Moderate to binge drinking -- drinking less during the week and more on weekends -- reduces the structural integrity of the adult brain, U.S. researchers say.Lead author Megan Anderson, a graduate student working with Tracey J. Shors, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, and postdoctoral fellow Miriam Nokia of the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, said a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent -- the U.S. legal driving limit -- aff

Doctors in Germany said Friday they had removed a tumor weighing 28 kilogram’s (62 pounds) from a 60-year-old woman who had previously been diagnosed as obese.A spokesman from the university clinic in the eastern city of Dresden said the woman, Irmtraud Eichler, had made a full recovery after the seven-hour operation and was now able to walk again with crutches.The so-called "borderline" tumor, measuring 60 centimeters (24 inches) by 50 centimeters, attached itself to an ovary and Eichler began

Another royal wedding beckons in Europe: This time it is Sweden's Princess Madeleine who is getting ready to tie the knot.Madeleine and her U.S.-British boyfriend Christopher O'Neill announced their engagement on the royal palace website on Thursday.The 30-year-old Madeleine is the youngest of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia's three children and is fourth in line to the throne.The tabloid Expressen reported early Thursday that O'Neill, a 38-year-old financier she met in New York, had prop

A 2-inch chunk of a meteor that exploded dramatically over California struck the roof of the home of a minister, his wife said."It's wonderful. It's like the heavens coming down, and this thing probably came from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. I mean, how cool is that?" said Lisa Webber of the rock that bounced off the roof of her husband's study Thursday night and onto the lawn of their Novato, Calif., home.Peter Webber is pastor of Presbyterian Church of Novato, the San Francisco C

Hyundai Motor Co. suffered a fall in third quarter profit versus the previous quarter after strikes dented vehicle production.South Korea's largest automaker said Thursday net profit fell 15 percent from the April-June quarter to 2.16 trillion won ($1.96 billion). It was Hyundai's first sequential drop in quarterly profit in a year.  The result, which matched forecasts, was still a 13 percent rise over a year earlier.  Its operating profit fell 18 percent from the second quarter to 2.05 trillion

A North Korean patrol boat retreated after briefly crossing the west sea border into South Korea on Thursday, the South's military officials said."A North Korean patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and sailed up to 0.36 kilometers into waters east of South Korea's Baengnyeong Island at about 11 a.m. while trying to cracking down on Chinese fishing boats illegally operating there," one of the officials said.The Northern vessel retreated at around 11:07 a.m. after warning signs were

 Domestic cats are often judged by color and stereotypes that go with the color, say U.S. researchers looking for a link between cat color and adoption rates.University of California, Berkeley, researchers surveyed 189 people with experience of cats as pets and found they were more likely to assign positive personality traits to orange cats and less favorable ones to white and tortoiseshell animals.And black cats have always had the misfortune to be associated with bad luck and witches.The study

한국과 중국, 일본 중에 영어 구사 능력이 가장 뛰어난 국가는 한국인 것으로 나타났다.교육 전문 회사인 EF 잉글리시타운(Englishtown)이 최근에 발표한 ‘2012년 EF EPI (영어 능력 지수)’에 따르면 한국은 100점 만점에 55.3점을 기록하며 53개 국가 중 21위에 올랐다. 한국의 영어 능력 지수는 ‘보통’으로 기록되었다.일본의 경우 한국을 바짝 따라와 55.1점으로 22위에 올랐고 중국은 36위로 중국의 영어 능력 지수는 ‘미흡’한 것으로 나타났다.성별로 보면 한국 여성의 영어 능력 지수가 아시아에서 56.4점으로 1위에 올랐고 그 다음으로 일본 여성이 55.6점으로 2위였다.반면, 일본 남성이 한중일 영어 능력 지수 비교에서 54.5점으로 1위였고 그 뒤를 한국 남성이 54.1점으로 뒤따랐다.그러나 전반적으로 한국의 영어능력점수는 선진국 평균보다도 낮은 것으로 나타났다.국제도시로 거듭나기 위해 많은 노력을 기울이고 있는 서울은 영어 능력이 도쿄와 싱가포르보다

President Lee Myung-bak's only son appeared before a special counsel on Thursday to face questioning over alleged irregularities in a land deal for his father's now-scrapped retirement home project.The 34-year-old Lee Si-hyung entered the counsel's office in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, at 10:11 a.m. in his capacity as a criminal suspect in the alleged attempt to misuse taxpayer money through the aborted land deal. This is the first time in South Korean history a child of a sitting president has

South Korea started a final systems check on its space rocket on Thursday, a day ahead of its planned launch from a space center on the country's south coast, the government said.The outcome of the dress rehearsal on the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), also known as Naro-1, will come out at around 11 p.m., according to The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.The Naro-1 was erected and fastened to the launch pad at the Naro Space Center, some 485 kilometers south of Seoul, on Wed

China should play a key role in addressing global imbalances amid growing calls that emerging countries should shift their export-dependent growth models into domestic demand-centered growth, a U.S. economist said Thursday.The global economy is sputtering, mainly driven by sluggishness in major economies. Emerging countries, which recovered quickly from the 2008 global financial crisis, have faced criticism from some advanced nations which argue their export-driven growth contributes to global i

