My Splendid Lifestyle

The United States’ nuclear arsenal will no longer rely on an out-dated computer system that uses 8-inch floppy disks, in an update from the Defence Department.  The Strategic Automated Command and Control System ran on a piece of hardware that dates to the 1970s — and used 8-inch floppy disks to manage weapons. Floppy disks aren’t all bad, however.   Because the systems are not connected to the internet, they are exceptionally secure: Hackers can’t break into a floppy disk.

When President Donald Trump announced that a special operations raid had culminated in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, he said “test results gave certain immediate and totally positive identification.  It was him.”  The latest DNA-testing machines, which are now used by some state and local authorities, can provide a positive identification in about 90 minutes.  Rapid DNA machines can be as small as a microwave, and easily stored in a military helicopter. It is not known whether the forces who conducted Saturday’s raid had one on hand. 

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, one of Argentina’s most popular presidents during her two terms, has been voted back into office as vice president.  Argentina’s elections, traditionally held the last Sunday of October, coincided this year with the ninth anniversary of the death of Néstor Kirchner, the husband and predecessor in office of Fernández de Kirchner.  Cristina Fernández served as president from 2007 to 2015. By the time she left office she was entangled in a string of court cases involving accusations of bribery, money laundering, corruption.

Yonhap News cited the Voice of America (VOA) as reporting that when searching “North Korea” on YouTube, there are 10 related videos that have exceeded 10 million views.  Topping the list is an eight-minute, eight-second video showing the urgent moment North Korean soldier Oh Chung-seong had when he decided to defect to the South via the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom in November 2017.  It had 19.4 million views as of October 29th.  Coming in second is the video of Indonesian diplomat to North Korea Jaka Parker, where a North Korean soldier is seen buying gimbab and buchimgae. More than 18,000 comments were left and the video has been viewed over 17 million times.

There is a palpable anti-neoliberal wave rocking Latin America.  Mauricio Macri, was hailed as a savior  —  but he ended up just becoming another fall guy.  On Sunday, Argentine voters pulled the plug on his time in power.  Earlier this month, mass protests in Ecuador against an unpopular package of austerity measures saw President Moreno reverse his decision to scrap billions of dollars in fuel subsidies.  In Chile, the largest protests in a generation saw more than a million people take to the streets of Santiago to protest an increase in subway prices.

A city council member from Glendale, California claims he faced pressure from Japan's consul general in nearby Los Angeles to take down a statue honoring Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery.  Quintero said the Japanese consul general in L.A. Akira Muto, who assumed the post this year, had said that his sole duty as consul general is to have the statue removed.  Quintero, a former mayor of Glendale, played a key role in bringing the bronze statue depicting a young girl to the city in 2013.  The statue was the first of its kind to be established in the United States. Four more have been installed in various locations since.

A Thai fisherman is set for a windfall after he spotted a huge lump of 'whale vomit', worth at least $320,000 according to sources.  Jumrus Thiachot, 55, stumbled across the 14lbs piece of ambergris while he was walking along the beach in Koh Samui, southern Thailand, earlier this year.  Ambergris is often called 'treasure of the sea' or 'floating gold', as it is a sought-after ingredient in the perfume industry. It contains the odorless alcohol ambrein, which helps scent last longer.

When a man in North Carolina was pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence, police didn't believe him when he said he hadn't had any alcohol.  But researchers at the Richmond University Medical Center in New York eventually discovered he had a rarely diagnosed medical condition called auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), also known as gut fermentation syndrome. Early signs of gut fermentation syndrome can include mood changes, delirium and brain fog, even before a patient starts exhibiting symptoms of alcohol inebriation.

More than 1,100 people in the Pakistani city of Ratodero tested positive for HIV this year. Among them nearly are 900 children, who have been suffering from fevers that resisted treatment.  Many of the infected children were patients of the same pediatrician, Muzaffar Ghanghro, who served many of the city’s poorest families. Health officials initially said reusing syringes was to blame.  Ghanghro was ultimately arrested and charged with negligence, manslaughter and causing unintentional harm. He has yet to be convicted and has maintained his innocence.

