SANAA, Yemen (AP) - A French woman held hostage in Yemen appeared for the first time in a video that surfaced on Monday, appealing for her release.Isabelle Prime, who works as a consultant with ties to the World Bank, was abducted from Sanaa along with her Yemeni translator in February. The translator was released shortly afterward, but there was no word until now on Prime.In her first video since her disappearance, Prime appeared to be under severe duress - sitting in the desert dressed in a bl

Seven companies have submitted bids to open two new duty-free stores in downtown Seoul, the customs agency said Monday, in what is seen as a major opportunity for retailers to boost sales amid anemic consumer spending.The seven bidders include market giants Hotel Lotte and HDC Shilla Duty Free, who are affiliated with Lotte Duty Free and Shilla Duty Free, respectively, according to a press release by the Korea Customs Service.Other companies who took part in the bid, the first for large corporat

Savings banks’ lending to the household sector has reached record levels, despite coming with much higher rates than loans from commercial banks.According to the Bank of Korea on Monday, mutual savings banks’ outstanding loans issued to households posted 11.3 trillion won ($10.2 billion) at the end of March, up 10 percent, or 1.02 trillion won, from the end of last year.This marked an all-time high with an on-year growth rate of 26.1 percent.After exceeding the 10 trillion won mark in December 2

Concerns are growing over the negative effects that the U.S.’ coming interest rate hike could have on the South Korean economy, while some local analysts have downplayed the possibility that the dollar would hold a stronger position against major currencies and investors would actively withdraw from Asia.Some economists cited the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee’s tight monetary policy later this year and economic slowdowns in the U.S. and China as factors that could undermine the Korean econo

South Korea recorded the highest poverty rate for elderly citizens among 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report from the Paris-based organization showed Friday.According to the report, 49.6 percent of senior Koreans aged 65 or more were found to have lived below the poverty line as of 2012. The number far exceeded the OECD average of 12.6 percent to top the list in elderly poverty rate.Over the past few years, a contributing factor to elderly poverty in

A major state-controlled think tank forecast Wednesday that South Korea’s economic growth may stay below 3 percent this year due to a continued slump in exports.In its predictions on the nation’s economy in 2015 and 2016, the Korea Development Institute cited numerous factors domestically and externally, which could pull down the growth potential, particularly this year.The institute revised its 2015 GDP growth downward to 3 percent from its earlier forecast of 3.5 percent, which is lower than t

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the center of the Macedonian capital Skopje to demand the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.The Sunday protest follows the release of a massive cache of wiretapped conversations by the head of the opposition Social Democrats, Zoran Zaev. He claims that Gruevski was behind the mass wiretapping of more than 20,000 Macedonians.The conversations purport to reveal corruption at the highest levels of governm

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis canonized two nuns from what was 19th century Palestine on Sunday in hopes of encouraging Christians across the Middle East who are facing a wave of persecution from Islamic extremists.Sisters Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas were among four sisters who were made saints Sunday at a Mass in a sun-soaked St. Peter's Square. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and an estimated 2,000 pilgrims from the region, some waving Palestinian flags, were on hand for

BEIRUT (AFP) - A U.S. special forces raid in eastern Syria killed 32 members of the Islamic State jihadist group, including four leaders, a monitoring group said Sunday."The U.S. operation killed 32 members of IS, among them four officials, including IS oil chief Abu Sayyaf, the deputy IS defence minister, and an IS communications official," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.U.S. officials have said "about a dozen" people were killed in the operation on Frid