An employee at a Subway restaurant in Florida says he was fired after arguing with a customer about putting ketchup on a sandwich. The ketchup fight occurred Tuesday at a Subway inside a Walmart store in Orlando, WFTV reported. Luis Martinez said he asked for a Philly cheese steak sandwich with his usual accompaniments: "American cheese, onions and ketchup."Lawrence Ordone, who was working behind the counter, said he was unable to give Martinez what he wanted. "He wants ketchup on the Philly che

Japan will increase military spending in 2013 for the first time in more than a decade, the ruling party said Tuesday, as Tokyo summoned the Chinese ambassador over a simmering territorial row.The newly-elected Liberal Democratic Party's national defense task force has decided to boost the defense budget request by more than 100 billion yen ($1.15 billion) in response to an emboldened Beijing, a party official told AFP.The relatively small amount is likely symbolic, but it reflects anxiety over

An illegal immigrant from Mexico accused of assuming the persona of a Texas teacher pleaded guilty Monday in a case that put a face on the growing crime of ``total identity theft‘’ in the United States.Benita Cardona-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possessing fraudulent identification documents in a deal with prosecutors that calls for an 18-month prison term.The 32-year-old was accused of completely assuming the persona of Houston elementary school teacher Candida Gutierrez, who

The U.S. government on Monday remained firm on its disapproval of a trip to North Korea by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.They flew into Pyongyang earlier in the day, defying Washington's advice not to go there when efforts to punish the communist nation for its long-range rocket launch in December are under way.In a one-sentence dispatch, the North's official news agency KCNA described the American visitors as part of a "delegation of the Google Corp. of

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest technology firm by revenue, estimated Tuesday it had posted a record operating profit of 8.8 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012, and is poised to log record annual earnings on the back of its smartphone dominance.The preliminary estimate represents an 88.8 percent jump from a revised operating profit of 4.66 trillion won a year earlier, Samsung said in a regulatory filing. It is also a 9.2 percent increase from the previous thre

글로벌 경제파워가 선진국에서 신흥국으로 이동함에 따라 한국의 수출 구조에도 일대 지각변동이 일어나고 있다. 수출 선박들이 미국, 유럽, 일본에서 중국, 동남아국가연합(아세안ㆍASEAN), 중 남미로 행선지를 바꾸고 있다.  7일 금융투자업계와 지식경제부에 따르면 한국 수출에서 차지하는 신흥국 비중이 작년 72.8%(3천864억달러)로 10년 전인 2002년의 53.2%(865억달러)보다 20%포인트 가까이 커졌다. 이 기간 선진국 비중은 46.8%(760억달러)에서 27.2%(1천442억달러)로 대폭 줄었다.신흥국 가운데 대(對)중국 수출은 2002년 238억달러에서 작년 1천302억달러로 늘었고 비중은 14.6%에서 24.5%로 커졌다. 같은 기간 아세안 수출 비중은 11.3%에서 14.4%로 늘었고 중남미는 5.5%에서 6.7%로 증가했다.반면 전통적으로 우방 관계를 유지하며 교역이 활발했던 미국, 유럽, 일본 등 선진국은 수출 비중이 계속 줄어들고 있다작년 미국 수출액은 567

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has filed a complaint with the prosecution against 12 private agencies involved in illegal overseas study programs. The accused agencies have been luring students who seek to obtain an overseas degree by allowing them to transfer to foreign colleges without tests, the ministry said Sunday.Under their special admission programs, students study English for one or two years in local colleges and transfer as second or third-year students to foreign c

일본인 10명 가운데 7명은 독도를 일본땅으로 인식하고 있는 것으로 조사됐다.3일 일본 히로시마시립대 평화연구소 김미경 부교수에 따르면 지난해 4월과 8∼ 11월 두 차례에 걸쳐 일본 시마네•오이타•히로시마현 주민과 리쓰메이칸(立命館)아시아-태평양 대학의 일본인 학생 등 440명을 상대로 조사를 벌인 결과, 91%(399명 )가 "독도 분쟁에 대해 들은 적이 있다"고 응답했다. 응답자의 절대 다수는 TV와 신문을 통해 관련 정보를 접한 것으로 나타났다."다케시마(독도의 일본식 명칭)는 일본땅"이라고 생각한다는 응답자는 67%(293 명)에 달했다. "아니다"라는 응답은 2%(7명)에 불과했으며, 27%(118명)는 "모른다"고 답했다. 또 "독도의 위치를 알고 있다"는 응답은 76%(336명)로 조사됐다. "독도 문제를 해결하기 위해 한일간에 무력 분쟁이 일어날 가능성이 있느냐"는 질문에는 "없다"는 응답이 43%(187명)로 가장 많았지만, "모른다"거나 "있다"는 답변도 각각 3