A major Brazilian daily has begun using a map which designates the sea between Korea and Japan as “Mar do Leste,” meaning the East Sea, followed by “Mar do Japao,” meaning the Sea of Japan, in parenthesis. Korea wants the international community to designate the waters as the “East Sea,” while Japan vouches for “Sea of Japan.” In Brazil, most schools and news media use maps which designate the sea as the “Sea of Japan (the East Sea).”However, O Estado de S. Paulo, a daily newspaper published in

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart offered her estranged daughter Hope Aus$300 million ($306 million) in a bid to end a sordid feud over the family fortune, according to emails published Thursday.The revelations come a day after media reported that her son had sought an Aus$15 million “sorry payment” from his mother for the way she treated him over the years.Hope Welker, John Hancock and their sister Bianca have been embroiled in a legal battle with their mother ― Australia’s ri

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Thursday appointed Ko Hak-chan president of Seoul Arts Center, one of the largest performing arts centers here. Ko, 65, has been managing Yundang Art Hall, a comprehensive arts space in Apgujeong-dong, southern Seoul, since 2009. The Jeju native and Hanyang University graduate worked as producer for TBC; managing editor at Q Channel; and taught at Chugye University for the Arts and Seoul Institute of the Arts. “Ko is expected to use his managerial e

A transsexual in Britain is set to marry a woman who used to babysit him when he was a little girl, British media reported.Bobby Fransis Barnes recently appeared on ITV’s This Morning and shared how he came to marry 31-year-old Donna Price, a woman he had a crush on as a child.The 19-year-old transsexual said Price was a good friend of his mother Tracey who used to babysit him since he was a little. Over time, the Barnes family and Price lost contact.Last year, Barnes bumped into Price at a pub

A book with pages the size of the eye of a needle has been printed in Japan, the publishing company said Wednesday, with each tiny page showing a microscopic flower.The 22-page micro-book, entitled “Shiki no Kusabana” (flowers of seasons), contains names and monochrome illustrations of Japanese flowers such as the cherry and the plum, it said, adding the 0.75 millimeter (0.03 inch) pages were impossible to read with the naked eye.Toppan Printing said letters just 0.01 mm wide were created using

NEW YORK (AP) ― It wasn’t too long ago that America had a love affair with soda. Now, an old flame has the country’s heart.As New York City grapples with the legality of a ban on the sale of large cups of soda and other sugary drinks at some businesses, one thing is clear: soda’s run as the nation’s beverage of choice has fizzled.In its place? A favorite for much of history: Plain old H2O water.For more than two decades, soda was the No. 1 drink in the U.S. with consumption peaking in 1998 at 20

Healthy has never tasted so good. Herald Ecofarm, which unveiled its first line of “Just Juice” 100 percent organic fruit beverages last November, recently introduced its newest flavors of health juice drinks: “Kevin’s Bokboonja Apple” and “June’s Hallabong.”Kevin’s Bokboonja Apple juice is a unique combination of wild berries, red cabbage and apples. The antioxidants in the wild berries are particularly good for men because they are said to improve the health of the kidneys and virility. And in

Hotel toiletries becoming fancier as five-star hotels collaborate with luxury beauty brands

Park Chun-hee, mayor of Songpa district office in Seoul, won the second Korea Grand Prize for Sharing on Wednesday. She was named the prize winner by the Korea Association of Hanbit, an association of recipients of the Proud Korean Awards. With the sharing award, she has become a candidate for the Proud Korean prize, whose winners are named by the Journalists Federation of Korea.Park is credited with creative, custom-tailored welfare programs for children, seniors and the underprivileged in the

A South Carolina man said he and his family approached a roadside box they suspected might contain puppies and instead discovered a trio of bear cubs.Brandon Poole of Long Creek said he and his family were driving in their truck when they spotted the box and decided to investigate, WBTW-TV, Myrtle Beach, S.C., reported Tuesday."I thought it was little puppies in that little box, so I got closer to it, I noticed I heard squealing so I thought it was baby pigs. I got closer and picked one up. It w

The Korea Food and Drug Administration declared every Wednesday of the third week of the month as “No Soup Day,” aiming to reduce the nation’s sodium intake. Koreans usually eat meals with soups including “jjigae,” or Korean-style stew, which contains large amounts of salt. The KFDA hopes that the designation of No Soup Day would encourage people to eat less salt.According to a national nutritional survey in 2011, Koreans consume the most salt -- approximately 30 percent of total intake -- from