A high-ranking Syrian official called the U.S.-Russian agreement on securing Syria's chemical weapons a “victory” for President Bashar Assad's regime, but the U.S. warned Sunday “the threat of force is real” if Damascus fails to carry out the plan. The comments by Syrian Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haidar to a Russian state news agency were the first by a senior Syrian government official on the deal struck a day earlier in Geneva. Under the agreement, Syria will provide an inventory

Lawrence Summers had, for weeks, been considered the leading candidate to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman.A renowned economist, Summers built close ties to President Barack Obama when he led the president's National Economic Council in 2009 and 2010. In that role, he helped orchestrate the administration's efforts to combat the financial crisis and the Great Recession.But on Sunday, Summers withdrew from consideration for the Fed.  His withdrawal followed growing resistance from

China on Friday took a swipe at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's move to lift a ban on exercising the right of collective self-defense, describing it as an "excuses for military expansion." China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks during a regular press briefing, when asked about comments made by Abe on Thursday that emphasized his eagerness to proceed with a national debate on lifting the ban on collective self-defense. Conservative Abe has been trying to lift the ban on

The union of South Korea's second-largest automaker Kia Motors Corp. said Friday that its members have voted in favor of a tentative wage deal reached earlier this week.The deal calls for a hike of 97,000 won ($89) in basic salaries and 8.5 million won in incentive payments and performance-related bonuses as well as other benefits.The carmaker said it has agreed to double the amount of social contribution to 2 billion won to support the underprivileged in society.The endorsement came weeks after

Twitter, the short messaging service named after chirping birds, is finally ready to migrate to Wall Street.Fittingly enough, the company resorted to a tweet to titillate its more than 200 million users and a flock of potential investors with its long-awaited plans to pursue an initial public offering of stock.Twitter isn't baring everything about its business just yet because it's taking advantage of federal legislation passed last year that allows companies with less than $1 billion in revenue

National football head coach Hong Myung-bo on Friday departed for England to watch South Koreans in action, saying he will try to watch and meet everyone in the Korean contingent there. Hong is scheduled to return on Sept. 23. In August, he flew to Germany to see three South Korean players in the top-tier Bundesliga.Currently, four South Koreans are with English Premier League sides: Kim Bo-kyung of Cardiff City, Ji Dong-won and Ki Sung-yueng of Sunderland, and Park Chu-young of Arsenal.Two more

South Korean stocks fell 0.49 percent Friday, snapping the latest streak of bullish runs as investors opted to take profit while taking a breather ahead of the holiday season and a key policy event in the U.S., analysts said.The local currency inched down against the U.S. dollar.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 9.74 points to close at 1,994.32. Trading volume was light at 247.4 million shares worth 3.94 trillion won ($3.62 billion) with decliners outnumbering g

A lower court on Friday handed down prison sentences to Koo Cha-won, chairman of embattled LIG Group, and his eldest son following convictions for fraud.Seoul Central District Court sentenced Koo to three years in prison for inflicting losses on minor shareholders by fraudulently issuing commercial papers. The 77-year-old chairman was put in prison immediately after the verdict.Koo Bon-sang, his first son and the vice chairman of LIG Nex1, was given eight years in prison on the same charge. They

Senior citizens' medical expenses covered by South Korea's national health insurance jumped on-year in the first half of 2013, data showed Friday, apparently due to the country's fast-aging trend.According to the data by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), medical expenses for people aged 65 and older came to 8.9 trillion won (US$8.2 billion) in the January-June period, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier.The number accounts for nearly 36 percent of the 24.7 trillion won spent by the fi

An experiment that proved people who think they are drunk also think they are attractive and another that showed lost dung beetles can use the Milky Way to find their way home were among the winners at this year's Ig Nobel awards ceremony held Thursday.This is the 23rd year for the award, sponsored by the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research and given out to honor weird and humorous scientific discoveries. The winners come from all over the world.Actual Nobel laureates announced