강동구가 전국 자치단체 최초로 길고양이 급식소를 설치한다.강동구는 금요일 고양이 돌보미 단체인 미우캣보호협회와 '길고양이 사료그릇 시범사업' 업무협약을 체결하고 구내 18개 전 동 주민센터에 고양이 전용 사료그릇을 설치해 1년 간 길고양이 급식 사업을 시범 운영할 예정이다. 이해식 강동구청장은 “이번 시범사업을 계기로 동물보호조례 제정을 적극 검토하고 있다”며 “길고양이를 비롯해 모든 생명을 존중하는 문화가 정착되길 기대한다”고 말했다.이 사업은 강동구에 거주하고 있는 인기 웹툰작가 강풀의 제안으로 이루어졌다. 평소 길고양이 돌보기에 앞장선 강풀이 미우캣보호협회와 함께 고양이 돌보기 사업의 필요성을 설득한 덕분이다. 강풀 씨는 앞서 사료그릇 50개와 사료 6톤을 기부, 사업을 물심양면으로 지원했다. 현재 강동구 내 길고양이는 1,500마리로 추산되며 길고양이 급식소로 인해 굶주림 때문에 음식쓰레기 봉투를 헤집어 놓는 현상도 줄고 동물복지에도 기여할 수 있다고 강동구청은 기대하고 있다

South Korean stocks closed almost flat on Friday, amid expectations that the U.S. may hold off squeezing the size of monetary expansion, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 0.95 points, or 0.05 percent, to finish at 2,001.05. Trading volume was moderate of 390.1 million shares worth 5.27 trillion won ($4.68 billion) but decliners outnumbered gainers 504 to 327. "Hopes that the Fed will delay winding down i

A female Army officer was found dead on Friday with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, military officials said, noting investigations are underway to find the exact cause of the incident.The 30-year-old Army captain, surnamed Hong, was found dead inside her car by her colleagues at 8:10 a.m. in her unit in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, with a gunshot wound in the neck, a senior Army official said, asking customary anonymity. A K-1 rifle and its bullet shell were found inside the car that was

A Chinese newborn who was rescued from a sewer pipe has been released to his family and his mother is unlikely to face criminal charges because authorities concluded he fell into the toilet after his birth accidentally, local officials and media reports said.The baby was released from a hospital to his maternal grandparents late Wednesday, while his 22-year-old mother remains under medical care, the state-run Jinhua Evening News reported, in an account confirmed Thursday by a local police offici

Japan has suspended some imports of U.S. wheat after a genetically engineered version of the grain was found on a U.S. farm.The Agriculture Department announced the discovery of the modified wheat on Wednesday. No genetically engineered wheat has been approved for U.S. farming.Japan is one of the largest export markets for U.S. wheat growers. Katsuhiro Saka, a counselor at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, said Thursday that Japan had canceled orders of western white wheat from the Pacific Nor

A brilliant third quarter by LeBron James and the Miami Heat turned the game around and lifted the hosts to a 90-79 win over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, taking a 3-2 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.James scored 16 of his 30 points in the third, helping to turn a six-point deficit into a 14-point lead and put the Heat within one win of a third-straight trip to the NBA Finals.“That's what I came here for, to be able to compete for a championship each and every year,” James said. “I'm

가수 장윤정 씨의 어머니와 동생이 채널 A의 “쾌도난마”에서 재산탕진설을 정면으로 반박한 가운데, 해당 프로그램을 두고 시청자들의 비난이 거세다.장윤정 씨의 어머니 육흥복 씨와 남동생 장경영 씨는 30일 오후 ‘박종진의 쾌도난마’에 나와 장윤정 씨와 관련한 루머들을 반박하며 “실제 내 사업에 들어간 돈은 5억 정도”라고 주장했다. 또한 장경영 씨는 장윤정 씨가 사람을 시켜 어머니를 미행했으며 정신병원에 강제로 입원시키려고 했다고 주장했다.이날 방송에서 두 사람은 장윤정이 외숙모와 주고 받은 카톡 메시지도 공개했다. 장윤정이 외숙모에게 보냈다는 이 카톡 메시지에는 “진짜로 내가 죽어야 끝나요”, “그냥 사람 시켜서 죽이든지” 등의 내용이 담겨 있다.사회자 박종진 씨는 방송 말미에 “장윤정 씨, 억울하면 방송 나오세요”란 코멘트를 남겼다.방송이 나가고 난 뒤 시청자들은 이와 관련해 “편파판정”이라며 거센 비난을 목소리를 높였다. 이들은 한쪽의 의견만 일방적으로 전하는 것은 불공정하다며

한국시간으로 내일 새벽에 지구 근처를 지나갈 것으로 예상되는 소행성 주위를 마치 위성처럼 공전하는 또 다른 작은 소행성이 있는 것으로 알려졌다.미 항공우주국 (나사:NASA)의 제트추진 연구소 (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)가 소행성 1998 QE2의 레이더 이미지를 분석한 결과 약 2.7킬로미터의 직경을 가진 소행성 주위를 600미터 정도 직경의 다른 소행성이 공전하고 있다고 한다.이 소행성은 지구와 약 579만 킬로미터 거리 -- 지구와 달 사이 거리의 15배 -- 를 두고 한국시간으로 새벽 5시 59분쯤에 지나칠 전망이다.지구 근처에 있는 직경 약 200미터 이상 크기의 소행성 중 이렇게 쌍을 이루고 있는 소행성은 약 16% 정도인 것으로 알려졌다. (코리아헤럴드) <관련 영문 기사>Asteroid approaching for Earth fly-by found to have its own 'moon' An asteroid that will pass by Ear

