Japanese investors have been putting their money into the South Korean financial market even after Japan's devastating quake, data showed Monday, easing speculation that they may repatriate overseas assets to finance Japan's post-quake rehabilitation. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami hit the northeastern part of Japan on March 11, leaving more than 20,000 people dead or injured. ...

South Korea's teenagers are among the worst in the world when it comes to getting along with others, a report showed Sunday, reflecting the country's educational emphasis on knowledge, not interaction. South Korean teens scored an average of 0.31 out of 1.0 for social interaction skills, ranking the country 35th out of 36 nations that took part in the survey, according to the report by the Korea...

South Korea's construction sector contracted at the sharpest rate in more than a decade in the fourth quarter of last year due mainly to a protracted property market slump, data showed Monday. The construction sector shrank 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter from three months earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea. The on-quarter decline is the steepest since the...

South Korean stocks began marginally higher on Monday but traded in a narrow range as investors opted to take a breather following last week's climb, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) inched up 0.51 points, or 0.02 percent, to 2,054.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Last week, the KOSPI finished up 3.68 percent from a week earlier. Techs were bullish wi...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - The Syrian government says 12 people were killed in violence rocking a seaside Mediterranean city. Syria's state-run news agency said unknown armed elements on Saturday attacked neighborhoods in Latakia, shooting from rooftops and terrorizing people. Ten people, including security forces, residents as well as two members of the shadowy ``armed elements'' died in the viole...

AL-EGILA, Libya (AP) - Libyan rebels took back a key oil town and pushed westward Sunday toward the capital, seizing momentum from the international airstrikes that tipped the balance away from Moammar Gadhafi's military. Brega, a main oil export terminal in eastern Libya, fell after a skirmish late Saturday and rebel forces moved swiftly west, seizing the tiny desert town of Al-Egila _ a collec...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) _ Yemeni security officials say suspected al-Qaida gunmen have killed seven soldiers and wounded seven others in an attack on a military post. The officials said the attack Sunday took place at Ubaida area in the in the central Marib province, an al-Qaida stronghold and one of several areas where the central government has little authority. The officials, speaking on condition...

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia permanently switched its clocks to summer time on Sunday in a change backed by President Dmitry Medvedev, who has said people and even cows suffer stress from getting up at a different time. The move means that Moscow will be permanently four hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) but experts said people suffer no ill effects from changing clocks and questioned the need f...

Koreans came last in an international youth survey in terms of social skills, a state research institute reported Sunday. According to the National Youth Policy Institute, Korean teens on average ranked the lowest among 36 countries in terms of relationship orientation and social cooperation. The results were based on an analysis of a survey by the International Association for the Evaluation o...