U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he has ordered the military to elevate its cyber warfare unit to a stand-alone command.Under the directive, the U.S. Cyber Command, which currently comes under the Strategic Command, will join the ranks of unified combatant commands that oversee military operations in the Pacific, the Middle East and elsewhere."I have directed that United States Cyber Command be elevated to the status of a Unified Combatant Command focused on cyberspace operations," Trump

A woman displays candles on the Rambla boulevard for the victims of the Barcelona attack on August 18, 2017. (Yonhap-AFP)Tourists and Barcelona residents tentatively returned to Las Ramblas on Friday morning for a subdued stroll down the leafy boulevard, a day after a van attack filled it with fear and bloodshed.  Dozens of armed police officers in blue and neon-yellow uniforms were stationed near Placa de Catalunya and the street was still closed to vehicles, but all other signs of the previous

(Yonhap)South Korea's military procurement agency on Friday approved a plan to upgrade an indigenous howitzer used by ground and marine forces.    The approval by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) allows the mass production of an upgraded K-9 Thunder 155mm self-propelled howitzer from next year, according to the agency.   The project aims to improve the automatic fire control system, location system and periscope component of the howitzer which has been in use since 1999.    

South Korean pop singer Rain is working on a new EP record and plans to release it in November, according to his company Friday. "Rain plans to briefly visit the U.S. in September and will later focus on producing the album to put it out in an EP format in November," a representative at Rain Company said.The most recent work released by the singer, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, was "Rain Effect" back in January 2014. His new project will reportedly include self-written tracks along with ones

Global rating appraiser Standard & Poor's on Friday reaffirmed its long-term sovereign rating on South Korea at AA, with its outlook also remaining stable, despite the heightened geopolitical tensions on Korean Peninsula. solider"S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'AA' long-term sovereign credit rating" on South Korea, the agency said in its latest release. "The stable outlook on Korea reflects our expectation that geopolitical risks in the Korean peninsula will not escalate

South Korea's professional Nexen Heroes baseball club are set to face a change in their ownership structure after they lost a trial against a US-based businessman on Friday.The Heroes filed a lawsuit claiming that it doesn't owe a debt to Hong Sung-eun, chairman of the Atlanta-based real estate developer Rainier Group, but the Seoul High Court dismissed the ball club's appeal and upheld the lower court's decision. Hong has been saying that he did not get a 40 percent stake of the ball club that

The government will begin expanding the mandatory discount of mobile phone fees starting next month, the ICT ministry said Friday, amid fierce opposition from local mobile operators.The discount rate of monthly mobile phone rates provided by the country's leading telecoms firms -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- will be raised from the current 20 percent to 25 percent starting Sept. 15, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.The decision to increase the discount rate -- whic

One Army solider was killed and six others were injured Friday in an explosion during an artillery firing drill, the military said.The blast occurred at an Army shooting range in the border town of Cherwon at 3:00 p.m. (Yonhap)Seven servicemen were taken to a hospital and one died during treatment, an Army officer said."An unidentified explosion took place during the drill, injuring some people," said an official at the Army.A probe into what caused the accident is underway, he added. The firing

South Korean stocks fell Friday, hit by a sell-off by institutional investors. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index declined 3.3 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 2,358.37. Trade volume was moderate at 195 million shares worth 4.05 trillion won ($3.54 billion). The local stock market opened lower, tracking a loss on Wall Street overnight following a deadly attack in Spain and political uncertainties in the United States. "The decl

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon pledged Friday to remove barriers and regulatory blocks so that entrepreneurs can easily start their own business and lead the country's innovative growth.Visiting the Tech Incubator Program for Startup Town in southern Seoul, Kim said he intends to double the TIPS-related budget for next year and establish more than 70 "Creative Labs."Innovative growth is one of the four pillar policies of the Moon Jae-in administration that took office in mid-May. TIPS

The new chief of South Korea's Red Cross said on Friday he hopes to have talks with his North Korean counterpart as soon as possible to discuss the resumption of humanitarian projects.Park Kyung-seo, president at the Korean Red Cross, made the remark at his inauguration ceremony as North Korea has kept mum toward Seoul's earlier offer made in July for talks to arrange reunions of separated families."I really hope that the two Koreas' Red Cross can open their minds and hold talks as soon as possi

South Korean construction companies' domestic orders rose nearly 15 percent on-year in the first half of the year on a robust housing market and increased fiscal spending, a trade group said Friday.According to the Construction Association of Korea, local builders clinched orders worth a combined 79.3 trillion won ($69.5 billion) in the January-June period, up 14.8 percent from the same period a year earlier.The first-half figure accounted for 48 percent of the 164.8 trillion won in orders for a

South Korea and China have made big strides in ties over the past 25 years. The Cold War foes have become "strategic cooperative partners." Trade has surged more than 30-fold with human exchanges up nearly 70-fold. Each is among the other's most favorite tourism destinations.  However, the quarter-century anniversary of diplomatic ties is in no celebratory mood, as geopolitics are returning with vengeance amid tensions over North Korea's nuclear arms and the deployment of a US missile shield in

China has emerged as South Korea's No. 1 trading partner after their diplomatic relations were normalized in 1992 with their bilateral trade volume skyrocketing over 33 times in the past 25 years, industry data showed Friday.The trade volume between the two soared to $211.4 billion in 2016 from $6.4 billion in 1992. It far exceeded $109.7 billion in trade with the United States and $7.18 billion with Japan, according to data from the Federation of Korean Industries.South Korea posted trade surpl