BRUSSELS, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- A Dutch court on Thursday denied an injunction request filed by Samsung Electronics Co. to ban its rival Apple Inc. from selling iPhones and iPad tablets in the Netherlands. The district court in the Hague rejected Samsung's claims that Apple infringed on its 3G mobile technology patent. The court said in a verdict posted on its website that Samsung is obliged to o...

The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), one of Asia's largest cinematic events, wrapped up its nine-day run in this southern port city of Busan on Friday with Iranian director Morteza Farshbaf's "Mourning" and Filipino director Loy Arcenas' "Nino" winning the festival's main prizes. The directors took home the festival's New Currents awards, which include a purse of $30,000 for the best fe...

Police vowed Friday to take stern action against any illegal protesters as scores of local civil rights and labor groups moved to launch massive rallies in sympathy with the ongoing anti-Wall Street demonstrations in New York. Taking their cue from the "Occupy Wall Street" rally in Manhattan, about 400 local civic and labor rights groups are set to stage a local version of the rally at about 6:0...

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s long-term credit rating by one notch to “AA-” from “AA” with a negative outlook, following downgrades to the country’s top banks. S&P said Spain’s high unemployment, tighter financial conditions and “the likely economic slowdown in Spain’s main trading partners” prompted the downgrade. “The financial profile of the Spanish banking system will, in...

“Mourning” by Iranian director Morteza Farshbaf and “Nio” by Filipino director Loy Arcenas have won the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival. The award recognizes Asia’s best rising directors. BIFF wrapped up its nine-day event on Friday evening in Busan, with the screening of closing film “Chronicle of My Mother” by Japanese director Masato Harada. BIFF’s jury said in a ...

Korean president stops by Hyundai Mobis factory to encourage workers DETROIT ― President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday visited the General Motors plant in Detroit together in a show of “economic alliance,” two days after the U.S. Congress ratified the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement. The FTA was signed in 2007, but was met with complaints from U.S. automakers and legis...

Hundreds of civic activists are expected to express their anger with capitalists, financiers and economic policy makers on Saturday around Seoul. Inspired by “Occupy Wall Street,” a month-long protest against the “greed of capitalists” in the U.S., protestors here will urge financial institutions and authorities to shun derivatives and focus on arranging financial transactions. Korea Finance Co...

Seoul National University, the nation’s most prestigious higher education institution, will open a Japanese department as early as next year, the school said Friday. According to SNU, the establishment of an East Asian linguistic and civilization faculty passed the dean’s council on Thursday and is awaiting approval from the general council next month. The plan includes the launch of department...

Candidates remain neck-and-neck on day two of official campaign The Grand National Party’s candidate for Seoul mayor was leading the polls after three television debates and two days of campaigning, though by a small margin which experts say could easily be reversed on a strong turnout. On the second day of official campaigning Friday, Na Kyung-won of the GNP and Park Won-soon, an opposition-ba...

South Korean shares finished 0.67 percent higher Friday as institutional investors including the National Pension Fund snapped up shares despite persisting eurozone worries, analysts said. The local currency edged down against the U.S. dollar. Reversing earlier losses, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 12.3 points to 1,835.4, extending its winning streak to a seventh session. ...

The Korea Communications Commission announced Friday that the total number of interceptions of telephone calls and online messages by government agencies dropped more than 20 percent in the first six months of 2011 compared to last year, but interceptions by military authorities more than tripled. According to data released by the state telecommunications regulator, the number of interceptions g...

The government declared an all-out war on “fake” gasoline on Friday, significantly increasing fines for people selling unauthorized products and giving investigative jurisdiction to government officials. The crackdown starts with changing the commonly used name for such fuel, mostly chemical mixtures, from alternative fuel to fake, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The new measure...