갤러리아 백화점이 지난 3월 13일 웨스트 명품관 2층부터 5층을 리노베이션하고 언론에 공개할 때만 해도 업계에서는 의구심 어린 눈초리를 거둘 수 없었다. 　의류부터 신발, 핸드백, 속옷과 악세사리까지 모든 것들이 품목별로 정돈이 되어있고, 브랜드 이름이 전면으로 부각되지 않는 기법은, 지금까지 신세계나 롯데 같이 갤러리아보다 덩치가 더 큰 백화점에서도 시도해보지 못했던 것들이다. 갤러리아라는 백화점의 브랜드가 개개인 제품 브랜드보다 커보이는 이 기법은, 그러나 두 달도 되지 않아 엄청난 성공을 거두었다. 　리오프닝 이후 한달 간 매출을 살펴보면 리오프닝 대상층(웨스트 2층~5층) 매출은 전년 대비 33% 증가했으며, 지하 식품매장 고메이494도 리뉴얼 이전 대비 50% 이상 신장하고 있으며 명품관 전체 매출 또한 전년 동기간 대비 10%대 신장을 기록하고 있었다. 　“개별 브랜드의 이미지보다 트렌드를 보여주는 것은 세계적인 트렌드입니다. 갤러리아가 처음 시도함으로서 앞서 나갈 수

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama joked about Russian President Vladimir Putin and issues closer to home as he headlined the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night.The annual tradition has the president mocking others and himself as celebrities mingle with journalists and politicians.Obama made fun of conservative television hosts' talk about Putin's bare chest, and he joked about opposition claims that he had been born overseas instead of the United States.Looking

JONESBORO, Arkansas (AP) _ A gunman shot six people at a U.S. home Saturday, killing a man and a teenager and critically wounding two boys, before fatally shooting a worker at a nearby business, police said.The suspected gunman was later found dead of a gunshot wound in the driver's seat of a stopped car, Jonesboro police Sgt. Doug Formon said at a news conference. It was not immediately clear if the gunshot was self-inflicted.Formon said a man and a 13-year-old girl were killed Saturday afterno

TOKYO (AP) _ Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its postwar constitution Saturday with growing debate over whether to revise the war-renouncing charter in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for an expanded role for the military.The ruling conservative party has long advocated revision but been unable to sway public opinion. Now Abe is proposing that the government reinterpret the constitution to give the military more prominence without having to win public approval for the revisions.H

북한이 최근 미국을 "생지옥"이라고 표현하는 보고서를 내며 미국 맹비난에 나섰다. 마치 지난 2월 유엔을 위시한 서방 사회들의 북한인권유린 보고서에 대한 앙갚음이라도 하듯, 북한은 미국을 생지옥에 인간으로서 누려야할 기본적인 권리들이 무시되는 곳으로 표현하였으며 남한 또한 미국 때문에 보든 것을 빼앗긴 곳으로 싸잡아 비난했다. 미국의 다수 매체들에 의하면 북한의 조선중앙통신에서는 최근 미국의 인권유린에 관한 보고서를 출간하여, 이곳에서 "인종차별주의," "양극화" 등을 비난했다. 이 보고서에서 북한은 미국이 플로리다 법원이 무고한 흑인남성을 쏴 죽인 경찰관을 무죄방면하는 등 그 인종차별의 골이 깊어지고 있으며, 미국인 스스로도 46%가 인종차별은 영원할 것이라고 믿는 지경에 이르렀다고 했다. 또한 미국의 빈곤이 심각한 상황에 있으며 매주 30만명의 새로운 실업자들이 나타나고 있는 형국이고, 작년에만 4천 6백 5십만의 사람이 극심한 빈곤에 빠져있다고 주장했다. 이 보고서는 미국에 현

North Korea labeled the U.S. a "Living Hell" with racial discrimination, unemployment, surveillance and poverty rampant earlier this week, in an evident attempt to requite United Nations and several Western worlds’ claims on North Korea's human rights abuse that was published in February.The communist state also slashed South Korea as a state "deprived of everything thanks to America."According to several American media outlets, the secluded country's official mouthpiece Korean Central News Agen

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Russia to stop supporting Ukrainian separatists as he talked by phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, a day after postponing the call.   Hailing the release of OSCE observers by pro-Russian rebels in the eastern Ukrainian flashpoint town of Slavyansk, Kerry said: "It's a step. But there are many other steps that have to be taken in order to be able to de-escalate the situation."   In his phone call with Lavrov, Kerry said he reiterat

Rescue workers recovered more bodies Saturday of people killed in a landslide at an illegal gold mine in western Colombia, raising the death toll to 10, with an additional six feared dead.   Miners had been laboring with hand tools to extract gold from the open pit mine when it was hit by an avalanche of mud, rock and earth on Wednesday.   The mine employed local men and women, sometimes from the same families, but neither the workers nor the facility were properly credentialed.   "Today, we loc

Saudi health authorities announced Saturday two new deaths from the MERS coronavirus, raising to 109 the number of fatalities since the disease appeared in the kingdom in September 2012.   A 25-year-old man has died in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and a woman of 69, who suffered from tuberculosis and anaemia,  died in Mecca, also western Saudi Arabia, the health ministry said.   At the same time, 35 new cases of the severe respiratory disease have been recorded, raising the number of sufferer

NEW YORK (AP) _ Health officials confirmed the first case of an American infected with a mysterious virus that has sickened hundreds in the Middle East.The man fell ill after flying to the U.S. late last week from Saudi Arabia where he was a health care worker. He is hospitalized in good condition in northwest Indiana with Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Indiana health officials said Friday.The virus is not highly contagious and this

  LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Google says its self-driving cars are motoring along: they can navigate freeways comfortably, albeit with a driver ready to take control. But city driving _ with its obstacle course of stray walkers, bicyclists and blind corners _ has been a far greater challenge for the cars' computers.   In a blog entry posted Monday, the project's leader said test cars now can handle thousands of urban situations that would have stumped them a year or two ago.   ``We're growing more optim