MERIDA, Mexico (Yonhap News) ― With colorful fans in their hands, a group of five young girls moved with quick, light steps, forming a circle and flapping the fans up and down. Their movements were meant to evoke ocean waves typical in the Korean fan dance, but they looked a bit awkward.“Uno, dos, tres y cuatro,” their teacher, Mana Eugenia Olsen Agular, shouted, counting their steps in Spanish to

KABUL (AP) ― Three U.S. senators visiting Kabul said Sunday they are worried that President Barack Obama’s planned withdrawal of 33,000 American troops by September 2012 could undermine Afghan morale, embolden the insurgency and hamper efforts to defeat Taliban fighters.John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham said they are heartened by the progress of Afghan security forces, but worry that O

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama said Saturday that “nothing can be off-limits” in the budget debate ― even though Republicans have said tax increases are. The president said every tax break and federal program must come under scrutiny.With an Aug. 2 deadline looming to raise the government borrowing limit, the president used his weekly radio and Internet address to call on Congress to mak

The revolving door between Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and central banks is spinning again. The fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets said Saturday it hired Bank of England economist Andrew Benito after recruiting Huw Pill from the European Central Bank in May and Naohiko Baba from the Bank of Japan in January. Moving in the other direction, Ben Broadbent, Goldman Sachs’s ex-chief U.K. economist, started

Parliament backs austerity measures, but protests against bill turn violentATHENS (AP) ― Greece fended off a bankruptcy that threatened to roil global financial markets, approving severe spending cuts and tax increases Wednesday in the face of violent protests by Greeks who say they have suffered enough.The package of austerity measures would keep bailout money flowing to Greece from other Europea

Parents and friends of Oh Sung-keun called him “crazy” when he quit his job at a local hospital about 10 years ago. It was a well-paying and stable job in Korea, which was reeling from the worst financial crisis in decades in Asia at the time.The financial crisis forced many companies, large and small, to lay off workers as part of self-rescue efforts. Just having a job was regarded as a blessing

NEW YORK (AP) ― Forget the bellhop. Meet the luggage robot.It’s the first of several high-tech, sleek amenities guests encounter at the Yotel, a new hotel that aims to provide a trendy stay at an affordable price.Purple lighting, throbbing music in the elevators and futon-like sofas that transform to lie-flat beds at the touch of a button help set the mood.Or maybe they just distract you from the

BERLIN (AP) ― A full-scale restructuring of Greek debt would have “completely uncontrollable” effects on financial markets and could threaten other countries’ stability, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Wednesday.Imposing a so-called haircut on Greek debt ― reducing the amount to be repaid ― would endanger not only banks and other creditors who hold Greek bonds, but also institutions that

Fund interviews Carstens for top job; Lagarde nextWASHINGTON (AP) ― The International Monetary Fund said Monday it will interview the two leading candidates for the top job at the 187-nation lending institution this week with the goal of naming a new chief by June 30.In a statement, the IMF said that Agustin Carstens, the head of Mexico’s central bank, will meet with the agency’s executive board o