passport Index by global financial advisory firm Arton Capital.　Singapore ranked top spot with a visa-free score of 159. This is the first time an Asian country has been announced as having the most powerful passport, according to the data. 　The index ranks 199 citizenships on five factors including visa-free travel, international taxation, perception, dual citiz

　The number of billionaires worldwide rose above 1,500 last year, a 10 percent jump from 2015, due largely to a surge in Asia. 　In an annual report, Swiss banking giant UBS and auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers said that last year marked the first time it recorded more billionaires in Asia (637) than in the United States (563), crediting the rise of China‘s entrepreneurs.　Europe took trailed in the report’s billionaire database with 342. 　The total wealth controlled by the ultra-rich group also sh

　South Korea’s army trainees are given about 4.91 square meters of individual space at the army training center, smaller than the average solitary cell in prison, data revealed.  　According to the Defense Ministry data released by Rep. Lee Chul-hee of the ruling Democratic Party, a typical army trainee shares a squadroom with up to 40 other trainees during the 5-week intensive training for basic combat skills. Each room is about 4.91 square meters, about one third of the minimum housing space st

　About 1 in every 4 high school students in Korea sleeps less than six hours a night, due mainly to excessive studying, causing concern over their physical and psychological health, a lawmaker said, citing the results of an Education Ministry survey. 　According to the survey of 82,883 students at 765 high schools nationwide on their sleep between April and September last year, 43.9 percent of respondents reported that they had slept for less than six hours per night, Rep. Kim Byung-wook of the D