A parking bay at The Center  –  the 73-storey Hong Kong office tower that still holds the world record as the costliest commercial building ever sold  –  changed hands recently for HK$7.6 million (US$969,000), making it the most expensive spot on earth to park a vehicle.  The prices of Hong Kong car parks have outperformed the housing market over the last dozen years, amid shrinking supply.  The sale price underscores the wealth gap that has pushed Hong Kong into the worst political crisis in decades.

Tokyo officials aren't taking the news sitting down of having next summer's Olympic marathons shifted from the capital to Sapporo because of concerns of the extreme summer heat.  To make their presence felt as the host of the 2020 Games and change the IOC’s mind, Tokyo officials have begun discussing alternative proposals.  One such alternative is to move up the starting time of the marathon races — currently scheduled at 6 a.m. — by about one hour.

NASA revealed new spacesuits which shoot to get the first American woman and the next American man to the surface of the Moon by 2024.  The new spacesuit is designed to work with virtually everyone who could want to become an astronaut, with inclusive sizing that can accommodate anyone from the “first percentile female to the 99th percentile male”.  The suit is also intentionally designed to be upgradeable, somewhat like a PC motherboard, and it’s designed so that it can be upgraded and worked on in space by the astronauts to adopt new and improved technologies as they become available.

With a pair of goals in the team’s 5-0 rout of Red Star Belgrade, Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min has equaled the South Korean scoring mark in European football. Currently the first Asian in 12 years to have been nominated for the annual Ballon d’Or, Son netted his 120th and 121st goals of his European career in the 16th and the 44th minute respectively of the aforementioned match, putting him on a level with former Bundesliga star Cha Bum-kun. Son also owns the record for most goals by a South Korean player in a European season, with 21 goals during the 2016-17 season.

A 120-year-old lighthouse in Denmark, at risk from North Sea erosion of the country’s north-west coastline, was on Tuesday wheeled back from the cliff edge. When the 23-meter lighthouse was first lit in 1900, it was roughly 200 meters from the coast; that distance shrank to a precarious six meters. Moving the lighthouse, with the help of rails and wheels, was expected to last 10 hours, at a speed of eight meters an hour. The lighthouse ceased operating in 1968 and was briefly turned into a museum. The surrounding dunes still attract more than 250,000 visitors each year.

Nearly 200,000 people have already reserved their place in line for a new monumental Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition at the Louvre museum despite missing two of the master painter's works. The two pieces conspicuous by their absence are the Mona Lisa and the Salvator Mundi. Mystery now surrounds the Salvator Mundi, the work that became the most expensive painting ever sold when it fetched US$450,300,000 at a Christie's auction in 2017, as it has not been seen in public ever since the stunning sale. The Louvre said the museum's request to borrow the work is still pending.

A royal consort in Thailand has been stripped of her titles by the king for her "misbehavior and disloyalty against the monarch".  An official announcement described the consort of trying to "elevate herself to the same state as the queen".  It has marked a sudden fall from grace for the royal consort, who is now painted as an ambitious schemer who abused her power and gave orders on the king's behalf.  Thailand's king ascended the throne after the death of his father in 2016 and is currently married to his fourth wife, Queen Suthida.

Tokyo has moved another step closer in its quest to open a 70-story skyscraper made of wood in 2041.  At a cost of 6 trillion won, the 350 meter building will become the world's tallest to be made of wood.  Japanese media reports the developers completed fire assessments of the tower, which will be made of 90 percent wood and 10 percent steel.  Even if there were a continuous 3-hour fire, the structure would remain intact. If completed, the project aims to spark a revolution in high-rise construction to create urban forests.  There's also the added advantage that wooden structures perform better in earthquakes.