South Korean stocks started lower on Thursday as a grim outlook for local firms' third-quarter earnings dented investor sentiment, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 4.86 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,909.10 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Tech blue chips led the decline, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics sliding 0.46 percent and flat panel giant LG Display losing 0.33 percent.Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 2.06 percent and its smaller af

A U.S. trade commission has ruled in favor of Apple Inc.'s patent infringement claims against Samsung Electronics Co., granting another home-turf victory to the iPhone maker.In a preliminary ruling on Wednesday, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found some Samsung mobile devices infringed four Apple patents, including one design patent and three software patents, according to the documents by the agency's Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender.The preliminary ruling awaits the approv

A Chinese company says it is developing a smartphone with a display akin to those on e-readers to create an Android phone you only have to charge once a week.Chinese manufacturer Onyx International is working on the phone that would use the same kind of easy-on-the-eyes, long-lasting "e-ink" technology used in current e-readers, TG Daily reported.E-ink screens can be read in even the brightest conditions, but many consider their best feature to be extended battery life.Onyx is apparently looking

Group wants to slim down, put SK people in Hynix to revamp 　SK Hynix, the brainchild of SK Group’s highly publicized merger with Hynix Semiconductor this year, is expected to dismiss up to 20 percent of its executives within the next two months. Industry sources said the dismissal rate could go up to as high as 30 percent when including some of the non-executive employees.The sources said SK Hynix has been without an owner for too long, and had become too big and unwieldy for SK to cope with.“Th

마텔의 완구 브랜드 "몬스터 하이" 내년 한국 출시 예정바비 (Barbie), 피셔 프라이스 (Fisher Price) 등을 제조하는 세계 최대의 완구회사인 마텔(Mattel)이 국내 유명 미용실 체인 박승철 헤어스투디오와 손잡고 바비 브랜드를 내건 미용실을 연내 오픈 예정이라고 밝혔다.마텔의 아시아태평양 총괄 부사장 클레어 길크리스트(Claire Gilchrist)는 최근 코리아헤럴드와의 인터뷰에서 “20-30대 여성을 주 타겟 고객으로 하는 ‘바비’ 헤어살롱이 전세계 최초로 연내 서울에 오픈 예정”이라고 말했다.미용실 이용 가격은 기존 박승철 헤어스투디오의 가격보다는 저렴할 것으로 알고 있다고 마텔 측은 밝혔다. 마텔의 바비인형은 모두 미국에서 제조되지만, 전세계 각국에서 현지 기업들과 바비 브랜드를 이용한 소비자 제품 라이선스사업을 하고 있다. 바비의 라이센스 파트너로 선정된 국내 회사로는 여성 제화 브랜드 세라제화 (Saera), 화장품 제조업체 파라코, LG 생활건강 (바비

Five teachers in Japan who sneaked off school grounds for a crafty cigarette in between lessons have been hit with hefty fines, officials said Tuesday.Education board bosses docked up to 500,000 yen ($6,300) from each of the five after they were caught smoking outside school gates during the working day.The five, who all work in the western city of Osaka, fell foul of a 2008 diktat by then-prefectural governor Toru Hashimoto, who imposed a total ban on lighting-up at all schools run by the autho

Athletic shoe company Reebok said it has created a custom pair of size 24 shoes for a New York state man known as the tallest in the United States.Igor Vovkovinskiy, 30, who stands at 7-foot-8 1/3, tried on the three pairs of custom-made size 24, 10E sneakers Thursday at the Rochester Athletic Club, the Rochester Post Bulletin reported Friday."It feels so good, like I'm walking on pillows or mattresses," said Vovkovinskiy, who moved to the United States in 1989 to receive surgery for tumors on h

도미니크 오 애플코리아 대표가 지난 주 돌연 사표를 낸 것으로 알려졌다. 복수의 업계 관계자들은 지난해 5월 취임한 오 대표가 자의가 아닌 타의에 의한 결정으로 물러나게 되었다고 23일 밝혔다.한 업계 고위관계자는 “(오 대표가) 이메일 하나로 통보를 받았다”며 그 이메일을 받은 이후 오대표의 사표가 바로 처리되었다고 전했다.오 대표가 갑작스럽게 물러나게 되면서 업계에서는 여러 가지 추측을 내놓고 있다. 이 시점에서 가장 의아한 점은 애플이 아이폰 5 출시를 11월초로 가닥을 잡은 가운데 애플코리아를 총괄하는 대표에게 사직서를 받았다는 점이다.이에 대해 업계에서는 애플코리아의 아이폰 4S 실적이 오 대표를 교체하는 데에 있어 영향을 미쳤을 수도 있다는 지적이 나오고 있다.또 다른 업계 고위관계자는 “아시아 태평양 지역에서 인구와 가입자를 기준으로 봤을 때 실적이 가장 좋은 나라가 일본이고, 제일 나쁜 나라가 한국”이라며 이 같은 주장을 뒷받침했다.또, 애플이 삼성과 글로벌하게 연일

Dominique Oh notified of leave with single e-mailDominique Oh, the head of Apple Korea, stepped down last week, a move staged against his will, according to multiple industry executives Tuesday.“He was told to leave his position as general manager through an e-mail,” said a top industry executive. “The news was a shocker. I don’t know who will want the job after this.”Oh’s ouster came as a surprise as the Cupertino-based IT behemoth is currently looking forward to releasing its latest iPhone 5 h