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SEOUL – A prolonged period of uncertainty over the fate of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the botched attempt to arrest him are giving oxygen to his backers and reviving support for his troubled party. Yoon, who is suspended from duties after his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 and is under criminal investigation for possible insurrection, has for weeks been holed up inside his hilltop residence in Seoul, guarded by a small army of personal security. A National Barometer Survey poll released Thursday showed 59% of respondents want him arrested, something investigators are determined to do even though they failed last week after a widely televised six-hour standoff with his security team. But 37% said arresting Yoon is excessive. Source link

Real wages in Japan fell for a fourth consecutive month in November as inflation continued to eat away at nominal increases, adding yet another complication to the country’s rate outlook. As some food prices and utility rates increased, inflation-adjusted real wages dropped 0.3% from a year earlier in November, according to data released by the labor ministry Thursday. Nominal wages in November rose by 3%, a 35th straight month of increases. Base salaries jumped by 2.7%, the most in 32 years. Source link

Washington – Hundreds of U.S. veterans and current and former officials want President-elect Donald Trump to preserve U.S. special visa and resettlement programs for Afghans at risk of retribution for working for the United States during its 20-year war against the Taliban. A letter, signed by the veterans, officials and others, will be sent to Trump and congressional leaders. It was organized by #AfghanEvac, the leading coalition of groups that work with the U.S. government to help Afghans start new lives in the United States. “Many of us have worked closely with Afghan interpreters, soldiers and families who risked everything to protect and guide us,” said a draft of the letter. “To abandon them now would be a betrayal of the values we fought to defend and the trust built through years of shared struggle and sacrifice.” Source link

BEIJING – Authorities moved more than 45,000 people in earthquake-hit Tibet to shelters in a massive rescue operation at the foot of the Himalayas as they wound down the search in a high-altitude environment where the odds of survival were always slim. The epicenter of Tuesday’s 6.8 magnitude quake, one of the Chinese region’s strongest tremors in recent years, was in Tingri, a rural county with a population of about 60,000 people around 80 km (50 miles) north of Mount Everest. The temblor shook buildings as far away as Nepal and parts of India, and destroyed more than 3,600 houses around Tingri, presenting a formidable task to rescuers in an area where the average elevation is more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). Source link

Any notion the San Francisco 49ers were undecided about their future at quarterback was dispelled by general manager John Lynch on Wednesday. Lynch made it clear the 49ers are fully committed to keeping Brock Purdy, who is eligible for a contract extension immediately. Purdy had 3,864 passing yards and 20 touchdowns in 2024, but San Francisco missed the playoffs this year after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl last season. “I think what we know about Brock is, he’s our guy,” Lynch said Wednesday while seated to the right of head coach Kyle Shanahan at the team facility in Santa Clara, California. “We have interest in Brock being around here for a long, long time. He’s done so much for our organization. He’s won big games. And you know, had a little tougher task as we all did this year with some of the things that happened throughout the course of the year. We just never could string games where we were all together. Through that he continued to lead, he continued to play at a high level, so we have every interest in him being around. Source link

A 43-year-old man who was arrested for attempted murder in connection with a double stabbing at a McDonald’s outlet in Fukuoka Prefecture in December is expected to be rearrested on a new charge of murder later Thursday, according to police. Authorities plan to rearrest 43-year-old Masanori Hirabaru, who is currently in custody for the attempted murder of a 15-year-old boy in the fast-food restaurant in the city of Kitakyushu, on a charge of killing Saya Nakashima, also 15. Hirabaru admitted to “targeting the two teens,” but his specific motives and connection to the victims remain unclear, police said. Investigators also noted inconsistencies in his account of the incident, which further complicate the case. Source link

When Anne Maldzinski underwent a blood stem-cell transplant to cure her cancer, the procedure triggered a life-threatening immune reaction that ravaged her intestines, leaving her survival dependent on a surprising treatment: human feces. After multiple immune-suppressive drugs failed to control the symptoms of graft-versus-host disease — a common complication for donor bone marrow recipients — Maldzinski was given an experimental therapy developed by French biotech MaaT Pharma through an early access program. The effect was dramatic. “After weeks of having terrible diarrhea, I was much better the next day,” Maldzinski recalled of the enema treatment she received while in intensive care at a hospital in Nice, France, in November 2021. Source link

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration plans one additional round of restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips from the likes of Nvidia just days before leaving office, a final push in his effort to keep advanced technologies out of the hands of China and Russia. The U.S. wants to curb the sale of AI chips used in data centers on both a country and company basis, with the goal of concentrating AI development in friendly nations and getting businesses around the world to align with American standards, according to people familiar with the matter. The result would be an expansion of semiconductor caps to most of the world — an attempt to control the spread of AI technology at a time of soaring demand. The regulations, which could be issued as soon as Friday, would create three tiers of chip trade restrictions, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Source link

Without a doubt, one of the most epic things to do in Japan is スキー. And no, that’s not 好き (suki, like/love), but sukī (skiing) — although falling in love is certainly up there, too. Given the famous powder and countless mountains and resorts from Hiroshima to Hokkaido, you can’t go wrong with スキー and スノーボード (sunōbōdo, snowboarding) in 冬 (fuyu, winter). In all honesty, these are not activities that require a ton of Japanese knowledge. Rather, lacking the necessary ski vocabulary will likely just confine you to the most touristy slopes. Therefore, let’s take on some winter words so we can take on some winter powder. Source link

Yes, they really turned it into a movie. Across 10 seasons of TV Tokyo’s “The Solitary Gourmet,” salaryman Goro Inogashira (Yutaka Matsushige) has chomped and slurped his way through more than 100 restaurants, often with little but his inner monologue for company. Based on a manga by Masayuki Qusumi and Jiro Taniguchi, the series is pure comfort food and an obvious forerunner to what’s now known as ambient TV. Little of lasting consequence ever happens in “The Solitary Gourmet”; even when it does, it’s no match for a rumbling stomach. As with kung fu movies or adult videos, the dialogue scenes are just foreplay before the important stuff — and in this case, it’s all about the eating. It’s the least likely contender for a theatrical outing since the equally uneventful “Fictitious Girl’s Diary” made the same transition in 2020. Matsushige pulls up his regular seat at the table as Goro, but also occupies the director’s chair for the first time in his career, in addition to sharing screenwriting duties with series mainstay Yoshihiro Taguchi. Source link