NEW YORK (AP) ― CC Sabathia decided to stay with the New York Yankees rather than test the free-agent market, agreeing Monday to a new deal that adds $30 million to his existing contract and will pay $122 million over the next five years. The 31-year-old left-hander had until midnight to opt out of his current agreement, which had $92 million remaining over the next four years in $23 million ann...

Lions win Korean Series title When Samsung Lions’ closer Oh Seung-hwan came to the mound on Monday night, called upon once again to save the day, people knew he could do the job. The 29-year-old pitcher thrust his arm into the air after successfully retiring three SK Wyverns’ batters in the ninth inning, reclaiming the Korean Series title for his team. It was the Lions’ fourth Korean Series cr...

Iranian state TV says two players have been suspended from the country’s professional soccer league for an “immoral” goal-scoring celebration. The report Monday says Mohammed Nosrati of Persepolis squeezed the backside of teammate Sheis Rezaei while the Tehran team’s players celebrated a goal against Damash Gilan. After Persepolis scored again in the 3-2 victory, YouTube footage appears to show...

TOKYO (AP) ― Japan wants North Korea to allow more Japanese fans into the country for next month’s World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang. Kyodo news agency reports Monday that Japan Football Association general-secretary Kozo Tashima says the number of Japanese that North Korea would allow into the country is “nowhere near acceptable.” Japan faces North Korea in Pyongyang on Nov. 15. It will be the ...

The Australian Chamber of Commerce in Korea will hold its annual Business Awards gala dinner on Nov. 10 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul. Nine companies, including five from Korea, have been shortlisted for awards for best SME, best services company and trade excellence. A special Investment of the Year Award and the Chairman’s Award will be announced on the night. To promote audience particip...

Applications for Seoul Global Center’s Business Start-up School are available and open for submission until Friday. The free two-week evening course is aimed at expats looking to set up a small business in Korea. The syllabus covers legal and tax issues, marketing, government policies and the Korean corporate system, as well as other aspects of doing business in Korea. The course runs weekdays...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan‘s atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms. The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was...

Local business lobbies again called for the quick ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement on Tuesday, saying that the investor-state dispute settlement system is one that has become a global standard. In opposing ratification of the accord with the U.S., opposition parties have focused on the ISD clause, which allows disputes between investors and the state to be settled under the me...

Samsung Group bucked the trend of the past four months by increasing its market capitalization while its rivals saw their combined stock value shrink amid the financial turmoil sparked by the global recession fears, data showed on Tuesday. According to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange, FnGuide and Chaebul.com, Samsung’s market cap reached 238.08 trillion won ($213.91 billion) as of end-Oc...

The government on Tuesday announced plans to raise highway tolls and train fares in a bid to cope with surging costs and to boost the financial stability of state-run enterprises. The package includes an average hike of 2.9 percent in expressway tolls nationwide starting later this month, and an average increase of 2.93 percent in train tickets from mid-December, according to the Ministry of Lan...