Authorities in Egypt revealed a cache of 30 ancient wooden coffins containing mummies.  It is the largest discovery of mummies in over a century and the first to be found by an Egyptian-led mission.  The 3,000-year-old coffins are reportedly exceptionally well-preserved. They contain the mummified remains of middle-class men and women, as well as two children.  They are adorned with intricate carvings and designs depicting deities and spells to allow the soul to navigate the afterlife.  Visitors will be able to view the mummies in the Grand Egyptian Museum at the end of next year.

Qatar, one of the hottest countries on Earth is installing air conditioning systems outdoors and painting roads blue in a bid to keep cool conditions, where temperatures in summer can reach a sweltering 50°C.  Roads in Qatar's capital, Doha, have been painted blue because the colour absorbs less heat than black tarmac so the surface remains cooler for longer, and giant coolers have now been installed alongside pavement and in outdoor shopping malls so the temperatures are bearable for visitors who are not used to the scorching temperatures.  The 2022 World Cup has already been moved to winter to avoid the searing heat.

Madrid's streets were left badly congested on Sunday, as more than 2,000 sheep passed through its city centre for an annual event.  The annual festival that started in 1994 sees a nominal fee is paid in exchange for the safe passage of the animals, in a ceremony between the mayor and the chief herdsman at the city hall.  It honours a 1418 agreement with the city's council where the price of 50 coins per thousand heads of livestock was set for the animal traffic.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle plan to press pause on their royal duties after facing intense public scrutiny in recent weeks, especially from the media.  Prince Harry has said the memory of his mother Diana’s death more than two decades ago was still incredibly raw and he would not be bullied into “playing the game” with the media that he believes killed her. The couple is set to take a six-week sabbatical for “family time” beginning in November, dividing their break between the United States and the United Kingdom over the holidays.  

A private college in India is apologizing after its students were seen wearing boxes on their heads during an exam earlier this week—a plan supposedly devised to stop cheating. In images circulated on social media, students of the Bhagat Pre-University College in Haveri were sitting at their desks during a chemistry midterm with what appeared to be cardboard cartons on their heads. The country's department of education soon caught wind of the pictures and immediately rebuked the school's anti-cheating measures.

The government of a city in Zhejiang Province, China, said it would implement a bill that would impose fines if caught crossing crosswalks while looking at smartphones. The People's Congress in Jiaxing, recently announced that it would impose up to 50 yuan in fines (around 8,400 won) for pedestrians who look down on  their smartphones when crossing crosswalks. The city also enacted a law that would impose a fine of up to 200 yuan for those who make loud noises in public places, or those who litter while riding a bicycle or motorcycle.

Rome’s oldest café, Caffè Greco, faces closure on 22 October - after more than 250 years in business - following a long-running eviction process. The dispute dates back to September 2017 when the lease ended, but the current tenants, the Antico Caffè Greco Srl company, have not yet left the premises. When the story first broke two years ago, local media reported that the owners of the property were reportedly seeking to increase the current €18,000 monthly rent to €120,000.

The late anti-apartheid activist and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela’s daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini has been appointed South Africa’s ambassador to South Korea.  In her previous posts, she served as the South African ambassador to Argentina for five years, and then was appointed as high commissioner in Mauritius.  The new ambassador said, “I am really happy and honored to be serving in South Korea. I think that we’ve got great bilateral relations, and I’ll continue to work to strengthen them.”

Donald Trump warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “don’t be a fool” and said history risked branding him a “devil” in an extraordinary letter sent the day Turkey launched its incursion into north-eastern Syria.  Days after appearing to greenlight an invasion by pulling US troops from the Kurdish-dominated region, Trump told his Turkish counterpart he would wreck Ankara’s economy if the invasion went too far.  The president penned, “You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy – and I will.”

The island of Tulagi served as a South Pacific headquarters for Britain then Japan, and during World War II, and now is about to move into Chinese hands.  Under a secretive deal signed last month, a Beijing-based company has secured exclusive development rights for the entire island and its surroundings.  The lease agreement has shocked Tulagi residents and alarmed American officials who see the island chains of the South Pacific as crucial to keeping China in check and protecting important sea routes.

