They have become outrageously famous in a week but the consequences of having a scandalous blog are starting to set in for Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee.Lee, 23, may be kicked out of her family home after “Sumptuous Erotica”, the blog she shared with Tan, 24, made the headlines in several newspapers here and in Singapore.“My mother gave me an ultimatum marry him or move out within a month,” she said, adding that she was “a little scared” about the prospect.She had just graduated with a marketing degr

Retired boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard said Monday he cried for Jerry Sandusky's accusers after hearing of the former Penn State assistant football coach's arrest on child sex abuse charges nearly a year ago.An abuse survivor himself, Leonard said he hopes the accusers can draw from his own story and willingness to speak out about a problem that drew national attention and crushed the reputation of one of the country's most famous college sports programs.“What I had heard about Penn State _ I

Scientists at a British university said their research indicates horror movie viewers could burn up to 113 calories in 90 minutes.Dr. Richard Mackenzie of the University of Westminster, England, said he and his team monitored the heart rate, oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output of people watching scary movies and discovered some of them were burning the same amount of calories found in a chocolate bar, The Mirror reported Monday."The 10 films tested set pulses racing," Mackenzie said. "Adrena

A nuclear power generator in the southeastern city of Gyeongju came to a halt on Monday due to a detected malfunction, its operator said. No radiation leak was reported.The Reactor-1 at Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant, located some 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was shut down at 9:39 p.m. during normal operations due to a turbine halt signal, according to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.The operator said it is looking into the exact cause of the shutdown, adding the nuclear reactor is in a safe

South Korea and Japan agreed on the amount of fish they can each catch in each other's exclusive economic zones (EEZs) Tuesday, the Seoul government said.Under the agreement reached Tuesday, both sides set next year's fishing quota in each other's EEZ at 60,000 tons, unchanged from the previous year.Seoul, however, secured an additional 40 tons in the amount of cutlass fish it can catch in Japan's EEZ. Such an increase is the first of its kind since 2006, according to the Ministry of Food, Agric

Samsung Electronics Co. will likely widen its lead over closest rival Apple Inc. in the smartphone market share largely thanks to its diverse range of products, a report showed Tuesday.The South Korean tech leader is expected to hold a 37 percent share of the global smartphone market in 2013, selling 284 million units globally, Korea Investment & Securities Co. predicted in the report.It was comparable to the iPhone maker's 20.4 percent, equivalent to 157 million units.  The difference between t

Apple Inc. shook up its executive ranks Monday, saying the head of its store operations is leaving after just six months on the job and the long-serving head of its iPhone software development operations is exiting next year.Apple didn't say why retail senior vice president John Browett and iOS software SVP Scott Forstall were leaving, but both have presided over missteps this year.Browett cut staffing hours at Apple's retail stores, a move the company reversed and acknowledged as a mistake. For

Ri Sol-ju, the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attended a concert with her husband this week, the country's state media said Tuesday, the first time she has appeared in public in more than 50 days.Ri and Kim attended a performance by the Moranbong Band on Monday, which marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Kim Il Sung Military University, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).Ri had not appeared in public since Sept. 8, leading to speculation she could

Syrian warplanes launched 60 airstrikes against rebel targets around the country on Monday, the most intense air raids across the country since the uprising began 19 months ago, according to anti-regime activists. The suburbs of the capital Damascus were particularly hard hit.Activists said at least 500 people were killed over the four-day period ending Monday when a U.N.-backed truce was supposed to be in effect.  They said the death toll for Monday so far has reached 80 and would likely rise f

사람이 꿈을 꾸고 있을 때, 그 꿈의 내용을 해독하는 것이 가능하다는 연구결과가 나왔다고 과학 저널 네이쳐지가 보도했다.일본 교토에 있는 ATR 뇌정보통신종합연구소의 가미타니 야키야스가 이끈 연구팀이 최근 밝힌 바에 따르면 뇌의 특정 분야를 스캔하면 꿈의 내용을 해독하는 것이 가능하다고 한다.“특정한 내용이 꿈 속에서 나오는지 여부를 알 수 있는 방법을 개발하는데 성공했습니다”라고 가미타니는 말했다. 이 연구는 이번 달 중순경에 미국 뉴올린즈에서 열린 신경과학회 (Society for Neuroscience)의 연간 모임에서 발표되었다.가미타니의 연구팀은 먼저 실험 참가자들이 잠을 자게 한 다음 뇌파를 스캔해 이들의 뇌파가 꿈을 꾸고 있을 때의 패턴과 일치하면 참가자들을 깨워 어떤 꿈을 꿨는지 물어봤다. 그 결과 각 참가자들로부터 200여개씩의 꿈 보고서 (dream report)를 얻을 수 있었는데, 꿈들의 대부분은 평범한 일상생활에 대한 것으로 밝혀졌다.연구진은 ‘자동차’, ‘남

