Japan's widely-watched year-end TV show will feature only Japanese acts this year, with popular South Korean performers left out of the line-up amid territorial frictions with Seoul.Taxpayer-funded broadcaster NHK insisted politics had played no role in the selection of performers for the New Year's Eve broadcast watched by up to 40 percent of the nation's TV audience.Korean girl groups KARA and Girls' Generation and male group Tohoshinki (TVXQ) were among the headline acts last year on "Kohaku

Sales of venture businesses in South Korea rose nearly 14 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, outperforming large companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a report said Monday.The average revenue of local venture companies gained 13.9 percent on-year to 7.03 billion won ($6.47 million) last year, according to the report by the Small and Medium Business Administration (SMBA). The report is based on a survey of 2,034 new companies throughout the country.The sales growth rate outpaced a

A 39-year-old man has been arrested without physical detention on charges of circulating sex videos with women whom he met online, police said Monday.The suspect, only identified by his surname Jin, is accused of having sex with dozens of women whom he met through a chat service and distributing online some 100 pieces of video footage of them engaged in sexual acts between 2003 and 2005, they said.Police investigators, however, said they would have difficulty in bringing charges against Jin, as

The presidential hopeful for the minor progressive party withdrew her bid Monday and endorsed the main opposition candidate running for the December election.Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the Progressive Justice Party (PJP) said she was quitting and hoped such a move could help rally support around one liberal candidate."I hope people will support Democratic United Party (DUP) candidate Moon Jae-in, who is effectively representing the liberal opposition camp," she said at a news conference held at the N

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday as investor sentiment got a boost from gains on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 0.80 points, or 0.04 percent, to trade at 1,912.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares gathered ground across the board, with LG Electronics increasing 2.1 percent while No.1 carmaker Hyundai Motor added 0.46 percent. Top chipmaker SK hynix moved up 0.78 percent.U.S. stocks ended higher Friday on rising consumer

South Korean consumers' confidence inched up in November from the previous month, but it remained close to a nine-month low as the economy continued to lose steam, the central bank said Monday.The consumer sentiment index -- a gauge of consumers' overall economic outlook, living conditions and future spending -- came in at 99 for November, up from a nine-month low of 98 tallied for October, according to a survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK).A reading below the benchmark 100 means pessimists outnum

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said on Sunday the sweeping new powers he has assumed are only temporary and called for dialogue, as clashes in the Nile Delta saw a member of his party killed, medics said.Morsi's constitutional declaration on Thursday, allowing him to issue decisions and laws unchallenged, triggered a wave of protest and has set him on course for a showdown with Egypt's judges, whom he is due to meet on Monday in a bid to defuse the crisis.Clashes between supporters and opponen

In the second term, the Barack Obama administration will face a daunting task of setting a realistic goal in dealing with North Korea, working shoulder-to-shoulder with South Korea's new government, an expert here said Sunday."Denuclearization as a credible U.S. policy objective is dead," long-time Korea specialist Larry Niksch told Yonhap News Agency."The test for the Obama Administration is whether it will formulate a new strategy toward North Korea to replace denuclearization and whether it c

Catalan parties pushing for a referendum on breaking away from Spain won strong backing in an election Sunday, while voters punished the rich region's leader Artur Mas, forcing him to share power.The result could set Catalonia up for a clash with Spain's central government, already riled by Mas's push for greater self-determination as Spain fights to avoid getting bailed out by its EU neighbours.But it was unclear how Mas would move forward after he saw his support plunge in favour of rival part

Standard and Poor's held to a downgraded AA+ rating for France and said the outlook remained negative on Friday, four days after Moody's cut its top rating for the country by one notch and warned that more could come.S&P, which downgraded France from top notch in January, referring to recent French announcements on the economy, said although the government was "determined to carry out budgetary and structural reforms" France's long-term outlook was "negative.""After flat growth this year, we bel

The chief of a local prosecution office offered to resign Friday following revelations a trainee prosecutor under his supervision participated in sexual acts with a woman suspect during questioning.The 30-year-old trainee prosecutor, whose name was withheld, was found to have performed sexual acts in the office with the suspect in her 40s while questioning her over an alleged theft and other charges earlier this month, according to inspectors at the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office (SPO). Four

South Korea on Friday commemorated the second anniversary of North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island near the tensely guarded western sea, as it prepared to conduct military drills to prepare for future attacks.North Korea lobbed 170 rounds of artillery onto the front-line island two years ago, killing two Marines and two civilians in the first attack on South Korean soil since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. About 4,000 people, including bereaved family members, government officials and