InBusiness: Mad South Koreans: Economic hope

May 03, 2008 (Tulsa World - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- -- South Korean police estimated the crowd at 10,000. Whatever the number, they gathered Friday night in Seoul to protest the resumption of U.S. beef imports.

On Tuesday, a popular TV current affairs program had questioned the safety of U.S. beef, even claiming that South Koreans are more susceptible than Americans and Europeans to contracting ailments linked to mad cow disease.

Medical officials rejected the claim, as did Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun.

But their comments went unheeded, as the protesters chanted, "Down with President Lee Myung-bak."

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The U.S. economy had an unexpected sign of resilience Friday as job losses slowed and the unemployment rate dipped.

Employers eliminated 20,000 jobs in April -- not nearly as many as the 81,000 in March and the fewest so far this year, the Labor Department reported. The unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent from 5.1 percent.

Stresses were still evident. It was the fourth straight month that employers cut jobs, bringing total losses to 260,000.

Another report out Friday showed orders to factories rose a bigger-than-expected 1.4 percent

in March. Higher prices, though, accounted for part of the gain.

Macro merger

Macrovision Corp., the maker of software that protects TV shows and movies from piracy, completed its acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. on Friday.

The new company will be known as Macrovision Solutions Corp., said Santa Clara, Calif.-based Macrovision.

The companies said Tuesday that their shareholders had approved Macrovision's takeover of Gemstar for about $2.3 billion in cash and stock.

The result was widely expected since Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns 41 percent of Gemstar shares, had agreed to approve the deal.

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