SOUTH KOREA

Japanese researchers at the Kyoto University have broken the rare earth import jinx as they have created a new alloy which resembles rare metal palladium, bringing a sigh of relief to countries depending on Chinese exports of rare earth metals.

South Africa is about to join the Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) grouping and will attend the first summit of the leading emerging economies in April this year, but doubts remain over the suitability of the African nation to be in the exclusive club of the fast-growing economies.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd on Thursday achieved a milestone by reaching the production of 600,000 units, the highest since inception in a calendar year.

Hyundai Motors India Ltd. (HMIL), the second largest car maker and the largest car exporter in the Indian market, sold a total of 47,228 units during this month as compared to 47,217 units during the same period year ago.

The Ripley Entertainment Inc. has added another bizarre to the world of amusements by opening 32nd Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium, as Ripley’s museums are popularly called, at Jeju Island in Korea.

South Korea, among other countries, would be a better candidate than South Africa to join the BRIC group of prominent emerging market nations, said Jim O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and the man who first coined the “BRIC” term.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was forceful, even bellicose, in speaking about North Korea on Monday. But on Wednesday, Lee struck a conciliatory note, expressing a desire for dialogue with his country's difficult neighbor to the north

Close to 30 robot teachers have started teaching youngsters English in 19 elementary schools in the South Korean city of Daegu

Amid large-scale South Korean military drills near the border with North Korea, a top official from the North warned against intrusion into its territory, threatening war and citing possible use of nuclear weapons, while an unofficial U.S. ambassador said the situation was like a tinderbox.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, called on the country's military to strike with strong 'counter-attacks' on the North. Lee visited the front-line army units in Yanggu of Gangwon Province on Thursday. Despite domestic opposition, Seoul's hard-line government is holding the one of its largest-ever military at Pocheon, 20km south of the North Korean border. The country so far conducted 47 drills in the past year.

FIFPro, the International Players' union, has supported calls to play the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar during winter instead of summer.

US diplomats in Washington once dubbed North's Korea's military drills as 'fish-killing' activities. Yet the South, backed by the Obama administration, has been continuously holding live-fire drills in the disputed zone of the Korean Peninsula. With a continual military activity, the coming months could only witness a deteriorating situation in the peninsula, unless both sides are pressured to engage in a dialogue.

Stocks rose moderately, boosted by some M&A activity and an easing of hostilities in Korea, with the Dow Jones index reaching a 28-month high and the Nasdaq at a three-year high, albeit in light pre-holiday trading.

Is North Korea finally, though momentarily perhaps, willing to throw away the mantle of a cranky child angrily throwing toys from the pram?

New York-traded shares of China Eastern Airlines plunged 4.42 percent and those of China Southern Airlines plunged 2.47 percent in morning trading on tensions between North and South Korea.

The world's largest exchange traded gold fund - the New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore-listed SPDR Gold Trust - added 15 tonnes to its holdings on Friday, the largest one-day addition since the height of the Greek deficit crisis in May.

South Korea announced on Sunday it will start charging a levy on banks' foreign exchange borrowings, a measure aimed at limiting the chances of capital exiting the economy at a time when military tensions with the North are escalating.

The South Korean military has begun live-firing exercises on Yeonpyeong Island, the country's defense ministry announced on Monday. Local residents were ordered to move into air raid bunkers ahead of the drills. The move comes at the time of heightened tensions in the region and constant threats of retaliation from the North.

U.S. companies are turning profitable again, they have stockpiles of cash and the economy is teetering on its new 'recovery' legs as the government pumps in billions of dollars trying to keep it afloat. Yet, the one thing that is crucial to the recovery is not happening - job creation - as companies remain reluctant to hire.

North Korea on Friday warned of 'deadlier attacks' if the South decides to go ahead with live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. Officials of the communist state maintained that the attacks this time would be more lethal than that of last month's artillery shelling that killed two South Korean soldiers and two civilians.

It's a rather new Cold War. New rhetoric, spiraling conflicts and opposing fronts have returned to the panorama of the World. Posing a threat to the region's still fragile peace, a new arms race has begun in the Asia-Pacific.