Japan's transport safety agency says a lithium ion battery on a Boeing 787 that overheated during an All Nippon Airways flight earlier this month, prompting an emergency landing, was not overcharged.Japan Transport Safety Board chairman Norihiro Goto told reporters Wednesday the flight's data recorder showed the battery was not overcharged.That contradicts an earlier finding by the agency as it investigates with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Investigators from both sides are probing

World News Jan. 23, 2013

After North Korea hinted at conducting a nuclear test in defiance of new U.N. sanctions against its rocket launch, South Korea has stepped up monitoring of tunnels at the communist state's test site in its northeast, military officials said Wednesday.Citing satellite images that revealed excavation and related movement at the Punggye-ri test site, Seoul intelligence officials said Pyongyang is ready to detonate a nuclear device on a few days' notice, but the decision to go ahead with the test wi

North Korea Jan. 23, 2013

Police said Tuesday that they plan to punish about 10 senior officials of food and medicine manufacturer CJ CheilJedang for allegedly giving illegal kickbacks worth of 4.5 billion won ($4.2 million) to more than 200 doctors.Some officials from CJ CheilJedang are suspected of offering kickbacks to about 210 doctors for about two years since May 2010 in exchange for prescribing its products, according to police. The government last year declared a war against the long-running illegal practice in t

Industry Jan. 23, 2013

A fight between two people led to a shooting at a Texas community college Tuesday and sent students fleeing for safety as officials placed the campus on lockdown, officials said. A maintenance man was caught in the crossfire and wounded. One of the people involved in the fight had a student ID, and both people were wounded and hospitalized, Harris County Sheriff's Maj. Armando Tello said. A fourth person also was taken to a hospital for a medical condition, he said.The two people involved in the

World News Jan. 23, 2013

롯데카드가 부당 채권추심 등을 일삼은 이유로, 지난해 하반기 금융당국의 집중 조사를 받았던 것으로 22일 확인됐다.금융감독원 관계자는 “지난 9월과 10월 (해당 회사 본점에) 검사역들을 파견해 현장조사를 실시했고 고위 임원을 불러 시정요구도 하달했다”고 밝혔다.이는 금감원이 작년에 실시한 민원발생평가에서 롯데카드가 신용카드 전업 5개사 중 최하위 및 최하위 등급(5등급)을 기록한 데에 따른 문책성 조처다.‘협박’ 등의 수단을 동원해 카드결제대금을 연체한 소비자를 괴롭히는 행위가 부당 채권추심에 속한다.당시 삼성카드가 1등급, 신한카드와 현대카드가 2등급, 하나SK카드가 4등급을 받은 바 있다. 금감원은 다시 최근 1년치 연례민원평가에 대한 분석에 착수한 상태고, 오는 4월 결과를 발표할 예정이다.(코리아헤럴드 정주원 기자 / joowonc@heraldcorp.com) <영문 기사>Lotte Card investigated over consumer complaintsBy Chung

한국어판 Jan. 22, 2013

외로움을 많이 타는 사람의 신체 면역기능이 그렇지 않은 사람에 비해 현저히 떨어진다는 연구결과가 나왔다. 미국 자연과학ㆍ의학전문 사이트 ‘유러칼레트’는 20일(현지시간) 미국 뉴올리언스 ‘성격 및 사회심리학회’ 연례 회의에서 발표된 오하이오 대학 행동의학 연구소의 연구결과 보고서 내용을 보도했다. 오하이오 대학 행동의학 연구소는 중년의 건강한 성인으로 구성된 A그룹과 유방암을 앓은 적이 있는 B그룹을 표본 집단으로 사회적 고립감, 외로움 수준을 측정했다. 연구팀의 실험 결과 외로움을 많이 느끼는 사람일 수록 체내 염증을 일으키는 ‘헤르페스 바이러스’ 잠복 수치가 높았다. 또한 체내 염증과 관련된 단백질도 많이 생성되는 것으로 나타났다. 특히 합병증, 정신지체 등을 일으킬 수 있는 ‘CMV바이러스’ 보유율이 높은 것으로 나타났다. ‘헤르페스’와 ‘CMV’와 같은 바이러스로 인한 체내 염증은 심혈관 질환, 당뇨병, 알츠하이머 등 각종 질환의 원인이 될 수 있다. 연구에 참여한 리사자렘카

한국어판 Jan. 22, 2013

Loneliness boosts inflammation, which is linked to coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer‘s disease, U.S. researchers suggest. Lead author Lisa Jaremka, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University, and colleagues found people who were more lonely showed signs of elevated latent herpes virus reactivation and produced more inflammation-related proteins in response to acute stress than people who felt more socially conne

Technology Jan. 22, 2013

Yen futures trading in South Korea has spiked so far this year as more investors make bets on the further descent of the Japanese currency, data showed Tuesday. The daily turnover of yen futures has reached an average of 104.9 billion won ($98.7 million) in the Seoul market as of last Friday since the beginning of this year, up 84.9 percent from the average 56.7 billion won tallied over the same period in 2012, according to the data by the Korea Exchange (KRX). A foreign exchange futures contrac

World Business Jan. 22, 2013

The U.N. Security Council will order sanctions against North Korea's space agency in a resolution to be passed this week condemning the secretive state's ballistic launch, a diplomat said Monday.The resolution, which also targets other government entities and individuals linked to North Korea's nuclear weapons program, could be passed by the 15-member council as early as Wednesday.The United States and China have been negotiating the new measures since North Korea staged its missile launch on De

North Korea Jan. 22, 2013