NEW YORK (AFP) ― The New York Times said Wednesday it was launching a Chinese-language news website to deliver “high-quality coverage of world affairs, business and culture” to readers in China.A statement from the prestigious U.S. daily said it was “launching a beta version of a new online Chinese-language edition designed to bring New York Times journalism to China.”The site, http://cn.nytimes.com, was launched in Beijing early Thursday, or late Wednesday New York time.“The goal of the new sit

Starting July 15, fees for examinations using video imaging equipment at hospitals and clinics will go down, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Tuesday. A panel of governmental officials, doctors, hospital management, medical system experts as well as patients has agreed to a 15.5 percent cut in the fee for CT use, 24 percent for MRI and 10.7 percent for PET.The discount will save about 111 billion won ($96 million) from the national health insurance coffers, Park Min-soo, a ministry offici

Samsung Medical Center on Wednesday released its menu for foreign patients in four different languages and introduced its 40 different diet menus for patients from all over the world. The menu offerings are published in English, Mongolian, Arabic and Russian. The cuisine includes contemporary Western, Russian, Mongolian, Arabic, Thai, Greek and others. “We will be able to provide foods outside the menu upon patients’ request,” said Cho Yeong-yeon, head nutritionist at the hospital. (baejisook@he

The Korea Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it has approved the manufacture and distribution of LG Life Sciences’ diabetes treatment, Gemiglo.Gemiglo, the main substance of which is gemigliptin, is the 19th new drug developed by a domestic pharmaceutical company and fifth new diabetes treatment in the world. According to the developer, Gemiglo is effective on type-2 diabetes patients, who have a high blood sugar level though their insulin secretion is working. By its use patients

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Chances are you know your blood pressure. What about your BMI?Body mass index signals if you’re overweight, obese or just right considering your height. Some doctors have begun calling it a vital sign, as crucial to monitor as blood pressure.But apparently not enough doctors check: A government panel renewed a call Monday for every adult to be screened for obesity during checkups, suggesting more physicians should be routinely calculating their patients’ BMIs.And when someone c

An Ivy League scholar and mother-of-two is touching a raw nerve by questioning whether high-flying career women with families, at least American ones, can truly "have it all."Writing in The Atlantic magazine, Anne-Marie Slaughter cited her own downshift from powerful State Department official to mere Princeton University professor as evidence that they cannot, at least not as US society now stands

The ordeal of a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped and raped repeatedly for three days has infuriated Jordanians, especially when her attacker agreed to marry her to avoid going to jail.In conservative Muslim societies like Jordan, rapists can walk free thanks to penal code Article 308, known as the "rape-law."In April, the unidentified girl was shopping in the northern city of Zarqa when a 19-yea

Heat waves cause the most weather-related deaths and the very young, very old and very sick are most at risk, U.S. health officials remind. "Hyperthermia is an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the heat-regulating mechanisms of the body to deal with the heat coming from the environment," officials at the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health,

Land mines planted by al-Qaida militants before they fled key southern Yemen strongholds have killed 73 civilians over the past week, Yemeni officials said Tuesday. Engineering teams have removed some 3,000 land mines around Zinjibar and Jaar, according to the governor's office in Abyan province.Government troops captured both towns in a two-month offensive to uproot al-Qaida fighters from large s

A private institute in South Korea will host an exposition on “hanji,” or traditional Korean paper, starting this week in New York to fascinate visitors with the beauty and creative potential of the material, the culture ministry said Wednesday.The “2012 Hanji Project New York” show, organized by the Hanji Development Institute in Wonju, Gangwon Province, will open Thursday and is composed of five programs showing visitors that Hanji can be used in various disciplines such as fashion, fine arts