Vietnam head coach Park Hang-seo said he was pleased with his side’s 3-1 away victory against Indonesia in Bali on October 15th. Park hailed the victory as being well-deserved for the Vietnamese team.“We played a good game today. Everything went in accordance with our calculations, and the players effectively followed the set tactics.” The victory against Indonesia has brought Vietnam closer in the race for Group G’s top spot. The Golden Dragons are now only behind leaders Thailand on goal difference, and are one point clear of the UAE in third. Park’s side will host the UAE and Thailand at Hanoi’s My Dinh Stadium on November 14 and 19, respectively.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is joining its partners to warn about the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso’s central and northern regions where each day the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians are being disrupted by insecurity and violence. Some 486,000 have been forced to flee within the country, 267,000 in the past 3 months alone. Armed groups have also intensified attacks in Burkina Faso neighbouring countries of Mali and Niger. Regions around the three countries’ borders are new hotspots of violence.

Typhoon Hagibis proved to be extraordinarily devastating for northern Japan, unleashing more than 91 cm of rain in just 24 hours in some locations. Frequently, typhoons affect the southwestern reaches of Japan first, and weaken to windswept rainstorms by the time they hit Tokyo. However, Typhoon Hagibis didn't travel over land for a long distance. One reason the storm caused such severe impacts is that the inner core of the typhoon remained intact as it swept across Tokyo and dumped heavy rains across northeastern Japan as well. Typhoon Hagibis will go down in Japanese history as a multibillion dollar disaster.

Canada has "temporarily" suspended new arms export permits to Turkey following that country's incursion into northern Syria, Global Affairs Canada said Tuesday. In a written statement, a government spokesman re-iterated that Canada condemns Turkey's military action, which the government of President Recep Erdogan says is necessary to create a buffer zone against Kurdish militia forces. "This unilateral action risks undermining the stability of an already fragile region, exacerbating the humanitarian situation and rolling back progress achieved by the Global Coalition Against Daesh, of which Turkey is a member," said spokesman Guillaume Berube. "We call for the protection of civilians and on all parties to respect their obligations under international law, including unhindered access for humanitarian aid." Over the weekend other nations — Britain, France and Germany — also suspended arms sales to Turkey because of its decision to attack Kurd

Mount Merapi, an active volcano in Indonesia's Java island, erupted on Monday afternoon, spewing a column of ash up to 3 km high and forcing the authority to issue a warning for airplanes in a radius of 3 km.  The volcano located on the border of Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces erupted at 4:31 p.m.  Jakarta time with hot ash from the crater, and the wind blew the ash towards southwest. Mount Merapi is one of Indonesia's 129 active volcanoes and has habitually erupted since 1948.  

Two statues of Christopher Columbus were vandalized Monday, doused with red paint, as Columbus Day comes under increased scrutiny from those who criticize the Italian navigator's legacy.  The Columbus statue in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, was defaced, while in San Francisco, a statue of Columbus in the city’s Little Italy neighborhood was similarly vandalized. The dual defacements came as the movement to opt out of Columbus Day and instead commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day grows.

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have been named the joint winners of the 2019 Booker Prize after the judges broke their rules by declaring a tie.  Atwood's The Testaments, the Canadian writer's follow-up to The Handmaid's Tale, was recognised alongside Londoner Evaristo's novel Girl, Woman, Other.  It is 19 years since Atwood won the Booker for The Blind Assassin, and 33 years since she was nominated for The Handmaid's Tale, and as for Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other is the 60-year-old’s eighth novel. It gives a chapter each to the lives of 12 intertwining characters, who are mostly black British women. Atwood, 79, is the oldest ever Booker winner, while Evaristo sets a precedent as she is the first black woman to win.  

