The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro
The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro |
- Samsung chief has emergency heart operation
- Woman fights python to save pet dog in Hong Kong
- S. Korea parliament to begin ferry disaster probe
| Samsung chief has emergency heart operation Posted: 10 May 2014 10:24 PM PDT SEOUL, May 11, 2014 (AFP) - The head of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest business empire, underwent an emergency operation Sunday after developing symptoms of heart failure, hospital officials said. Lee Kun-Hee, 72, was admitted to a hospital near his home in Seoul Saturday night due to a respiratory problem. He showed symptoms of heart failure and received emergency treatment before being moved early Sunday to Samsung Medical Centre where his problem was diagnosed as "acute cardiac infarction", the hospital said in a statement. "He is now recuperating in a stable condition after going through an operation," it said. Lee underwent lung surgery in the late 1990s and has been suffering from respiratory complications since then. Lee is South Korea's richest man with a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at around $10.8 billion and has a son and two daughters. His son, Jay Y. Lee, serves as Samsung Electronics' vice chairman. The founding family controls Samsung through a complex web of share cross-holdings in group subsidiaries. The senior Lee stepped down as group chairman in 2008 and now serves as chairman of Samsung Electronics, but he remains the de facto head of the entire business empire. Under his stewardship, the conglomerate has flourished and become the world's top chipmaker and mobile phone maker. He is largely credited with turning Samsung - founded by his father in 1938 - into a global brand. Samsung has rapidly expanded its presence in the global smartphone market, dethroning Apple as the world's top smartphone maker amid worldwide patent battles between the tech giants over technology and design. |
| Woman fights python to save pet dog in Hong Kong Posted: 10 May 2014 10:12 PM PDT HONG KONG, May 11, 2014 (AFP) - A woman used a pocket knife to fight off a huge Burmese python which attacked her dog while out walking in a Hong Kong country park, a report said Sunday. Courtney Link told the Sunday Morning Post the five-metre (16-foot) snake had coiled itself around her 24 kilogram (53-pound) mongrel Dexter last weekend. "When I suddenly saw the snake's head, I just started stabbing furiously", Link said, adding she resorted to using the knife only after hitting the serpent with her fists had failed to make it release the dog. The snake finally loosened its grip and slithered away, leaving the dog with bite wounds on its chest and legs. A spokeswoman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department confirmed a dog had been attacked by a Burmese python. Burmese pythons are one of the world's largest snakes and can grow to six metres long and weigh more than 100 kilograms. They are Hong Kong's biggest natural predator and are a protected species in the territory. They are rarely sighted but snake attacks on dogs are not unknown. In 2007, a woman rescued her pet dog following a fight with a 4.5-metre python and the previous year a 22-kilogram husky was crushed to death by a snake. |
| S. Korea parliament to begin ferry disaster probe Posted: 10 May 2014 10:10 PM PDT SEOUL, May 11, 2014 (AFP) - South Korea's parliament is to open an investigation into the ferry disaster that has left 300 people dead or missing, politicians confirmed Sunday, as the government counters criticism of its handling of the tragedy. A special parliamentary session will open this week and a number of committees will begin work from Monday, the government and opposition said, dedicated to confirming the cause of and responsibility for the sinking of the Sewol. Park Young-Sun, of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, said the session would focus on "a (parliamentary) investigation, the nomination of a special prosecutor and hearings." The ruling Sanuri party's leader of parliament Lee Wan-Koo told a joint press conference it would "make efforts ... to prevent a recurrence of such a disaster." The confirmed death toll stands at 275 with 29 still unaccounted for, more than three weeks after the ship capsized off the country's southern coast. Victims' families have been extremely critical of nearly every aspect of the government's handling of the disaster, and had demanded a government investigation in addition to the police's efforts. They want explanations for perceived delays in the initial rescue effort, and are calling for those they believe responsible to be punished. The recovery operation remained suspended Sunday due to a looming storm and high tides. Despite enormous hazards and challenges, including near-zero visibility and strong currents, divers have been under immense pressure to retrieve all the trapped bodies as quickly as possible. But as days go by, they are retrieving fewer and fewer bodies. Partition walls on the ship have started warping and are at risk of collapsing, complicating their work. Many relatives believe some children may have survived for hours or even days inside air pockets in the capsized ferry, but died because rescuers took too long to access the submerged vessel. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank on April 16 after listing sharply to one side and then rolling over. Of those on board, 325 were children from a high school on an organised trip to the southern resort island of Jeju. Initial investigations suggest the ferry was carrying up to three times its safe cargo capacity. The Sewol's regular captain, who was off duty on the day of the accident, has told prosecutors that the ferry operator - Chonghaejin Marine Co - "brushed aside" repeated warnings that the 20-year-old ship had stability issues following a renovation in 2012. Five Chonghaejin officials, including the company's head, have been arrested on various charges including manslaughter, negligence and breaches of vessel safety laws. |
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