Amsterdam was decked in orange Tuesday as the Netherlands prepared to bid goodbye to Queen Beatrix and welcome its first king in more than a century. People dressed themselves in the color of the House of Orange for the event timed to coincide with the country’s Queens Day, while shops prepared to cash in on commemorative items.Support for the monarchy has been well established by the common touch of Queen Beatrix, whose abdication follows the example of her two predecessors.But marriage may hav

Kang Duck-soo, 63, chairman and founder of STX Group, the nation’s 13th-largest conglomerate by assets, is facing his biggest-ever crisis as some of the company’s major affiliates are suffering from financial crunches. Cornered by liquidity problems, Kang has handed over his controlling stakes in STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, a core affiliate of STX Group, to creditors. “His decision came amid creditors’ due diligence on the group’s money-losing shipbuilding unit before the creditors decide wheth

Italy’s new center-left prime minister Enrico Letta ended two months of political deadlock by naming his Cabinet on Saturday amid heightened hopes from financial investors and international observers. Letta pulled off a deal on the formation of a new government, a coalition that brings together Letta’s Democratic Party and the People of Freedom Party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Letta, who speaks fluent English, has built up solid relations on both sides of parliament and is also

Upon his landslide win in the parliamentary by-election Wednesday, Saenuri Party veteran Kim Moo-sung is setting off ripples across the political arena.Kim received 65.7 percent of the vote in Busan’s Yeongdo constituency, beating his opposition party rival Kim Bi-oh who had 22.3 percent.Kim is a close ally of President Park Geun-hye and a seasoned politician now in his fifth parliamentary term. His return is considered by many to be a signal for a major shift in the balance of power within the

When Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party swept an election last December, an alarm bell rang in Seoul about its chief Shinzo Abe’s perceived desire to veer the depression-riddled country toward the right and revive revisionism. The concerns seem to be turning into reality as the prime minister’s far-right clan relays worship at a controversial war shrine and remarks denying the country’s imperialist past. At a parliamentary session Tuesday, Abe said the definition of invasion varies wildly by count

At the very heart of bustling Tokyo, a surreally serene, spacious shrine greets hundreds of thousands of worshippers every year seeking to pay tribute to their ancestors and lost loved ones. Albeit being one of the city’s most exquisite landmarks, the temple has for decades been a source of diplomatic feuds between Japan and its neighbors such as Korea and China.Yasukuni Shrine honors nearly 2.5 million Japanese war dead including top World War II criminals and is frequented by right-wing nation

Businesses and politicians are clashing over plans to implement a substitute holiday system, under which employers would be required to give employees a day off during the week when a public holiday falls on a Sunday. The bill for revising related regulations was approved by the Security and Public Administration Committee’s review committee on Friday, and will be raised in the National Assembly’s plenary session this month. The development has rattled the business community. The pro-business lo

The two young men implicated in the recent terror bombings at the Boston Marathon last week are described by their neighbors as “regular American kids.” Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechen brothers who arrived in the United States about 10 years ago, used to be seen riding bikes and skateboards on the street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they lived.Authorities in the United States are turning their investigation of the two quiet and athletic brothers to a possible motive for the

The controversy surrounding the planned closure of Jinju Medical Center showed no signs of letting up, with the proposal pending at the provincial assembly.Members of the medical trade union and the police clashed as the workers attempted to prevent Saenuri Party councilors from attending a plenary session of the local assembly in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, while lawmakers of opposition parties were blocked by the authorities from entering the building.  South Gyeongsang Province’s decisi

The 63-year-old Cho Yong-pil has returned to the music scene with his first single in 10 years, titled “Bounce.” The track is a prerelease single from his upcoming 19th album “Hello,” which will be unveiled next week. “Bounce,” released on Tuesday, was ranked in the top 10 on all the major local music singles charts, including Bugs and Soribada charts where it overtook Psy’s global hit “Gentleman” and claimed the No. 1 spot. The versatile artist showed a completely different side of himself with

The heir to Hugo Chavez’s “Bolivarian Revolution” has secured a mandate to continue what his mentor started ― but only just. Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked vice president and a former bus driver and union leader, prevailed in Venezuela’s presidential election on Sunday, beating pro-business rival Henrique Capriles by just 1.6 percent of the vote. Capriles has disputed the result, calling for a recount. The country’s electoral commission, stacked with Chavez supporters, has denied this reque

Adam Scott ended Australia’s long wait for a Masters win on Sunday. Scott, 32, beat Angel Cabrera of Argentina at the second playoff hole of the 77th Masters to become the first Australian to win the tournament. He recorded a total of 9-under 279 for four rounds. It was also his first major title. He took home $1.44 million in prize money. Adams won by using a long putter for the first time in the event. He made successful birdie putts with it on the 18th hole in the fourth round and the 10th ho

“Kim Jong who?” was the line that kicked off the New York Daily News article that introduced the release of YouTube sensation Psy’s long-awaited follow-up song to global hit “Gangnam Style.” While the current political tension between the Koreas is making headlines around the globe, the buzz about Psy’s follow-up single “Gentleman” has begun to overshadow talk of missiles and war. Psy had kept people around the world on their toes for months with promises of a new song and a new dance routine to

North Korea is bolstering its cyber warfare capabilities through its Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang’s premier intelligence body, with some north Korean defectors comparing its abilities to that of the U.S.’ Central Intelligence Agency. The Reconnaissance General Bureau, which is thought to have carried out the March 20 and March 26 hacking attacks on South Korean news and financial organizations, forms the core of the North’s cyber warfare and terrorism operations.Headed by Kim Yong-ch

Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the ruling Saenuri Party is once again causing a stir over nuclear armament, saying Seoul should keep open the option of withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to better deal with North Korea.“Facing an extraordinary threat to national security, South Korea may exercise the right to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as stipulated in article 10 of the treaty,” Chung said at Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington on Tues