The biggest statue in the world of the Virgin Mary, located at the Montemaría Pilgrimage Site in Batangas City, in the Philippines, will see it’s completion within the next two years.  Expected to be concluded in 2021 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines, The Mother of All Asia will then be the tallest statue of the Virgin Mary in the world, a position now occupied by the Venezuelan 47-meter-tall “Our Lady of Peace” statue, which was built in 1983.  Standing at almost 100 meters tall, the monument will house a St. John Paul II shrine, 12 Marian chapels in the third floor, a food hall on the fourth, mini theaters and conference rooms, commercial and residential spaces, and is crowned with a viewing deck on the 17th floor.  

Police detained a Kazakh man Monday after he was extradited from Kazakhstan over his suspected involvement in a hit-and-run case, resulting in the serious injury of an elementary school boy, in South Gyeongsang Province last month.  The 20-year-old man is suspected of hitting the 7-year-old, first-grade boy on a road in the southeastern city of Changwon around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 and fled the scene before returning home via Uzbekistan the next day.  The boy, who sustained a cerebral hemorrhage, has remained unconscious since the hit-and-run incident.

A Fort Worth, Texas police officer did not announce that he was an officer before firing a single shot fatally striking Atatiana Jefferson, who was inside her home watching her 8 year old nephew. Fort Worth police released bodycam footage soon after the incident Saturday showing officers with flashlights and guns drawn scanning the perimeter of the home. As officers continue to walk through the property, one of them sees a person standing at a dark window and yells: “Put your hands up. Show me your hands,” before firing a single shot. The officer, who has not been identified, has been placed on administrative leave.

F(x) singer and actor Sully, found dead at home...Instagram was active. The memory of the deceased... What a shock like this... My favorite singer and actor Sully... But the real-time search word killed Sully. It's a ginole. What a surprise! He's a pretty guy I'm so upset and I don't know what to do. Singer-actor Sully was found dead at his home, shocking him. According to the Seongnam Sujeong Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, Sully's manager found Sully dead at his home in Sujeong-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, at 3:20 p.m. on Saturday (T Sully's snobbish death four days ago by posting a post on her Instagram saying, "I'll accept that confession," and taking selfies in a car with the message "Hong" four days ago is a mystery to not only the entertainment industry but also to her fans. Police said they are investigating the details of the accident, including che

Sulli, who was Instagram active a few days ago, was found dead at home. f(x), Singer-actor Sulli was found dead at his home, shocking him. According to the Seongnam Sujeong Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, Sulli's manager found Sully dead at his home in Sujeong-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, at 3:20 p.m. on Saturday (T Sulli's snobbish death four days ago by posting a post on her Instagram saying, "I'll accept that confession," and taking selfies in a car with the message "Hong" four days ago is a mystery to not only the entertainment industry but also to her fans. Police said they are investigating the details of the accident, including checking whether it was a suicide note.

Cho's resignation as minister of law and justice "is the last thing we need to do to reform the prosecution." Ladies and gentlemen! I'm putting down my position as minister of law today. The reform of the prosecution was my lifelong mission as a scholar and an intellectual, a goal that I have long contemplated and pursued. "Reform the investigation structure based on the principle of checks and balances" and "exercise the exercise of disciplined prosecutorial power in respect of human rights" have long been beliefs In addition, as first secretary for civil affairs Moon Jae-in administration to the reform of the prosecution as justice minister last two and a half years has been a sprint, I can do best. But something unexpected happened. Regardless of the reason, I felt very sorry for the people. I'm especially sorry for the young people who have been hurt. Although I have asked the people for the investigation of my family, even if I

