A bizarre spate of young blackbird deaths at a school in England was likely caused by the feathered teens getting drunk on fermented berries, crashing mid-air and falling from the sky, vets said Saturday.Police and animal experts were called in after more than a dozen birds were found dead at a primary school in Cumbria last August -- many of them sporting serious injuries.One of the juvenile blackbirds was found alive but appeared "drunk," pressing its wings into the ground to steady itself and

World News Nov. 5, 2012

A UNESCO body recommended the listing of Korean traditional folk song, “Arirang,” as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of Korea, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Monday. The recommendation moves Arirang a step closer to being acknowledged by the world as a unique Korean tradition, the government agency said. Arirang was among 18 nominees recommended for the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by a subsidiary body of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee

Culture Nov. 5, 2012

Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister carmaker Kia offered a formal apology Sunday following reports that they have overstated gas mileage on roughly 900,000 vehicles sold over the past two years in the United States.The leading South Korean automakers, however, stressed that the overstatement was unintentional."We sincerely apologize for these errors, and our top priority is to make things right for you," Hyundai and Kia said in a full-page statement carried by the Washington Post.The troubled firms

Industry Nov. 5, 2012

A U.S. airman is suspected of assaulting a young boy Friday on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, authorities said. The incident comes just two weeks after a curfew was imposed on all 52,000 U.S. troops in Japan after the arrest of two Navy sailors for allegedly raping a local woman.Authorities on Okinawa said the 24-year-old airman was suspected of entering an apartment and punching the 13-year-old boy before breaking a TV set and trying to escape through a third-floor window. The airman

World News Nov. 2, 2012

Six Chinese government ships temporarily cruised in the territorial waters of disputed Tokyo-controlled islands on Friday, Japan's coastguard said.Four maritime surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile zone around one of the East China Sea islands shortly before noon (0300 GMT) but moved out nearly two hours later, the coastguard said.They were sailing near Uotsurijima, the main islet of the disputed chain called the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China.Then two fisher

World News Nov. 2, 2012

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent in October from 7.8 percent the prior month, the government said Friday in a highly anticipated report ahead of the November 6 election.Though the jobless rate ticked up a notch, the economy added 171,000 jobs in October, well above expectations.The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was "essentially unchanged" at 7.9 percent, and noted job growth in professional and business services, health care and the retail sector.The number of unemplo

World Business Nov. 2, 2012

South Korea and India agreed on Friday to provide a combined $1.1 billion worth of financial support for their bilateral business cooperation, the finance ministry said.The agreement was signed during the finance minsters' meeting held in central Seoul earlier in the day between the two countries, according to the ministry.Under the agreement, both will provide the financial support through their own export-import banks over the next five years to companies seeking to join in infrastructure cons

Industry Nov. 2, 2012

A Chinese man currently jailed for attacking the Japanese Embassy in Seoul earlier this year will stand trial to decide if he will be extradited to Japan, officials here said Friday.In accordance with an extradition treaty with Tokyo, Seoul's Justice Ministry requested a local court to make a decision on whether to hand over the 38-year-old man surnamed Liu to Japan, after his release from a Seoul prison next Tuesday, the officials said. Liu received a 10-month term for hurling Molotov cocktails

Social Affairs Nov. 2, 2012

SK Planet Co., an affiliate of South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co., said Friday it has signed an agreement with Japan's largest game developer Sega to strengthen its mobile game business.Under the memorandum of understanding, the two companies will cooperate on marketing and distributing Sega's mobile games in the local market, SK Planet said in a press release. SK said it plans to release Sega's "The Clan Battle" early next year after introducing the mobile game at the upcoming G-St

Industry Nov. 2, 2012

The nation's top court has ruled that cattle born in other areas but raised in Hoengseong for a certain period of time can be labeled as "Hoengseong hanwoo," officials said Friday.Hoengseong is a rural area in Gangwon Province, about 137 kilometers east of Seoul, famous for its high-quality hanwoo beef.Hoengseong beef is recognized as a premium product, and usually fetches high prices.Annulling a lower court's guilty verdicts for three people, including a suspect surnamed Kim, for violating the

Nov. 2, 2012

A nuclear reactor, which came to a halt due to a malfunction in its turbine control system earlier this week, will resume its operation, officials said Thursday.The Reactor-2 at Uljin Nuclear Power Plant in the southeastern region of the country automatically shut down on Sunday after a problem was detected in a system designed to supply steam into turbines. No radioactive leak was reported.The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP), the operator of the nuclear power plant, said that it receiv

Technology Nov. 2, 2012

Myanmar is moving at ``warp speed'' in opening up after years of authoritarian rule but needs to build institutions to improve transparency and economic governance, the World Bank said Thursday as it approved $80 million in development aid.Pamela Cox, the bank's vice president for East Asia and the Pacific, said the bank has a further $165 million in loan assistance committed for Myanmar after it clears its $900 million in arrears to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Japan is helping th

World Business Nov. 2, 2012