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Coffee shops are prompting some people to think about the pros and cons of redenominating the Korean currency. Many cafes are chopping zeroes off their prices. For a drink that costs 3,500 won, the menu shows a price of 3.5. 

There are fewer digits there, which some say helps make the menu easier to read and makes bookkeeping simpler. On the other hand, some point out that fewer zeros could trick our brains into thinking things are cheaper than they are, and cause prices to rise. A house that costs 680,000 won might be considered a bargain, which would encourage the seller to raise it to 700,000.

The president of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, has called on the UK to return a set of classical sculptures from what he called the “murky prison” of the British Museum. 

Called the “Parthenon Marbles,” they were taken from the Parthenon by the British peer Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. The Greek president said that for the British, the statues are trophies. Greece has been calling for decades for them to be sent back, but the British Museum has always ruled it out. The museum says Lord Elgin had permission at the time to take them.

The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was completely extinguished on Tuesday after burning for more than nine hours. There was widespread relief that many of the cathedral’s most precious artworks and relics were saved despite such severe damage. The Paris Fire Service said nearly 400 firefighters had battled the inferno.

No official cause has been announced, but officials say the fire can be linked to renovation work that was underway at the time. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that France will rebuild the cathedral together in the years to come. Two French billionaires in the fashion industry have already pledged nearly 340 million dollars for that purpose.

Global Headlines

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An estimated 10 million people in Iran have been affected by heavy precipitation and massive floods in the past month.

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The number of measles cases reported worldwide in the first quarter of 2019 has tripled compared with the same time last year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

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U.S. Presidential Democratic contender Bernie Sanders released 10 years worth of tax returns.

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Photojournalist at Reuters Kim Kyung-hoon won a Pulitzer Prize for his photo of a Honduran woman fleeing with her children from tear gas at the U.S. border, becoming the first South Korean to win the coveted prize.

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The city of Seoul is set to open 4 new state-run special schools in September.

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BTS is set to top the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and the UK Official Albums Chart with “Map of the Soul: Persona”.

Government officials in India are crossing mountains, rivers and deserts to make sure that all 900 million eligible voters can take part in the world’s biggest election, set to last until May 19th. 

The rule now in India is that no one should have to travel more than two kilometers to take part, so election officials risk life and limb. In one case, a priest living with lions in the forest has a polling booth just for himself, and in another, poll workers need a week’s time to pass through canyons and jungle just to reach a village with fewer than 250 voters. In all, there will be one million polling booths set up for this humongous example of democracy in action.

Netizens in Japan are criticizing their government’s failed push at the WTO to get Korea to import fish and seafood from waters near Fukushima, the site of the 2011 nuclear disaster. In a typical comment, one user recognized Korea’s right to ensure its people’s safety, asking, “does Japan import fish without knowing they’re safe? It doesn’t, but it’s trying to force someone else to.” High-ranking officials have weighed in too, but seem unwilling to accept the WTO’s ruling. The minister of fisheries, Yoshikawa Takamori, said the day the ruling came out that he doesn’t think it means Japanese marine products are unsafe. Foreign Minister Taro Kono, too, said the Japanese government has not changed its position.

A South Korean army surgeon, Captain Heo JoonNyung, has developed an AI model that can predict the effects of treatment for stroke. Captain Heo was interested in stroke patients in treatment who developed aphasia, the loss of speech abilities. His patients would recover, but Captain Heo understood there were concerns that invasive treatments can make aphasia worse. Using more than 2,600 sets of patient data in his AI model, he was able to predict the outcomes of treatments 90 percent of the time, up from 70 percent before. The paper by Captain Heo JoonNyung and his colleagues will appear in the May edition of the international medical journal “Stroke.”

Global Headlines

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Marking the 5th anniversary of the Sewol-ho ferry disaster, ceremonies are set to be held today in memory of the victims.

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The government announced it will invest 30 trillion won by 2022 in infrastructure projects aimed at improving quality of life.

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A massive fire broke out in Paris’ iconic Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday, local time, causing heavy damage including the collapse of its roof.

http://mysplendidlifestyle.blogspot.com/2019/04/february-2018-remembrance-of-notre-dame.html

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The United Nations warned warring factions in Libya against attacking civilian areas, as civil unrest intensifies with hundreds of casualties reported in less than two weeks.

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For the first time in 16 years, the center-left Social Democratic Party won Finland’s parliamentary election.

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U.S. President Trump’s re-election campaign raises more than US$30 million in the first quarter of 2019.

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