미리 받았던 글이다. 근데 정말 조국이 사퇴한다. 대박... 전문이다. 국민 여러분! ​ 저는 오늘 법부무장관직을 내려놓습니다. ​ 검찰개혁은 학자와 지식인으로서 제 필생의 사명이었고, 오랫동안 고민하고 추구해왔던 목표였습니다. “견제와 균형의 원리에 기초한 수사구조 개혁”, “인권을 존중하는 절제된 검찰권 행사” 등은 오랜 소신이었습니다. ​ 검찰개혁을 위해 문재인 정부 첫 민정수석으로서 또 법무부장관으로서 지난 2년 반 전력질주 해왔고, 제가 할 수 있는 최선을 다했습니다. ​ 그러나 생각지도 못한 일이 벌어졌습니다. 이유 불문하고, 국민들께 너무도 죄송스러웠습니다. 특히 상처받은 젊은이들에게 정말 미안합니다. ​ 가족 수사로 인하여 국민들께 참으로 송구하였지만, 장관으로서 단 며칠을 일하더라도 검찰개혁을 위해 마지막 저의 소임은 다하고 사라지겠다는 각오로 하루하루를 감당했습니다. 그러나 이제 제 역할은 여기까지라 생각합니다. ​ 지난 10월 8일 장관 취임 한 달을 맞아 11가지 ‘신속추진 검찰개혁 과제’를 발표했습니다. 행정부 차원의 법령 제·개정 작업도 본격화 됐습니다. 어제는 검찰개혁을 위한 고위 당정청 회의에서 문재인 정부 검찰개혁 계획을 재확인했습니다. 이제 당정청이 힘을 합해 검찰개혁 작업을 기필코 완수해 주시리라 믿습니다. 이제 검찰개혁은 거스를 수 없는 도도한 역사적 과제가 되었습니다. 어느 정권도 못한 일입니다. ​ 국민 여러분! ​ 더는 제 가족 일로 대통령님과 정부에 부담을 드려서는 안 된다고 판단했습니다. 제가 자리에서 내려와야, 검찰개혁의 성공적 완수가 가능한 시간이 왔다고 생각합니다. 저는 검찰개혁을 위한 ‘불쏘시개’에 불과합니다. ‘불쏘시개’ 역할은 여기까지입니다. ​ 온갖 저항에도 불구하고 검찰개혁이 여기까지 온 것은 모두 국민들 덕분입니다. 국민들께서는 저를 내려놓으시고, 대통령께 힘을 모아주실 것을 간절히 소망합니다. ​ 검찰개혁 제도화가

The rescue of a boys soccer team from Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai last year put the region in the international spotlight last year. Now, the Thai government has announced plans to rename the cave as Tham Luang Kunnam Nang Non National Park.  Since the miraculous rescue, the area turned into a sprawling tourist attraction, drawing over 1 million visitors since the 18-day ordeal captured headlines worldwide last year. The are will likely enjoy renewed attention in the coming months. The motion picture “The Cave” depicting the rescue hits theaters in November, and Netflix has announced plans to produce its own original drama based on the event.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Paris and other European cities on Saturday in protest of the Turkish assault on Kurds in Syria.  Organisers said "more than 20,000 people" took part in the demonstration in Paris after Ankara stepped up its assault on Kurdish-held border towns in northeastern Syria on Saturday, defying mounting threats of international sanctions.  US president Donald Trump has faced a storm of criticism for abandoning a loyal ally in the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group.

Eliud Kipchoge became the first person in recorded history to run a 42 km marathon in less than two hours, when the 34-year-old Kenyan runner clocked in at 1:59:40.2 at a race in Vienna, Austria.  Kipchoge’s time won’t be recognized as an official world record because it was not run under open marathon conditions.  He was the only person running, and the race also featured a constant rotation of pacers. Kipchoge still holds the world record for men’s marathon from his 2:01:39 time in the Berlin Marathon 2018.

Authorities are clamping down on the cafes that line one of Hanoi's most famous roads, an Old Quarter thoroughfare, known as "train street," citing overtourism and safety concerns.  Authorities cite danger to human life as the primary motivator for the shutdown. The boiling point apparently came on Sunday, October 6, when a train traveling through Hanoi was forced to re-route because there were too many tourists on the tracks.  The municipal government of Hanoi has ordered that cafes alongside the heavily Instagrammed train close by October 12.

Sometimes things on a live broadcast go exactly according to plan, but other times anchors are forced to go off script.  NBC's Pentagon correspondent Courtney Kube was talking about Turkish air strikes in Syria when her son appeared live on camera, causing the mom-turned-anchor to return to just the role of mom.  She later explained that "breaking news in Syria didn't line up with the pre-school drop-off", so she had to bring her two children to work.  

