SOUTH KOREA
Australia envoy resigns
Ambassador to Australia Lee Jong-sup has resigned, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, after his appointment while under investigation by corruption authorities triggered a public outcry. Before being named to the post, Lee had been banned from traveling while South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office probed allegations he interfered with an inquiry into the death of a marine last year, while he was minister of defense. The foreign ministry said that it had “decided to accept his resignation,” without giving further details. The 20-year-old marine died after being swept away while doing relief work during flooding, with some reports saying he was never given a life jacket by authorities. The office is looking into whether Lee interfered with the probe into the marine’s death. Lee has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to cooperate.
HUNGARY
Study shows dogs’ skills
Dogs are able to understand that some words refer to objects in a way that is similar to humans, a small study of canine brain waves has found. That our four-legged companions are able to recognize words that prompt actions will come as no surprise to dog owners who tell their pets to “sit” or “fetch.” However, the study, which analyzed brain activity in 18 dogs, provided evidence that they can activate a memory of an object when they hear its name. The study was carried out at the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest and published in the journal Current Biology. “There has been a long debate on a non-human animal’s ability to understand words referentially,” said Marianna Boros who coauthored the study. “While there have been behavioral reports, these were always exceptional cases. Our study is the first where we claim that this is a species-wide capacity.” During the study, dog owners said words for objects their pets knew. In some cases they would present the dog with an object that matched the word, while in other cases the object did not match. The results found that the patterns in the dogs’ brains when the words matched the objects were different compared with when they did not. “Dogs can understand that words stand for things ... so they activate mental representations and they link the meaning of the word to a mental representation and not just the context,” Boros said.
SPAIN
Four killed in falls
Four people have died after falling into the sea in three incidents on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, emergency services said on Thursday. The deaths came amid warnings of strong winds and widespread rain across many parts of the country and warnings of high waves on Portugal’s coast to the southwest. Spanish police said that an underage male of Moroccan nationality and a German adult died on the Mediterranean coast near Tarragona. The German man went into the water trying to save the Moroccan youth and both perished, the Civil Guard said. A man and a woman died after falling into the Atlantic Ocean on Spain’s northern coast, emergency services for the region of Asturias said. Spain’s EFE news agency quoted local authorities as saying the man was of British nationality. The body of the woman, presumably Spanish, was recovered after she fell into the sea and was thrown against the rocks by the waves, authorities said. The national weather service on Thursday issued warnings for heavy winds in several areas of the peninsula, including the Asturias’ coast, where 7m waves were forecast.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
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