Because Economics is Sexy...

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean couple were convicted Friday of abandoning their newborn daughter, who starved to death while they addictively played an online game raising a virtual child.
The husband, a 41-year-old taxi driver, and his 25-year-old wife were sentenced to two years in prison, but the woman’s term was suspended because she [...]

Another Danish pharmaceutical company has withdrawn products from Greece in protest at the government’s decision to cut the prices of medicines by 25%.
The Leo Pharma company says it is suspending sales of two popular drugs because the price reductions will cause job losses across Europe.
The Greek government is struggling with a debt crisis.
It has condemned [...]

China has resisted pressure to publicly criticise North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean naval ship.
During a three-way summit that concluded on Sunday, both South Korea and Japan pressed China to hold Pyongyang responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan in March.
But Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister, gave no sign China is [...]

JEJU, South Korea (Kyodo) Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak agreed Saturday to boost cooperation in dealing with North Korea after Pyongyang was accused of sinking one of the South’s warships, raising tension in the region.
The agreement was reached during the two leaders’ bilateral meeting on the South Korean island [...]

(Reuters) – Fitch cut Spain’s credit rating by one notch on Friday, sending markets lower and capping a horrible week for a government struggling to convince investors it can solve its economic woes and avoid a Greek-style debt crisis.
Fitch Ratings linked the downgrade to AA+ from AAA to the record levels of household and corporate [...]

(Reuters) – Members of a British Airways cabin crew union began a second five-day strike on Sunday after talks held last week aimed at resolving the long-running dispute ended without agreement. The new wave of industrial action by the airline’s cabin staff started officially at midnight (7 p.m. EDT) with little sign on the horizon [...]

The world’s leading supplier of the anti-diabetes drug insulin is withdrawing its medication from Greece.
Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, objects to a government decree ordering a 25% price cut in all medicines.
People with diabetes in Greece have condemned the Danish action as “brutal capitalist blackmail”.
More than 50,000 Greeks with diabetes use Novo Nordisk’s state of-the-art-insulin, [...]

A US drone attack which left 23 Afghan civilians dead when they were mistaken for Taliban fighters occurred due to the “unprofessional” approach of the soldiers involved, an internal military report has found.
The civilians died on February 21 in Uruzgan province when three vehicles were hit by Hellfire missiles fired from a drone on the [...]

Funerals for the victims of Friday’s Ahmadiyya mosque attacks in the Pakistani city of Lahore have been cancelled amid fears of further attacks on the minority community.
The cancellations come as Pakistani authorities hunt members of the armed gang that left more than 80 people dead in a double attack on two mosques belonging to the [...]

(Reuters) – Prudential (PRU.L) has entered talks to cut its $35.5 billion offer for AIG’s (AIG.N) Asian life insurance arm in a last-ditch bid to salvage a deal criticized by shareholders as too expensive.
DEALS
The UK’s biggest insurer wants to cut the price to about $30 billion, a reduction of 15 percent, said one source close [...]