Japan: Abandoned cat gets new lease on life, as well as home and job in Osaka
A stray cat called Nyankichi literally used up one of its nine lives simply by being its affectionate self.
The feline was due to be put down after nobody showed up to claim it, but staff at a prefectural animal center here were so taken by the animal that they decided to keep it and make it their mascot.
The Asahi Shimbun
South Korea: Former child genius to become full-time university professor
Kim Ung-yong, a former South Korean prodigy once heralded as the smartest soul on Earth, is about to fulfill his overdue dream of becoming a professor.
Chungbuk Development Corporation announced Monday that 51-year-old Kim was leaving its staff to serve as a professor at Shinhan University in Gyeonggi Province. ...
The Korea Herald
Africa: MSF Pioneers Opening Up Access to Humanitarian Data
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is pioneering an open-access approach within the humanitarian sector in the hope that other medical aid organisations will follow suit.
MSF decided to make the data of its clinical and research staff collect freely available online, says a report published in PLOS Medicine last month (10 December). This is the first time a medical humanitarian organisation has fashioned a policy to openly share its data, MSF says. ...
All Africa
Ireland: Irish Water spending on consultants and contractors will top €80 million
Irish Water will tell the Oireachtas environment committee today it expects to spend just over €80 million on consultancy or outside contractor costs by the middle of next year.
Briefing papers sent by the company to the Oireachtas environment committee this morning reveal the vast majority of this, €44.8 million, will go to IBM. ...
Irish Times
Jamaica: Caribbean view of competition in tourism clouded, says PM
Calling for the Caribbean to compete for primacy of the complete tourism product, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the region’s vision on competition is both narrow and clouded.
“There is competition today. If you fear it, you will not survive tomorrow. We cannot fear competition,” Simpson Miller said.
The prime minister was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2014 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Sunday night. ...
The Gleaner
Poland: Cinema City vows to develop huge amusement park near Warsaw
Warsaw-listed movie operator Cinema City International will use the cash from merging its cinema business with UK-based cinema giant Cineworld for investments, with focus in the first place put on amusement park project, Park of Poland, CCI CFO Nisan Cohen said on Monday.
“The cash that will stay in Cinema City will be used to finance the development of other projects“ ...
Warsaw Voice
Switzerland: Swiss grapple with pros and cons of immigration
Swiss politician Martin Suter doesn’t have to look far to see the drawbacks from a European Union agreement that has permitted thousands of Germans, French and other Europeans to settle in Switzerland.
Whether it’s trains crammed with commuters, families struggling to find a place to live, or older Swiss failing to find work, Suter, a politician for the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), believes the blame can be laid at the feet of the newcomers. ...
The Local
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