A couple of weeks ago Choi Jin Sil, South Korea's most famous actress, committed suicide. Now the country's officials and media have placed the blame of the tragedy at the feet of the Internet, and the rumors its users perpetuate.
Before she took her life, South Korea's vigorous online community accused Choi of being a loan shark, and motivating another actor to gas himself because she pressured him to repay a $2 million loan.
Japan has plans to label consumer goods like beer and detergents with their carbon footprints. Officials think the standardized label
will raise corporate and consumer awareness of global warming. Britain and France already
place similar labels on products.
The strikingly violent video game Grand Theft Auto IV
will no longer be sold in Thailand, after a teenager murdered a taxi driver while trying to bring the virtual violence into reality. Video retailers have pulled the game off the shelves, and replaced it with other games. As for the teen who played the game for hours a day over a few years span, he now faces a possible death sentence.
The Asian nation of Bhutan has
banned members of parliament from bringing laptops to work since they apparently cannot control their urge to play computer games. The lawmakers in the new democracy reject the accusation, saying that their computers are needed and do not distract them from their work. But their protests do not compute with the National Assembly's Speaker credited with the ban, reports BBC.
Japan and China
reached a deal yesterday about long-disputed gas fields located in the East China Sea. The two countries will share the profitable gas fields; Japan's private sector will invest in Chinese development. Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda eloquently said: "We will turn it into a sea of peace and friendship."
The UN General Assembly met yesterday to discuss human trafficking, an annually $32 billion illegal industry.
One star shined some light on the dark issue. Actress Ashley Judd, a board member of Population Services International, went to the UN headquarters in New York to
speak about the cause she adopted after a 12-nation public health tour.
Japanese police just arrested a woman for living secretly in a stranger's closet for over a year — sleeping on a small mattress she brought with her. Considering that this woman was living in a closet for a year, I'm not so sure prisontime will be too bad of a punishment.
The homeowner knew something was up once he noticed food was missing from his refrigerator.
Two Asian countries wary of international intervention are reeling from natural disasters. BBC took a
striking look at the contrasting government responses to the Myanmar cyclone and the earthquake in China.
Both countries have denied foreign relief workers and journalists.
