Korea will invest 930 billion won ($858.7 million) until 2020 to boost the nano industry as part of its efforts to make the country one of the world's top three players in the area, the government said Tuesday.The envisioned investment consists of 650 billion won set aside by the central government for its budget and 280 billion won assigned by the private sector and municipal governments, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The money will be spent on research and development activit

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday as poor U.S. data stoked growing concerns about a lackluster recovery, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 0.41 percent, or 7.96 points, to 1,932.06 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most shares traded in negative territory, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics falling 0.7 percent and top air carrier Korean Air dipping 0.23 percent.The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.46 percent after U.S. manufactur

Israel rejected a wave of American and European condemnations Monday over plans to build thousands of new homes in West Bank settlements, vowing to press forward with the construction in the face of widespread international opposition.The announcement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office was likely to deepen a rift that has emerged between Israel and some of its closest allies following the U.N.'s recognition of a Palestinian state last week. The U.N. decision appears to be fueling a

A senior security aide to President Barack Obama said Monday the U.S. is concentrating efforts in cooperation with South Korea, China, Russia and Japan to dissuade North Korea from pressing ahead with another rocket launch.Gary Samore emphasized that if the launch takes place Washington will take "appropriate actions.""We've made it very clear that we consider this to be a very unfortunate provocative event, which is not going help North Korea nor the people of North Korea," Samore told Yonhap N

Direct talks between Iran and the United States are possible, but any such breakthrough would have to be approved by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's foreign minister said Monday.The comments by Ali Akbar Salehi were a first sign Tehran may seek diplomatic overtures with what it long considers a nemesis in Washington, as sanctions over Iran's contentious nuclear program stunt the country's economy.“Comprehensive political talks are within the powers of the exalted supr

Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker announced late Monday that he is stepping down as eurozone finance ministerial chairman as of the end of the month.The Luxembourg prime minister -- Europe's longest-serving national leader -- said he informed colleagues that he would carry out his stated intention to step down "at the end of this year, or the beginning of next year."Juncker has held the post as Eurogroup head since 2005, and his current term officially runs until July 17.He has previously been

Fighting between rebels and government forces raged near the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday, forcing an inbound commercial jet to turn back while the U.N. said it was withdrawing staff because of deteriorating security conditions.Lebanese security officials said Jihad Makdissi, a polished Foreign Ministry spokesman known for defending the regime of President Bashar Assad in fluent English, flew from Beirut to London. But it was not immediately clear whether he had defected. The fighting over

A New Zealand researcher Monday claimed to have solved the riddle of a mystery South Pacific island shown on Google Earth and world maps which does not exist, blaming a whaling ship from 1876.The phantom landmass in the Coral Sea is shown as Sandy Island on Google Earth and Google maps and is supposedly midway between Australia and the French-governed New Caledonia.The Times Atlas of the World appears to identify it as Sable Island, but according to Australian scientists who went searching last

North Korea has installed the first stage of its three-stage, long-range rocket on its launch platform, a Seoul government source said Monday, pushing ahead with its plan to fire the rocket this month in defiance of international warnings."North Korea installed the first-stage rocket onto the launch pad," the source said on the condition of anonymity. "That means North Korea is starting its process of launching a long-range missile." It will take three or four days for North Korea to erect all t

South Korean stocks began higher Monday as positive economic data from South Korea and China offset nagging concerns over the U.S. budget impasse, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.44 percent, or 8.53 points, to 1,941.43 in the first 15 minutes of trading.South Korea's trade surplus widened in November from a month earlier, while China saw its manufacturing purchasing managers' index data rise to a 7-month high.Key exporters led the gain, with market b

President Barack Obama is ready to cut federal spending to reduce the nation's spiraling debt but won't make any deal with Republicans until they first agree to raise taxes on wealthy Americans and specify their own demands for reducing government outlays for a vast array of programs, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in interviews that aired Sunday, explicitly outlining a tough administration negotiating position for avoiding the looming “fiscal cliff.”If the White House and Congress can

North Korea gave the United States direct notification of its plan to fire a long-range rocket last week, a diplomatic source here said Sunday."North Korea informed the U.S. of the missile launch plan through the New York channel," the source said, requesting anonymity.The New York channel refers to North Korea's U.N. representative office in New York, which has been used for working-level discussions, as the two sides have no official diplomatic ties.The separate notification came around when P

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the slowest pace in three months in November, indicating that the country managed to keep inflation under control, a government report showed Monday.The country's consumer prices index rose 1.6 percent in November from a year earlier, compared with a 2.1 percent on-year gain in the previous month, according to the report by Statistics Korea. From a year earlier, it dropped 0.4 percent.The core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, increased