Eating hot dogs may be as hazardous to one’s health as smoking cigarettes, according to civil activists in the United States.Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, center right, wins the first Nathan's Famous Women's Hot Dog Eating World Championship after consuming 40 hot dogs and buns, Monday, July 4, 2011, Monday, July 4, 2011, at Coney Island, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP-Yonhap News)The

Seven out of 10 Korean women regard the frequency of phone calls from their partner as an indication of how much he loves them, a survey showed. Less than half of males feel the same.The poll was conducted on more than 1,064 single men and women by I-um, an internet blind dating website based in Seoul.It also showed that 74 percent have been obsessed with the frequency of calls. About 81 percent r

Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is likely to serve his jail term in one of the world’s best equipped and most “humane” prisons, according to news reports.Breivik has been accused of a shooting that killed 68 people and a bomb explosion that killed eight in Oslo.With rehabilitation instead of punishment being a guiding principle, the Norwegian penal system is the cushiest in the worl

After a 17-month hiatus, senior North Korean and U.S. government officials resumed talks in New York Thursday as part of efforts to revive the six-party negotiations on the communist nation's nuclear weapons program.North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan described the first-day meeting as "constructive," while Stephen Bosworth, Washington's point man on Pyongyang, remained tight-lip

Death toll rises to 53, while 14 missingHeavy rains, which drenched Seoul and the central regions from Tuesday, continued Thursday, triggering more deadly landslides and flash floods. The official death toll reached 53 as of 4 p.m., while 14 others were reported missing, the National Emergency Management Agency said. The tally is likely to climb as rescuers search for the victims and reports conti

An Asiana Airlines cargo flight bound for Shanghai Pudong International Airport crashed off the coast of Jeju early Thursday while diverting to the island due to a fire in the cargo hold.“The cargo plane said in its last communication with the control center in Shanghai that there was a fire in the cargo hold,” Kim Han-young, Director General of Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs’ Of

Joint Chiefs of Staff mobilizes 1,700 troops to join restoration effortsThe military has ordered a search in southern Seoul, as well as in Gyeonggi and Gangwon Provinces to verify whether landmines and other ammunitions were washed into populated areas following torrential rains this week, officials said Thursday.It has also sent some 1,700 troops and heavy equipment to help restore the areas that