Honda's fiscal fourth quarter profit rose nearly 6 percent as the Japanese automaker's recovery from floods in Thailand the previous year offset recent sales losses in China. Honda Motor Co. reported Friday a quarterly profit of 75.7 billion yen ($765 million), up from 71.5 billion yen the same period the previous year. Quarterly sales jumped 14 percent to 2.74 trillion yen ($27.7 billion).Also coming as good news for Japanese exporters like Honda is the weak yen, as it raises the value of overs

The teen Boston Marathon bombing suspect, recovering from wounds suffered in a getaway attempt, has been moved from a hospital to a prison medical facility, the U.S. Marshals Service said Friday.Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was sent to the Federal Medical Center Devens near Boston, spokesman Drew Wade said in a one-sentence statement, which gave no reason for the transfer or details on the suspect's condition.The facility is about 65 kilometers northwest of the Boston-area hospital where Tsarnaev had

Two Syrian officials denied Friday that government forces had used chemical weapons against rebels, Damascus' first response to U.S. assertions that it had.On Thursday, the White House and other top Obama administration officials said that U.S. intelligence had concluded with “varying degrees of confidence” that the Syrian government has twice used chemical weapons in its civil war.In the Syrian capital however, a government official said President Bashar Assad's military “did not and will not u

The mood in financial markets remained subdued Friday after a surprisingly big fall in Japanese consumer prices and lower than expected first-quarter U.S. economic growth.The news that the U.S. economy grew by only 2.5 percent on an annualized basis during the first three months of the year was a disappointment as the consensus in the markets was for a rise of around 3 percent compared with the previous quarter's 0.4 percent. After a run of disappointing U.S. economic news, the smaller than expe

The following is a chronology of major events leading up to South Korea calling for official government-level talks to resolve the suspension of operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex on April 25.2013March 27: North Korea severs the military hotline with the South, which is used to facilitate cross-border movement of personnel and cargo.March 30: North Korea's General Bureau for the Special Zone Development Guidance threatens to shut down the industrial park.April 3: North Korea bans South

주먹을 꽉 쥐는 것이 기억력에 도움이 된다는 연구 결과가 나왔다.미국 몽클레어 대학의 러스 프러퍼 교수와 연구진들은 실험을 통해 주먹을 꽉 쥐는 것이 무엇인가를 기억하거나 기억한 것을 상기시키는 데 도움이 된다고 밝혔다.연구진들은 참가자들을 5개의 그룹으로 나누어 72개의 단어를 외우고, 그것을 나중에 다시 기억해 내도록 했다.첫번째 그룹은 외울 때와 기억을 해낼 때 모두 오른쪽 손의 주먹을 쥐게 했고, 두번째 그룹은 왼쪽 손의 주먹을 쥐게 했다. 세번째 그룹은 외울 때 오른쪽, 기억할 때 왼쪽, 네번째 그룹은 그 반대의 순서로 주먹을 쥐게 했다. 마지막 그룹은 실험 동안 주먹을 쥐지 않았다.실험 결과 외울 때 각각 오른쪽, 왼쪽 주먹을 쥔 사람들이 다른 그룹의 사람들보다 단어를 가장 잘 기억해 내는 것으로 나타났다.러스 교수는 이번 연구결과가 “간단한 몸의 움직임이 뇌의 기능에 일시적 변화를 줌으로써 우리의 기억력에 도움을 준다는 사실을 의미한다”고 밝혔다. (코리아 헤럴드) <관

Japan's finance ministry said Friday that China has cancelled a top annual finance meeting with Japan and South Korea, as diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing soar.An official with the ministry told AFP that "China has informed us that the meeting won't be held" on the sidelines of an Asian Development Bank meeting in Delhi next month.Finance ministers and central bankers from the three countries have been meeting once a year in the lead up to separate talks with their Association of So

South Korea decided Friday to withdraw its all citizens from the Gaeseong industrial park after the North rejected its offer of talks to normalize the last symbol of cross-border cooperation. The Unification Ministry demanded Pyongyang guarantee the safe return of some 175 remaining workers and protect the assets of South Korean businesses. “As North Korea’s unjustified steps are aggravating our citizens’ difficulties, the government has come to make the inevitable decision to return home all th

