IN BRIEF (Page 11)

South Korea

Moon vows to raise defense budget

President Moon Jae-in vowed on Tuesday to raise the country's defense budget to 2.9 percent of GDP from the current 2.4 percent within his five-year presidency. About 40.3 trillion won ($35.9 billion) was allocated to this year's defense budget of the country. It could rise to as much as 50 trillion won in the next five years of his presidency. Moon took office on May 10.

Qatar

Alleged hacking 'unfortunate'

Qatar, the tiny Gulf state being isolated by its neighbors, said on Monday the reported involvement of the United Arab Emirates in hacking its government news site in May is "unfortunate" and a breach of agreements among the Gulf countries. The Washington Post, quoting unnamed US intelligence officials, reported on Sunday that the UAE orchestrated the hacking and planted a false story that was used as a pretext for the crisis between Qatar and four Arab countries. The UAE has denied the claim.

Russia

Strong quake hits off Kamchatka

A magnitude-7.8 earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula triggered a tsunami warning on Tuesday but the threat has now passed, the US Geological Survey and US Pacific Tsunami Center said. The quake struck at 11:34 am about 200 kilometers from the city of Nikolskoye on Bering island off the peninsula. The quake was followed by numerous aftershocks, including several above magnitude 5.

The Philippines

Duterte seeks to extend martial law

President Rodrigo Duterte plans to extend martial law in the southern Philippines to defeat extremist militants who have seized a major city, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Duterte had imposed military rule for 60 days in the Mindanao region, home to about 20 million people, after gunmen waving black Islamic State flags occupied Marawi city on May 23, triggering clashes that have killed more than 500 people.

Australia

Acupuncture eases period pain

Acupuncture can help alleviate period pain and reduce the need for painkillers, a study by Australian and New Zealand researchers has found. The small study of 74 women aged between 18 and 45 found that more than half had at least a 50 percent reduction in the severity of their pain after three months of treatment. Period pain, or dysmenorrhea, is more common in women in their early 20s.

United Kingdom

27 contact lenses found in eye

A mass of 27 contact lens was found in a woman's right eye, which shocked the patient herself as well as her doctors, according to recent reports. The woman, 67, was scheduled for routine cataract surgery in November but when an anesthetist named Richard Crombie tried to inject the anesthetic in her eye, he noticed "a blue mass" under her top eyelid. The "blue mass" was a clump of 17 lenses and another 10 were found in an additional examination.

(China Daily 07/19/2017 page11)