JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) ― The PGA Tour player of the year race isn’t over yet.The tour decided Monday to wait two weeks before sending ballots to the players because of the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, a World Golf Championship event Nov. 3-6 that counts as official if a PGA Tour member wins it.The plan was for the ballots to go out Tuesday until tour officials realized a change in the schedule. A year ago, the HSBC Champions was played the week before the season-ending event at Disney. This i

Napoli’s two-run double in eighth inning helps Texas clip St. LouisARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ― A long drive by Mike Napoli, a lucky bounce near the mound and suddenly the Texas Rangers were on the brink of their first World Series championship.Napoli delivered the biggest hit of his charmed season, lining a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning that sent the Rangers past the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night for a 3-2 edge.The slugging catcher then capped off his night of double duty

SC First Bank, the South Korea unit of Standard Chartered Plc, said Tuesday that it has reopened a total of 27 branches that had been temporarily closed due to a labor strike over the introduction of a merit pay system.SC First Bank has resumed operations at 27 of the 42 shuttered branches, a bank spokeswoman said.But there is no timetable for reopening the other branches and developments will depend on how the ongoing labor dispute unfolds.SC First Bank is the first lender operating in South Ko

South Korea and China have agreed to cut back on fishing in each other’s exclusive economic zones next year as part of efforts to preserve their fish stocks, the Seoul government said Tuesday.Under the agreement, China’s fishing quota in South Korea’s EEZ will be cut by 2,500 tons to 62,500 tons in 2012 with the number of Chinese fishing boats allowed to operate in South Korean waters also reduced to 1,650 from 1,700 this year, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheri

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― AmorePacific Corp., South Korea’s No. 1 cosmetics manufacturer, will likely see its share of the Chinese market rise this year from a year ago, company officials said Tuesday. The market share is expected to rise to 2 percent in 2011 from 1.6 percent last year, the officials said, adding that the 0.4 percentage point rise in a year is quite an advancement for a cosmetics firm in China.They attributed the rise to growing confidence among the Chinese consumers in South Ko

South Korea’s domestic car market is expected to shrink for the first time in four years in 2012 mainly due to the economic slowdown and rise in household debt, an automotive think tank said Tuesday.The Korea Automotive Research Institute said sales may contract 1.1 percent to 1.58 million vehicles next year from this year’s estimate of 1.60 million units.The dip will the first time since 2008 that the domestic market fell from the previous year, the institute said.“Weak economic growth, rise in

The fifth World Ocean Forum kicks off in Busan on Wednesday.The three-day forum will focus on the spread of “smart” technologies and the changes these developments have had on marine industries. The event, organized by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, Busan city government and the Korea Association of Marine Industry, will bring together 3,000 academics, business people and marine industry experts from across the world. The forum will be divided into five sessions ― smart sh

Lenders respond to public criticism over high commission feesCommercial banks bowed to pressure from the public and financial authorities, and disclosed their plan to lower or scrap over 100 services charges they impose on trivial electronic services.A joint letter from 18 local banks was sent to the Financial Supervisory Service where they agreed to cut major service charges, including discounts of up to 50 percent for using cash machines. The banks agreed to decrease the number of service fees

South Korean stocks closed 0.51 percent lower on Tuesday as institutions and retail investors opted to lock in profits from the recent rallies as the main stock index neared the 1,900 mark for the first time in nearly two months, analysts said. The local currency climbed against the U.S. dollar.After surpassing the 1,900-level at one point, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 9.67 points to 1,888.65. Trading volume was moderate at 348.6 million shares worth 5.97 trillion ($5.

The Asian Development Bank said Tuesday that Koreans will enjoy a higher standard of living than the Japanese by 2030, projecting the country’s gross domestic product per capita and purchasing power to exceed that of Japan.In a Seoul seminar co-hosted by the Finance Ministry, the regional lender said the GDP per capita of Korea will stand at $56,000 by 2030, above Japan’s $53,000. It said Korea’s GDP per capita will be similar to that of the U.S. by 2050, at around $98,000.In its “Asia 2050” pub

An online global network of activists called on the international community Tuesday to stage simultaneous protests and hunger strikes against North Korea’s human rights abuses to mark the anniversary of a United Nations genocide convention in December.In an e-mail to journalists and other North Korea watchers, the N.K. Liberation Prayer Network urged readers to take part in its Worldwide Demonstration for North Korean Liberation and Human Rights on Dec. 9. The date marks the 63rd anniversary sin