US President Donald Trump defended his decision to pull out US troops from Syria by noting the Kurds were fighting for their own lands. The Kurds are an ethnic minority group totalling roughly 25-30 million people, all united by a unique race, culture and language. Although Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey, making up roughly 20 per cent of the population, they are not recognized as a minority group in Turkey. Today, Kurdistan is made up of five different regions: southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and southwestern Armenia, and is now one of the world's largest stateless nations, whose people have no official homeland or country.

A royal palace in Nigeria has announced that its resident tortoise, Alagba, has died following a short illness, saying it was a remarkable 344 years old. The revered reptile was apparently brought to the palace by the kingdom's third leader who reigned from 1770 to 1797.  It was thought to have healing powers and attracted visitors from far and wide, had at least two personal attendants to see to her needs and would eat only twice a month.  The current king said he plans to preserve her remains for tourism and historical records.

In just its first weekend, Joker, the standalone origin story of Batman’s archnemesis, starring Joaquin Phoenix, grossed about $93.5 million in the US and a total of $234 million worldwide.  Many, though, were concerned the film would incite real-world violence, and theaters were warned about credible shooting threats. The NYPD stationed officers at some theaters, and in Aurora, Colorado the film wasn’t even shown due to a mass shooting before a 2012 screening of The Dark Knight Rises that left 12 dead and 70 wounded.

The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, said the league is not apologizing for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s since-deleted tweet showing support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, even after China’s state-run broadcaster canceled plans to show a pair of preseason games in that country later this week. China Central Television (CCTV) said it would not air the games between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, who will play on Thursday in Shanghai and Saturday in Shenzhen. Further complicating the matter is the fact that China’s best-known basketball player is Hall of Famer Yao Ming, who spent his NBA career with the Rockets. Yao is now the president of the Chinese Basketball Association.

The US military has identified the remains of two U.S. fallen soldiers, Army Cpl. Jerry M. Garrison and Sgt. Gerald B. Raeymacker, almost 70 years after they were reported missing during the Korean War. North Korea returned 55 cases containing the remains of US service members in July 2018, and The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has now identified the remains of 35-40 service members. The DPAA says that 7,609 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.

India, the world's biggest seller of onions, has banned exports after extended monsoon downpours delayed harvests and shrivelled supplies. Last Sunday New Delhi banned all exports from the country after local prices surged to 4,500 rupees ($63.30) per 100 kg, their highest in nearly six years. India exported 2.2 million tonnes of fresh onions in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, more than half of all imports by Asian countries.

A white Dallas police officer who said she mistook a neighbor’s apartment for her own and fatally shot Botham Jean in his living room was sentenced Wednesday to a decade in prison in a stunning courtroom scene. Jurors could have sentenced Amber Guyger to up to life in prison or as little as two years for the September 2018 shooting, but prosecutors asked them to send her to prison for 28 years, which is how old Botham Jean would have been if he were still alive. She will be eligible for parole in five years, after serving half of her sentence.

A gargantuan iceberg about the size of greater London has calved from the Amery ice shelf in east Antarctica, according to expert monitors. Although scientists said they did not believe it was linked to climate change, it is the first major calving event on the Amery ice shelf since 1963-1964. Researchers have been studying the ice shelf since the 1960s and currently have instruments on the ice that are measuring the impact of ocean melt and ice flow.

The classic jeepney, a staple of Filipino culture, is being phased out due to a modernization program from the Filipino government. The program essentially aims to phase out jeepneys by 2020. The vehicles that are more than 15 years old are to be replaced with newer models of vehicles that will supposedly be more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. The idea, however, has been labelled by transport groups and several Filipinos as being "anti-poor."

