Joanne Deborah Chesimard, a murder convict who is also godmother and step-aunt of rapper Tupac Shakur, has been put on the most wanted list of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the first time a woman has made the list.The FBI on Thursday announced the new addition of Chesimard on the list and offered up to $1 million for information leading to her arrest. The New Jersey state police also offered an independent reward of $1 million.“This case is just as important today as it was when it h

Upper endoscopy is the most fundamental test to diagnose diseases of the esophagus, stomach and the duodenum (for example, gastric cancer, gastric ulcers, duodenal ulcers and esophagitis). Unlike radiological tests using contrast imaging of the upper gastrointestinal tract, endoscopy allows a direct biopsy of any abnormal tissues, producing a more accurate diagnosis as well as helping the treatment planning. Gastric cancer is very common in Korea and upper endoscopy is very important for early d

Study suggests that acupuncture works better for pain relief, draws international attention

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Playing videogames can prevent and even reverse deteriorating brain functions such as memory, reasoning and visual processing, according to a study released Wednesday.The University of Iowa study of hundreds of people age 50 and older found that those who played a videogame were able to improve a range of cognitive skills, and reverse up to seven years of age-related declines.“We know that we can stop this decline and actually restore cognitive processing speed to people,” sai

Writer Frank X Walker is driving to Alabama with a trunk full of books.The eight-hour trip is not out of the ordinary for Walker, who is promoting his latest collection of poems, “Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers” (University of Georgia Press, $16.95).Another job that will take him on the road starts this week: He is being installed as the 2013-14 Kentucky poet laureate, the first black writer and the youngest person to hold the post, in a ceremony as part of Kentucky Writers’ Day o

Have you ever seen a juggler on a moving sidewalk? Ben Greenman, whose latest novel, “The Slippage,” was published Tuesday, ponders this and other wonders of life.A novelist, short-story writer, humorist and magazine editor, Greenman has observed, proverbially speaking, all sorts of jugglers in all sorts of circumstances. The results of his observations earn him the on-spot tagline “a poet of romantic angst in contemporary American life.”“I want to run out onto the balcony of my apartment and ye

Hank Greenberg: The Hero of HeroesBy John Rosengren (New American Library)The game of baseball seemed grandly American in the 1930s. Players had cherubic names ― Birdie and Schoolboy, sounding like characters from a Broadway musical. Beneath the good times, though, breathed an awful hatred.In his new book, “Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes,” John Rosengren describes how the New York Yankees used to call up minor leaguers just to harass the Jewish baseball star from the bench.In the South, thin

The Humanity ProjectBy Jean Thompson (Blue Rider Press)My friend Beth says that we are all “dented cereal boxes.” Even the best among us occasionally think dark thoughts, make bad decisions, hurt the people we love and turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. With godlike power, Jean Thompson, author of “The Humanity Project,” throws her dented (and entirely recognizable) characters into the crucible of the American recession to reveal what it means to be human: flawed, and yet somehow worth

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn, the author of “No Death, No Fear,” “The Art of Power,” and “The Miracle of Mindfulness,” on Thursday encouraged sufferers of depression, anxiety and stress to never give up on life. “Emotion is just an emotion but we are much larger than emotions. Why do we have to kill ourselves because of such feelings that come and go?” he said at a press conference held in central Seoul on the day. Korea has topped the suicide rankings among OECD countries for the past several

NEW YORK (AP) ― Violence, gore and gunplay were staples on prime-time television even in the most sensitive period directly following the Newtown school shooting.A study of 392 prime-time scripted programs on broadcast networks shown during the month following Vice President Joe Biden’s January meeting with entertainment industry executives on the topic revealed that 193 had some incident of violence, according to the Parents Television Council. Some are cartoonish ― quite literally, with Homer

President Park Geun-hye named former five-term lawmaker Hyun Kyung-dae as executive vice chairperson of the National Unification Advisory Council on Thursday.“Kim Hyun-uk, current executive vice chairperson, offered to resign after a meeting of the executive committee on April 30, so Park had to select his successor,” presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing said in a briefing to reporters Thursday.  “The National Unification Advisory Council is headed by President Park and the executive vice chairper

The board meeting of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture on Thursday nominated Kim Jong-guk, president of Daejeon MBC, a branch of the nationwide broadcasting network, as the new CEO of the mother company. The foundation holds a 70 percent stake in MBC.Kim, a Korea University graduate, began his career at MBC in 1982 as a reporter. Kim is reported to have received five votes out of the total nine at the board meeting. He previously served as president of Masan/Jinju MBC as well as Gyeongnam MBC