SHANGHAI -- South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan advanced Monday to the men's 200-meter freestyle final at the world championships, taking aim at his second gold after winning the 400-meter freestyle a day earlier.  Park was timed in 1 minute, 46.23 seconds and finished second in his 200-meter heat race after France's Yannick Agnel with 1:45.62 at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships. Park will c

The French government considers that IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is innocent until proven guilty following his arrest in New York on sexual assault charges, its spokesman Francois Baroin said Sunday."The French government respects two simple principles: that the judicial proceedings are under way under the authority of American justice, according to American law, and the respect for the presu

PARIS (AP) -- The stunning arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in connection with a sexual assault in New York is throwing the French presidential race into disarray.Some rivals and political observers said it could bury any presidential bid by Strauss-Kahn, considered the strongest potential challenger to unseat the unpopular President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's election.Others urged c

South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. started work Sunday on a $219 million project to expand a gas-fired power station near Baghdad, an Iraqi Electricity Ministry spokesman said.The Al-Quds station located in a suburb northeast of the capital will increase production to 1,400 megawatts from 900 megawatts after 18 months, said Qais al-Waeli, spokesman for the ministry's gas projects

Famous singer Seo Tai-ji spoke up about his divorce with actress E Ji-ah for the first time on Saturday, claiming that the two went their separate ways in June 2000.In a press release, Seo said that the two silently signed a marriage registration in October 1997 after Seo left for the U.S., putting a stop to his singing career in Korea a year earlier.The couple initially met through a friend in 19

SYDNEY (AFP) -- Dock workers at Australia's three major ports went on a 24-hour walkout Saturday after talks stalled over a protracted wages and conditions dispute, crippling about one-quarter of the nation's freight.The powerful Maritime Union of Australia called the strike at terminals in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane over after deadlocked contract negotiations with major freight firm Patrick h

TRIPOLI (AFP) -- Moamer Kadhafi said he will not quit power and called for negotiations with the United States and France to end the Libyan conflict, in a speech aired on television early on Saturday.NATO "must abandon all hope of the departure of Moamer Kadhafi. I have no official functions to give up: I will not leave my country and will fight to the death," he said in a speech marking the cente

South Korean stocks are expected to trade in a tight range next week as investors will likely take a breather after the benchmark index's sharp rise, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,192.36 on Friday, down 0.25 percent, or 5.46 points, from one week ago.Although the KOSPI finished this week lower, the market staged a rally during the whole

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea will stage live-fire artillery exercises in the coming week on two frontline islands including one hit by a deadly North Korean shelling last November, a news report said Saturday.A defense ministry spokesman told AFP that regular military exercises will be carried out on the two islands but declined to give further details on the timing or whether live-fire drills will b

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday urged North Korea to improve ties with South Korea through inter-Korean dialogue before any resumption of the six-party nuclear talks."And with respect to North Korea, we have made consistently clear what we expect from North Korea in its actions in the future," Clinton told reporters after meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto at t

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Thursday proposed holding a summit meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said in Seoul following a three-day trip to the communist state."He specifically told us that he is prepared for a summit meeting directly with President Lee Myung-bak at any time to discuss any subject directly between the two heads of state,"

Financial regulators on Thursday issued sanctions against a local asset management firm and a brokerage house for incurring huge losses after conducting allegedly reckless investments in stocks last November.The Financial Supervisory Service held a committee meeting where they fined-tuned the level of penalties against Wise Asset and Hana Daetoo Securities for their alleged negligence in internal

The Korea Communications Commission said Thursday that it plans on sending a questionnaire to Google Inc. involving the collection of location information of its smartphone users here.The event takes place a few days after the state media and telecommunications regulator launched an investigation against Apple Inc. on Monday over collection of information of its smartphone users.In a questionnaire

North Korea warned Wednesday it is ready to launch fire over a plan by South Korean activists later this week to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border from a western border island.Speaking to a reporter of the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), an unidentified North Korean commander denounced such psychological warfare against his communist regime as "an act of war," warning that

    Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea's top automaker, agreed to pay 4.96 trillion won (US$4.4 billion) to take over a 35 percent stake in the country's biggest builder,sources said Friday.    The price, agreed on with creditors of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. (E&C), represents a 2.74 percent discount from the carmaker's bid price of 5.1 billion.     The price readjustment came after Hyun