World News

By Sebin Choi and Hyun Young Yi, Reuters Kimchi. Photo: Flickr user Marcus Buchwald / CC BY-SA 2.0 South Korea's famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25C. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. "We hope these predictions don't come to pass," plant pathologist and virolog...

By Anna Salleh, Sana Qadar, James Bullen and Rose Kerr for ABC's All in the Mind Posts on attachment styles have been proliferating on social media. (file image) Photo: 123RF / pixel-shot.com (Leonid Yastremskiy) Certain corners of TikTok and Instagram love talking about people's "attachment styles" - analysing and dissecting them and giving us dating advice based on them. Looking at some social media comments you would be forgiven for thinking that if you can identify someone's attachment style, you can work out if they are a good prospect, or whether your relationship is doomed from the start. Partners with a "secure attachment style" are seen as the holy grail. "Do these people exist on the dating apps or are they all taken?" reads one comment next to a TikTok post describing this...

By Sarah Marsh and Thomas Escritt, Reuters Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Photo: MICHAEL PROBST / AP POOL / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP The far right's first victory in a German state election in the post-war era prompted soul-searching in Berlin on Monday, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz's battered and unloved coalition looked as if it would hold together. All three parties in Scholz's centre-left coalition suffered painful losses while the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and a new anti-establishment populist party booked record gains in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony on Sunday. Scholz, a Social Democrat, described the results as "bitter" but Finance Minister Christian Lindner rejected suggestions that his neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), who fared the worst of all coalit...

By Jasper Ward, Reuters Donald Trump dances as he leaves a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 30 August 2024. Photo: AFP Former US President Donald Trump, who faces federal and state charges for allegedly trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, insists he had "every right" to interfere in the election. "Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it?" Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday. A federal indictment accuses Trump of defrauding the United States by preventing Congress from certifying Biden's victory and depriving voters of their right to a fair election. He faced a revised federal indictment last month accusing him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election los...

Ultra-processed foods have been making a (bad) name for themselves in the news lately. Nutritionist Claire Turnbull Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro And rightly so. Often, ultra-processed foods (UPF)s, are lab-formulated food designed so that "once you pop you can't stop" (to quote the famous marketing tagline from the chips Pringles, which are solidly in the UPF category). Not only do we tend to overeat them, they are often void of many of the nutrients and minerals our bodies need. "If you turn to the back of the packet and something has 50 ingredients in it, lots of names and things that you don't recognise, that is the first red flag," says Claire Turnbull, an Auckland-based nutritionist and author. UPFs are sneaking their way into our daily foods courtesy of convenience and clever front-of...

Akuhata Edward Robert Hammind. Photo: Supplied The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has confirmed a New Zealander has died in Pattaya, Thailand. The Bangkok Post reported a man from New Zealand fell to his death from a luxury hotel in Pattaya last week. MFAT says it was providing consular assistance to the family, but would not provide further information due to privacy reasons. The Post said he was Akuhata Edward Robert Hammind, aged 36, and suggested drug use may have been a factor. He was reportedly seen shouting "help me" and appeared to be hallucinating before he fell seven storeys onto electric wiring. A number of people from different countries had died in Pattaya in recent months under similar circumstances, the paper said. A Givealittle page was set up by Hammind's ...

People could be fined up to $7000 for accidentally feeding crocodiles in Queensland. Photo: DAVID GRAY / AFP By Jack McKay, ABC Queenslanders who unintentionally feed a crocodile by leaving scraps at a jetty or campsite could be by hit with a A$6400 (NZ$7092) fine under new rules brought in by the state government. Penalties for disturbing or deliberately feeding crocodiles are also more than quadrupling to above A$25,000 as part of a crackdown that the government says is about boosting safety. Under the reforms, which have already come into effect, it will be illegal to "unintentionally" feed a crocodile by discarding food in a way that attracts them to a public place. It could include leaving behind fish frames or bait at a jetty and pontoon, or discarding food scraps at a camping are...

Vehicles outside a Volkswagen Group factory in Germany. Photo: AFP / DPA Volkswagen considers one large car plant, one component plant in Germany to be obsolete, the works council says VW, which employs around 680,000 staff, said it also felt forced to end its job security programme The works council has promised 'fierce resistance' to the plans Volkswagen is considering closing factories in Germany for the first time, in a move that shows the mounting price pressure Europe's top carmaker faces from Asian rivals. Monday's move marks the first major clash between CEO Oliver Blume, who analysts have described as more of a consensus builder than his often combative predecessor Herbert Diess, and unions that command substantial influence at VW. VW considers one large vehicle plant and...

The British government was concerned equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law. Photo: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP Britain will immediately suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licences with Israel because there is a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday. Lammy said the decision to suspend the licences did not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo, but only involved those that could be used in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. Soon after the Labour Party won an election in July, Lammy said he would update a review on arms sales to Britain's ally Israel to ensure these complied with international law. "It is ...

Ultra-processed foods have been making a (bad) name for themselves in the news lately. Nutritionist Claire Turnbull Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro And rightly so. Often, ultra-processed foods (UPF)s, are lab-formulated food designed so that "once you pop you can't stop" (to quote the famous marketing tagline from the chips Pringles, which are solidly in the UPF category). Not only do we tend to overeat them, they are often void of many of the nutrients and minerals our bodies need. "If you turn to the back of the packet and something has 50 ingredients in it, lots of names and things that you don't recognise, that is the first red flag," says Claire Turnbull, an Auckland-based nutritionist and author. UPFs are sneaking their way into our daily foods courtesy of convenience and clever front-of...