The number of unmarried male citizens in Seoul aged 35 to 49 has increased more than 10-fold over the past 20 years, data showed Wednesday.According to the data released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the number of single men of the age bracket in the capital city came to 242,590 in 2010, up from 24,239 in 1990. The rate of unmarried men among the age group has shown an upward trajectory du

Ratings agency Moody's on Tuesday lowered the outlook on the EU's bailout fund from stable to negative, after threatening the triple-A credit ratings of three of the eurozone's major guarantors.Moody's said its decision to lower the outlook on the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) reflected the changes in outlooks on Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. But it maintained the EFSF's

President Lee Myung-bak apologized to the nation Tuesday over a string of bribery scandals involving his former aides and his elder brother-cum-political mentor. "Fellow Koreans, disgraceful incidents have recently happened to my family and surroundings and caused so much anxiety to people," Lee said during a nationally-televised address with a stern expression on his face. "I bow my head and exte

Some parents assume whatever they say about drugs and alcohol may be drowned out by peer pressure, but U.S. researchers say parents are key.Michael Cleveland of the Prevention Research Center at Pennsylvania State University said influences on what teens do often come from their friends, but parents have big roles.Cleveland and colleagues interviewed high school freshmen and sophomores, asking the

Moody's took the first step toward stripping Germany of its coveted AAA credit rating on Monday, cutting the outlook for Europe's largest and most pivotal economy to "negative."Delivering a stark warning that no one is immune from the eurozone's rolling crisis, the ratings agency lowered Germany's credit outlook from "stable" to "negative."A similar move was announced for fellow AAA ranked economi

South Korea held talks with North Korea last year on joint development of minerals including rare earths despite high political tensions, it was disclosed Monday.The Korea Resources Corp (KORES) said its staff visited the North for two rounds of government-approved talks with the National Economic Cooperation Federation in September and December.At the meetings proposed by Pyongyang the North hand

Chinese police have arrested 463 suspects on charges of counterfeiting money and confiscated $18.5 million in fake bills, officials said.The arrests came out of a special operation created in March to crackdown on economic crimes, China‘s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.“Fake note cases and the amount of fake notes discovered by financial institutes have been decreasing under sustained crack

A former Buddhist monk accused of brutally beating a dog to death has been sentenced to six months in prison, court officials here said Monday.The 53-year-old man only known by his surname Lee was convicted of climbing over the wall of a neighbor's house in this southern port city in December and striking the dog on the head with blunt weapons. The dog was of the Korean Jindo breed, which originat

The death toll from the heaviest rain to hit Beijing in over 60 years has risen to 37, Chinese state media reported on Sunday.Xinhua news agency said more victims of the downpours which battered much of the capital throughout Saturday had been discovered, revising up considerably the number of dead from ten.The rainstorms led to the evacuation of more than 50,000 people from their homes in Beijing

An Air Force instructor was sentenced to 20 years in prison Saturday after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in a sweeping sex scandal that rocked one of the busiest military training centers in the U.S. A military jury at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio found Staff Sgt. Luis Walker guilty Friday night on all 28 charges he faced, including rape, aggravated sexual contact and multip