SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemen's embattled president fled his palace in Aden for an undisclosed location Wednesday as Shiite rebels offered cash bounty for his capture and arrested his defense minister.President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi left just hours after the rebels' own television station said they seized an air base where U.S. troops and Europeans advised the country in its fight against al-Qaida militants. That air base is only 60 kilometers (35 miles) away from Aden, the port city where Hadi ha

The board of KB Financial Group Inc., South Korea's second-largest banking group by assets, has approved a long-protracted takeover of LIG Insurance Co. for 645 billion won ($585 million), officials said Wednesday.The amount is for a 19.47 percent stake in the country's No. 4 non-life insurer and is lower than the 685 billion won price the two parties agreed to in June when they first signed the takeover deal. KB Financial had demanded the price be slashed, citing LIG's poor earnings.The two par

A Seoul court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for a former POSCO executive, allegedly engaging in embezzlement and creation of shady slush funds during a project in Vietnam, to take the suspect into custody.Judges acknowledged the necessity of detaining the ex-POSCO Engineering & Construction executive, surnamed Park, for further investigation by prosecutors, according to the Seoul Central District Court.The allegations raised by the prosecution involve that Park, 52, stashed away company fu

Leaders of Korea’s two main parties are headed for a showdown following the final selection Monday of candidates to run in the four by-elections on April 29.The latest approval ratings placed Moon Jae-in of the main opposition party and Rep. Kim Moo-sung, chairman of the ruling party at first and second, respectively, in the approval ratings as potential contenders for the upcoming 2017 presidential election.Observers said the by-elections would serve as a barometer of Kim and Moon’s leadership

The prosecution arrested a former POSCO executive late Saturday night without a warrant for stashing away company funds at the steelmaker’s construction operation in Vietnam.The ex-executive, surnamed Park, is suspected of having created around 10 billion won worth of slush funds and embezzling 4 billion won of them between 2009 and 2012 when he was leading the Vietnam project of POSCO Engineering & Construction as its overseas unit chief.Park and POSCO E&C had argued that the funds were used as

Lotte Group appears to have become the latest target in a widening prosecution probe against the country’s major conglomerates, with investigators reportedly searching the financial accounts of the retail giant for alleged slush funds.The probe comes after the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, an arm of the Financial Services Commission, filed a complaint with the prosecutors’ office for suspicious funds flowing out of the retail unit Lotte Shopping in 2014.The company dismissed the allegation

Former POSCO chairman Chung Joon-yang, who stepped down from his post in March 2014, is likely to face a summons from investigators over the group’s alleged slush funds. The prosecution recently issued travel bans on some incumbent and former executives of POSCO as it widens its scope of inquiry into the allegations that the conglomerate engaged in irregularities involving embezzlement at its construction unit. According to market insiders and news reports on Sunday, the steelmaker’s ex-chairman

South Korea’s top court has come under the spotlight for clearing a former prosecutor, surnamed Lee, of bribery charges, saying no favors were given in return. Lee, 40, had been indicted for taking kickbacks, including a premium imported car.While the district court acknowledged the charges and sentenced the ex-prosecutor to a three-year jail term, an appellate court acquitted her of the charges. The Supreme Court upheld the high court’s ruling on Thursday.The district court had ruled that Lee r

Civil servants are threatening protests against the ruling Saenuri Party’s plan to pass a controversial overhaul of government employees’ pension in April’s extraordinary parliamentary session.The ruling Saenuri Party said earlier this week it would push through the bill on changes to the civil servants’ pension scheme to reduce its deficit next month.The party’s decision came days after about 1,000 families of policemen and firefighters joined the protests led by teachers and employees working

Main opposition party leader Moon Jae-in on Tuesday proposed holding three-way talks to discuss the minimum wage hike, volunteering to coordinate between policymakers and lawmakers to support the low-income bracket.Moon of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy said members of the rival parties and the government should gather to discuss how to raise the salaries for workers to help boost the economy.“Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan has also recently stated that highe