China has celebrated 70 years of Communist party rule with a promise from President Xi Jinping that “no force can shake the status of this great nation”. A military parade past Tiananmen Square was also held, giving Beijing a chance to show off its most advanced weaponry, including the DF-41, considered as one of the world's longest-range missiles capable of hitting continental U.S. A civilian parade was also staged featuring the bicycles China was known for before it became an economic juggernaut. Xi watched the parade from the same spot where Mao stood to announce the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Originally an industry-insider showcase, Paris Fashion Week has evolved into a global luxury spectacle that brings together the most influential leaders, innovators and influencers in the global design and luxury communities. It was against this backdrop that Samsung Electronics recently partnered with Italian luxury fashion brand Colombo Via Della Spiga for an exclusive showcase of The Wall Luxury – an immersive and customizable display built with Samsung’s modular MicroLED screen technology. Addressing those in attendance at the showcase, which was held at one of the world’s preeminent luxury hotels, the five-star Hôtel Ritz Paris, Samsung Electronics’ Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business, Hyesung Ha, described what made Paris Fashion Week the perfect setting for the event. “Paris Fashion week plays a critical role around the world in establishing cultural cues, and in offering a glimpse into upcoming design, fashion and lifestyle trends,” said Ha. “For thi

Samsung Electronics announced today its partnership with the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, which will provide digital versions of the Museum’s artwork to Samsung’s virtual Art Store on its lifestyle TV, The Frame. The State Hermitage will be the first Russian museum to feature its pieces in the Art Store collection, which is available to The Frame owners all over the world. By May 2020, the Art Store will feature 52 new works of art by world-renowned Russian and European painters. Pieces that will be available through this partnership will include, but are not limited to: “The Church Parade of the Finnish Life Guards Regiment” by Boris Kustodiev, “Poppy Field” by Claude Monet, “Rave te hiti aamu” by Paul Gauguin, “Houses Along a Road” by Paul Cezanne, “Boulevard Montmartre in Paris” by Camille Pissarro, “Lion Hunt in Morocco” by Eugene Delacroix, and “Meetings of Abraham and Melchizedek” by Peter Paul Rubens. “Samsung is thrilled to provide even more globally

Fresh off the heels of the launch of the Galaxy Note10, Samsung is celebrating its continuing partnership Fortnite developer Epic Games with the announcement of an exclusive in-game Glow skin available for almost all Galaxy device owners1. The design of the Glow skin is derived from the Galaxy Note10’s signature Aura Glow color, created with free-thinking millennials in mind and inspired by the reflective light of a prism. Available starting September 28th, 2019, the new Glow skin joins an expanding roster of Samsung’s exclusive Fortnite content.  Last year the two companies celebrated the game’s Android launch with the Galaxy Skin available only on the Galaxy Note9 and Galaxy TabS4. The partnership then expanded earlier this year with the launch of the iKONIK skin and accompanying dance move, Love Scenario, which were developed with K-Pop star Jung Chanwoo of the band iKON for the Galaxy S10. Offered on a wider range of devices, the new Glow skin will be based off last year’s

Head coach Paulo Bento announced his 25-man roster for a pair of second-round Group H matches in the Asian qualification competition for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.  Along with renowned Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in, one name that sticks out is 20-year-old defensive back Lee Jae-ik, who manned the backline during South Korea's run to the final at the U-20 World Cup in Poland.  The team will host 202nd-ranked Sri Lanka on Oct. 10 in Hwaseong before traveling to Pyongyang on Oct. 15 to take on 113th-ranked North Korea. South Korea are trying to qualify for their 10th consecutive World Cup.

On 2 October 2018 Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia’s government, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.  Two of the few people who have listened to covert recordings of his killing have described the detail of what they heard to a program on BBC One.  The Saudi government declined to give an interview to the show, but said it condemned the “abhorrent killing” and it was committed to holding the perpetrators accountable.

President Donald Trump on Sunday escalated his rebuke of the anonymous whistleblower at the center of the mounting Ukraine controversy asserting that he deserves to "meet my accuser."  Trump also echoed his previous attacks on the whistleblower and promised "Big Consequences" for anyone who assisted in providing the person information.  The comment prompted the House to call on the President to stop attacking the whistleblower.