South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Tuesday buoyed by gains in telecom and tech companies, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shot up 12.43 points, or 0.63 percent, to 1,973.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Hyundai Mobis, a blue-chip auto parts maker, jumped more than 2 percent, with top mobile carrier SK Telecom rising 1.6 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,051.55 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.05 won from Monday

Ray Price, one of country music's most popular and influential singers and bandleaders who had more than 100 hits and was one of the last living connections to Hank Williams, died Monday. He was 87.Price died Monday afternoon at his ranch outside Mount Pleasant, Texas, said Billy Mack Jr., who was acting as a family spokesman. Billie Perryman, the wife of family friend and spokesman Tom Perryman, a DJ with KKUS-FM in Tyler, also confirmed his death.Price was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2

In a ruling with potentially far-reaching consequences, a federal judge declared Monday that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone records likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on unreasonable search. The ruling, filled with blistering criticism of the Obama administration’s arguments, is the first of its kind on the controversial program.Even if NSA’s “metadata’’ collection of records should pass constitutional muster, the judge said, there is

Four buildings on Harvard University’s campus near Boston were evacuated for hours Monday, interrupting final exams, after police received a report that explosives may have been placed inside. The buildings were reopened after hours of searches.The FBI was investigating the report along with Cambridge and university police and other agencies, and the school said the buildings were evacuated out of an abundance of caution.“Harvard’s focus is on the safety of our students, faculty and staff,’’ the

South Korea’s producer prices declined for the 14th straight month in November as oil prices fell and the local currency appreciated against the U.S. dollar, the central bank said Tuesday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, slid 0.9 percent in November from a year earlier, compared with a 1.4 percent on-year decline in October, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).On on-year growth basis, the producer prices have fallen every month since October 2012, when they fe

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday North Korea’s reported execution of Jang Song-thaek, once a key player in its leadership, was "very dramatic and surprising," but he cautioned regional powers not to overreact to the new developments on the peninsula."The recent report coming from DPRK (North Korea) was very dramatic and surprising surrounding the execution of Jang Song Thaek, who used to be No. 2 leader," Ban said at a new conference. It was the U.N. leader’s first formal response

Police raided the offices of the state-run rail operator’s labor union Tuesday, as its strike entered the ninth-day, taking a toll on passenger and cargo services.Korea Railroad Corp. has filed complaints against 190 unionists for impeding business with their “illegal” strike.Courts issued warrants to detain 10 union leaders including chairman Kim Myung-hwan after they refused to respond to a summons by prosecutors.About 30 investigators seized computer hard drives and documents at the two offic

Rival political parties in South Korea clashed Monday over the scope of reforming the state spy agency's operations in the wake of the execution of North Korea's No. 2 man.The ruling Saenuri Party said the National Intelligence Service (NIS)'s operations should be enhanced to effectively deal with the security uncertainties on the Korean Peninsula following the North's execution of Jang Song-thaek.The once-powerful uncle and guardian of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was executed last Thursday