KT Corp., South Korea's top fixed line and No. 2 mobile operator, said Monday that it will not participate in a final bid for a stake in a Moroccan telecom operator due to differences over price.In a regulatory filing, KT said it has decided not to bid for the 53-percent stake in Maroc Telecom, which is controlled by French multimedia giant Vivendi SA."But we will seek various cooperation with Morac Telecom depending on the situation," it said.KT has been seeking to expand its global business in

BERKELEY, California (AP) -- Les Blank, an acclaimed documentary maker who focused his camera on cultural corners ranging from blues music, to garlic lovers, to shoe-eating artists, died Sunday at age 77, his son said.Blank died at his home in Berkeley, California nearly a year after being diagnosed with bladder cancer, Harrod Blank said.Blank's 42 films earned him a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute."I think he's a national treasure," filmmaker Taylor Hackford, preside

SEOUL, (Yonhap) -- Scores of ethnic Korean journalists living abroad gathered on Monday for an annual conference in Seoul to discuss their role in bettering the national image and helping cultivate the identity of overseas Koreans, organizers said.About 70 journalists from 22 countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Nepal, are taking part in the 12th Overseas Korean Journalists Convention that opened at Korea Press Center in central Seoul, they said.Co-hosted by the Overseas Korea

MOSCOW, (AFP) -- Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris failed to reach progress after two rounds of talks in Moscow on assistance from Russia after his island's rejection of an EU bailout that slapped a painful levy on bank deposits.Sarris met his Russian counterpart Anton Siluanov before holding talks with First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov about a possible new Moscow loan.Cyprus also hopes to ease the terms of a 2.5-billion-euro loan Moscow afforded Nicosia in 2011 that matures in 20

LONDON (AP) -- Prosecutors say that The Sun newspaper's Deputy Editor Geoff Webster has been charged with authorizing thousands in illegal payoffs to government officials.The charges are among the most serious so-far leveled against journalists caught up in Britain's wide-ranging media ethics scandal, which has seen newspaper executives, senior journalists, and high-profile police figures get dragged before the courts.Rupert Murdoch's News International confirmed Wednesday that Webster is still

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  -- President Barack Obama is declaring common cause with Israel, highlighting the bonds between the United States and its Mideast ally. He says he has made Israel the first stop of the first trip of his second term to restate his commitment to Israel's security.Obama arrived Wednesday in Tel Aviv, joking to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he was "getting away from Congress."Israeli President Shimon Peres welcomed Obama, declaring that "A world without America's lead

Samsung Display Co., the world's biggest display maker, has decided to drop a patent suit against LG Electronics Co. over liquid-crystal display technologies, paving the way for both sides to end a long-running legal battle, industry sources said Wednesday.The two display giants have been embroiled in a patent tussle over organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and LCD technologies that broke out on the heels of a police investigation into an alleged leak of technologies from Samsung Display to LG D

South Korea's communication watchdog said Wednesday that massive computer network failures at major broadcasters and banks were caused by hacking attacks using malignant code.Officials said they could not find any evidence to link the attacks to North Korea but stressed that does not mean that they are ruling out such a possibility.At around 2 p.m., broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN and four banks -- Shinhan, Nonghyup, Woori and Jeju -- reported to the National Police Agency (NPA) that their compute

As North Korea moves to ratchet up tensions on the Korean Peninsula, its leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his military to conduct mobile anti-aircraft rocket and unmanned combat air vehicle exercises, a state media outlet reported Wednesday.The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report, monitored in Seoul, that Kim issued the order to conduct the drills, but did not provide further details, including whether the drills had actually been staged.The report comes after the North warned earli

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stiff budget cuts that take effect Friday because of a political standoff over America's burgeoning debt could crimp U.S. military activity in the Asia-Pacific, just as Washington seeks to reassure friends and allies of its staying power in the region.The impact is unlikely to be sudden or stark. There won't be a dramatic withdrawal of U.S. forces from bases in South Korea and Japan. But it could mean fewer military exercises and operations by ships and aircraft in the region,

The office of President Park Geun-hye urged Friday the National Assembly to approve her government reorganization bill by next Tuesday, as the parliamentary impasse over the bill is feared to take a toll on national security and other state affairs."The presidential office earnestly asks the National Assembly to pass the government reorganization bill by March 5, or before ending its extraordinary session," Park's spokeswoman Kim Haing told reporters.The ruling Saenuri Party introduced the reorg

WASHINGTON, (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama threw his weight behind gay marriage on Thursday when his administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court opposing California's bid to ban same-sex unions.The court is to examine the issue at the end of March, when it will study the constitutionality of California's "Proposition 8," a measure approved by referendum in 2008 which outlawed gay marriage in the state.Obama's Department of Justice filed a brief to the court in support of moves to hav