북한 국방위원회는 26일 우리 정부의 개성공단 실무회담 제의를 비난하면서 "남조선 괴뢰패당이 계속 사태의 악화를 추구한다면 우리가 먼저 최종적이며 결정적인 중대조치를 취할 수도 있을 것"이라고 밝혔다.국방위원회 정책국 대변인은 이날 발표한 담화에서 "북남관계를 전쟁국면에 몰아 넣은 주범들이 기만적인 당국간 회담설이나 내돌리며 우리에게 최후통첩식 중대조치라는 것을 운운해 댄다면 그것은 최후 파멸만 촉진케 할 뿐"이라며 이같이 밝혔 다.담화는 "개성공업지구에 남아 있는 인원들의 생명이 걱정된다면 남측으로 모든 인원을 전원철수하면 될 것"이라며 "철수와 관련하여 제기되는 신변안전보장대책을 포함한 모든 인도주의적 조치들은 우리의 유관기관들에서 책임적으로 취해주게 될 것"이라고 강조했다.<관련 영문 기사>N. Korea rejects Seoul's call for talks on Gaeseong complexNorth Korea on Friday rejected South Korea’s ca

North Korea on Friday rejected Seoul's proposal to hold official talks to resolve the suspension of a joint industrial complex, warning it could be the first to take grave action.Operations of the industrial complex in the North's border town of Gaeseong came to a halt on April 9, when Pyongyang pulled out all of its 53,000 laborers working there."Pyongyang will be the first to take tough action if the South insists on worsening the situation at the border town," the North's National Defense Com

North Korea did not respond to Seoul's call for talks to normalize operations at the joint industrial complex that has been suspended for nearly three weeks, the government said Friday.The Ministry of Unification said that it did not receive a reply from Pyongyang by noon, the deadline set by Seoul when it proposed working-level government talks on Thursday.The North's stance is expected to compel South Korea to take "serious measures" that can impact the industrial park, which remains the only

A senior official of South Korea's main intelligence agency has been questioned over allegations that the agency sought to sway public opinion in an attempt to influence last year's presidential election, prosecutors said Friday.The director of an anti-North Korea psychological warfare team at the National Intelligence Service is suspected of ordering other agents to post a slew of politically sensitive comments on the Internet prior to the Dec. 19 election, according to prosecutors.The official

최근 아베 신조 일본 총리가 과거 일본의 주변국 침략을 정당화하는 듯한 발언을 한 것에 대해, 일본 내의 언론조차 비판하고 나섰다.마이니치 신문은 26일 ‘총리의 역사인식을 의심한다는’는 제목의 사설을 통해 “과거 전쟁에 대한 역사의식과 야스쿠니 참배를 두고 귀를 의심케 하는 발언을 하고 있다”고 비판했다.신문은 이어 “일본이 과거 주변국을 침략하고 식민지 지배를 한 것은 역사적 사실”이라면서 총리가 이 사실을 왜곡한다면 문제라고 지적했다. 아사히 신문 또한 사설을 통해 “침략을 부정하는 듯한 발언을 하면 이웃국가뿐 아니라 구미 국가들의 불신도 강해지게 된다”고 경고했다. 아베 총리는 이주 초에 “침략의 정의는 확정되어 있지 않다”고 발언하고 일본의 과거 식민지 지배와 침략을 사죄한 무라야마 담화에 대해 “그대로 계승하지는 않겠다”고 밝힌 바 있다. 아베 총리의 발언은 최근 있었던 일본 국회의원들의 야스쿠니 신사 집단 참배와 더불어 한일간의 관계를 냉각시켰다. 니혼게이자이신문은 이와

The White House declared Thursday that U.S. intelligence indicates Syrian President Bashar Assad has twice used deadly chemical weapons in his country's fierce civil war, a provocative action that would cross President Barack Obama's “red line” for a significant military response. But the administration said the revelation won't immediately change its stance on intervening.The information, which has been known to the administration and some members of Congress for weeks, isn't solid enough to wa