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Friday, buoyed by expectations that the U.S. will hold off withdrawing its quantitative easing (QE) due to dim economic data, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shot up 12.91 points, or 0.65 percent to 2,013.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Blue-chip tech shares drove up the main index, with top-cap Samsung Electronics gaining 0.8 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor moving up 0.9 percent. U.S. markets ga

A suspicious letter mailed to the White House was similar to two threatening, poison-laced letters on the gun control debate sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the most potent advocates of stricter gun laws in the U.S., officials said Thursday.The Secret Service said the letter was addressed to President Barack Obama and was intercepted by a White House mail screening facility. Two similar letters postmarked in Louisiana and sent to Bloomberg in New York and his gun control group i

The U.S. economy grew at a modest 2.4 percent annual rate from January through March, slightly slower than initially estimated. Consumer spending was stronger than first thought, but businesses restocked more slowly and state and local government spending cuts were deeper.The Commerce Department said Thursday that economic growth in the first quarter was only marginally below the 2.5 percent annual rate the government had estimated last month. That's still much faster than the 0.4 percent growth

Japan's industrial production picked up in April with a 1.7 percent rise over a month earlier, official data showed Friday, as Tokyo works to stoke growth in the world's third-largest economy.In a statement, the economy ministry said the month-on-month rise was evidence that "industrial production shows signs of picking up at a moderate pace".However a survey of manufacturers released with the data showed producers were cautious, predicting that factory output for May would be flat and then fall

The government said Friday that it has strengthened its inspection of U.S. wheat imports following the discovery of unapproved genetically modified wheat in Oregon.Currently, the country inspects a 1-kilogram sample from each shipment of U.S. wheat, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.Starting Friday, the government plans to test additional samples of 1 kilogram from each container of U.S. wheat, it said.The move comes one day after the U.S. Animal and Plant Health I

A perfectly preserved woolly mammoth carcass with liquid blood has been found on a remote Arctic island, fueling hopes of cloning the Ice Age animal, Russian scientists said Thursday.The carcass was in such good shape because its lower part was stuck in pure ice, said Semyon Grigoryev, the head of the Mammoth Museum, who led the expedition into the Lyakhovsky Islands off the Siberian coast.“The blood is very dark, it was found in ice cavities bellow the belly and when we broke these cavities wit

Astronauts who travel on future missions to Mars would likely be exposed to their lifetime limit of radiation during the trip, not to mention time spent on the Red Planet, scientists said Thursday.The measurements were made aboard the Mars Science Laboratory, an unmanned NASA rover and mobile lab that set off for Mars in 2011 before landing 253 days later in August 2012, said the report in the US journal Science."In terms of accumulated dose, it's like getting a whole-body CT scan once every fiv

Suzanne Scholte, a well-known North Korea human rights activist here, said Thursday the South Korea government was very helpful in recent partially successful rescue efforts for more than a dozen North Korean defectors, mostly in their teens.She said, however, the U.S. government needs to do more to lower the bar for the asylum of North Korean refugees seeking to resettle in the country.Nearly two years ago, Scholte, the head of the Defense Forum Foundation and the North Korea Freedom Coalition,

South Korea's fiscal deficit widened during the first quarter of this year amid the prolonged economic slowdown, the finance ministry said Friday.The consolidated fiscal account, which reflects the central government's total income and expenditure, posted 14.8 trillion won ($13.1 billion) in deficit during the January-March period, widening by 3.5 trillion won from a year earlier, the ministry said.The growing deficit stems in part from decreased tax revenues affected by the slowing growth. The

Syrian soldiers have killed three Westerners, including an American woman and a British man, both Muslims, in northwest Idlib province near the Turkish border, a monitoring group reported late Thursday."They were shot dead during an ambush in the Idlib region and the army found them with maps of military positions," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The three had apparently been taking photos of military positions on the road between Harim, near the bord

The commanding general of South Korea's elite military academy has offered to retire to take responsibility for a recent sexual assault case on campus, Army officials said Thursday.Army Lt. Gen. Park Nam-soo, head of the Korea Military Academy located in Seoul, said he will leave the military to hold himself accountable for the sexual assault allegation surrounding a senior male cadet, Army officials said. The military police have arrested the cadet, who is being accused of sexually assaulting a

행복의 감정을 느끼게 해주는 것으로 알려진 화학물질인 ‘세로토닌’의 분비를 막은 쥐의 성적 기호가 바뀌는 것으로 관찰되어 눈길을 끌고 있다.북경 대학교 연구진이 암컷 쥐를 유전적으로 조작해 세로토닌을 생성하거나 이에 반응하지 못하도록 하는 실험을 했다. 그 결과 변형된 쥐는 암컷의 생식기 냄새에 반응을 했으며, 짝짓기 상대로 수컷보다는 암컷을 선호하는 것으로 나타났다.연구진은 “우리는 성호르몬에 손을 대지 않고도 유전적인 조작을 통해 성적 기호를 바꿀 수 있다는 것을 보여주었다. 이 결과는 세로토닌이 성적 기호와 관련이 있다는 것을 보여준다”고 분석했다.스탠포드 대학의 신경학자 사이몬 르베이는 이 결과를 보고 세로토닌 역시 성적 기호를 결정하는 메커니즘에 영향을 주는 여러 화학 신호 중 하나일 수 있다고 밝혔다. 이 연구는 미국 국립과학원 회보(Proceedings of National Academy of Science)에 실렸다. <관련 영문 기사>‘Happy chemical’ m