A group representing South Korea's progressive Protestant churches on Monday unveiled its proposal of tax, welfare and other policies for adoption by candidates in the December presidential election based on its own analysis of the government's budget spending.The proposal, which focused on taxation justice and broader welfare benefits, will soon be sent to each presidential candidate as well as legislators and civic and social organizations, said the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK)

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who miraculously survived a Taliban murder attempt, has become a beacon of courage for all those who struggle against violence and intolerance with dignity and peace.She rose to international prominence in 2009, aged just 11, writing a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling the terror of life under Taliban rule in Swat, the beautiful valley in northwestern Pakistan where she lived.The militants had taken over the area, which Malala affectionately cal

At a busy intersection, a girl with a high half ponytail looks at you as she begs for coins. There is dirt beneath her fingernails and her pink shirt looks unwashed. The image in the photo could fit thousands of impoverished Mexican children who sell gum or beg for money in the streets, but for one thing: The girl in this picture is blonde.The flurry of internet attention to the photo, and the quick way officials reacted, has renewed a debate about racism in Mexico, a nation that is proud of its

The New York Stock Exchange and the NYMEX are shutting their trading floors in New York Monday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the city.But trading will continue electronically on both exchanges.NYSE Euronext said Sunday it is putting in place its contingency plans beginning Monday and will announce later when the trading floor will reopen.The New York Mercantile Exchange, a commodity futures exchange, also will be shutting on Monday its trading floor which is located in a mandatory evacuation

Hurricane Sandy threatened some 50 million people on the heavily populated East Coast on Monday, and forecasters warned that New York could bear the brunt of the one-of-a-kind superstorm Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate warned that the “time for preparing and talking is about over,” as Sandy made its way up the Atlantic on a collision course with two other weather systems that could turn it into one of the most fearsome storms on record in the U.S.“People need to be acting

삼성전자가 애플을 베끼지 않았다고 알리는 공고로 인해 애플이 또 다시 ’꼼수’ 논란에 휩싸일 것으로 보인다.런던 법원의 판결에 따라 애플은 자사 영국 홈페이지에 삼성제품이 애플 태블릿을 베끼지 않았다고 공고를 냈다.하지만 거의 알아볼 수 없도록 홈페이지 가장 하단에 삼성/애플 영국 판결 (Samsung/Apple UK judgement)라고 한줄 냈을 뿐이다. 그 문구를 클릭하면 그제서야 판결내용이 나온다. 법적으로는 아무 하자가 없지만, 결국 애플은 제대로 사과할 마음이 없었던게 아닌가하고 갸우뚱하게 만드는것은 사실이라고 업계 관계자들은 전했다.링크 내용도 논란거리가 되고 있다. 본문 내용을 자세히 뜯어보면, 애플은 영국 판사가 삼성의 태블릿이 아이패드 만큼 쿨하지 않다 (not as cool)이라고 말한 대목을 싣고 있다. 또, 삼성이 애플의 홈인 미국에서 공개된 배심원 판결을 일컬으며, “영국의 법원에서는 삼성이 애플의 디자인을 침해하지 않았다는 결론을 내렸지만 다른 법원에서의

BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese lawmakers have stripped disgraced politician Bo Xilai of his last official position, formally expelling him from the country's top legislature and clearing the way for criminal proceedings against the once-rising political star.Though largely a formality since Bo was purged from the Communist Party late last month, his expulsion from the congress on Friday removes his immunity from prosecution. That sets the stage for a criminal case involving accusations of corruption an

Microsoft launched a radical redesign of its world-dominating Windows operating system Thursday, introducing a touch-enabled interface that attempts to bridge the gap between personal computers and fast-growing mobile devices powered by the company's fiercest competitors.The debut of Windows 8 heralded the biggest change to the system since 1995, when the company first offered built-in Internet support. And with so much riding on it, the overhaul could be Microsoft's most important product since

South Korean consumers' confidence fell to the lowest level in nine months in October as the economic outlook remained bleak amid the eurozone debt crisis, the central bank said Friday.The consumer sentiment index -- a gauge of consumers' overall economic outlook, living conditions and future spending -- came in at 98 for October, down from 99 tallied for September, according to a survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK).The October figure marked the lowest level since the index hit an identical 98 in

Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat on East Asia, is set to arrive in Seoul on Friday for talks with South Korean officials on North Korea and bilateral alliance issues, officials said.The U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs will meet with Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun and Lim Sung-nam, Seoul's chief envoy to the six-nation talks on ending the North's nuclear weapons program, later in the day, officials said. Campbell's visit to Seoul, part of his Asian