Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone maker, captured a whopping 95 percent of all Android smartphone profits in the first quarter of the year, data showed on Thursday.According to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics, global Android smartphone profits reached $5.3 billion in total in the January-March period. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share with $5.1 billion during the cited period."An efficient supply chain, sleek products and crisp marketing

Economic losses from disasters since 2000 are in the range of $2.5 trillion, a figure at least 50 percent higher than previous international estimates, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday.The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction warned in the 246-page report that economic losses from floods, earthquakes and drought will continue to escalate unless businesses take action to reduce their exposure to disaster risks.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the report saying the revie

Japan's economy grew by a stronger-than-expected 3.5 percent in annual terms in the last quarter, giving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a boost as his government tackles tough reforms needed to ensure a recovery ends more than two decades of malaise. Stronger consumer spending and public works investment coupled with aggressive monetary easing lent oomph to the recovery that began in the last quarter of 2012, when annual growth was 0.3 percent, according to revised data. The preliminary data for Janu

Apple Inc. will be the subject of a May 21 Senate hearing on U.S. companies’ offshore tax practices, said two people familiar with the inquiry. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook will testify at the hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, one of the people said. The committee has been examining companies that use various maneuvers to reduce their tax bills, including Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, has $40.4 billion in earnings

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Thursday, as a sharp fall of Greek bond yields lifted worries over the protracted slump in Europe, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shot up 14.92 points, or 0.76 percent, to 1,986.18 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top listed firms drove up shares, with tech heavyweight Samsung Electronics gaining 0.8 percent and chipmaker SK hynix rising 0.7 percent. Greece's bond yields declined to a three-year low, spurrin

Two U.S. congressmen strongly criticized an outspoken Japanese politician Wednesday for openly backing Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women during the World War II.Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto reportedly said earlier this week that pushing those women into sexual servitude was a military necessity. More than 200,000 young women from Japan's colonies are said to have been forced to serve as "comfort women," an euphemistic expression."Mayor Hashimoto's remarks that comfort wome

The government is assessing the conditions of local companies involved in North Korean ventures outside of an inter-Korean industrial complex that were forced to pull out of the country due to strained cross-border relations, an official source said Thursday.The unification ministry insider said the review is part of Seoul's efforts to limit the fallout to the business sector and reflect rising demands from entrepreneurs who had invested in North Korea in such projects as the Mount Kumgang resor

President Barack Obama announced the resignation of the top official at the federal tax agency following a controversy over the targeting of conservative political groups for extra scrutiny, moving aggressively to respond to one of several scandals plaguing his administration.  Obama, who has been criticized for appearing passive in his response to the tax controversy that erupted last week, declared Wednesday, “I am angry about it” and said the American people had a right to be angry as well.He

The White House on Wednesday released 99 pages of emails on last year's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in hopes of putting an end to an issue that opposition Republicans in Congress have used for months to attack the Obama administration. The Sept. 11, 2012, attack killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Since then, critics have seized on the administration's initial public response to the terror attack, which at first was blamed on a protes

The U.N. General Assembly approved an Arab-backed resolution Wednesday calling for a political transition in Syria, but more than 70 countries refused to vote “yes” because of its support for the main opposition group and fears the resolution could torpedo a new U.S.-Russia effort to end the escalating conflict.The United States co-sponsored the resolution, saying it would promote a political solution. But key Syrian ally Russia urged a “no” vote, saying it was “counterproductive and irresponsib

Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding goal that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.A prominent expert called the work a landmark, but noted that a different, simpler technique now under development may prove more useful.Stem cells can turn into any cell of the body, so scientists are interested in using them to create tissue for treating disease. Transplanting brain tissue might treat Parkinson's di

President Park Geun-hye pledged Wednesday to significantly bolster the government's personnel screening system in order to select the right people for important positions and make sure incidents, like the sexual abuse scandal involving her former spokesman, will not happen again."I will try to be more thorough by having the presidential personnel affairs committee vet (candidates) more thoroughly in a multi-faceted manner and making institutional improvements as well," Park said during a meeting

A well-known conservative online columnist was ordered by a local court on Wednesday to compensate Lee Jung-hee, the head of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party (UPP), for calling her a "pro-Pyongyang leftist."Siding with Lee in a libel suit, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Byun Hee-jae to pay 15 million won ($13,500) in compensation, saying that there is no truth in his claims.Byun called the UPP head a "pro-Pyongyang leftist" and accused her of joining a pro-North Korean gr