■ SOUTH KOREA
Government to seize assets
The government announced yesterday its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by alleged collaborators during Japanese colonial rule. Authorities will confiscate 3.6 billion won (US$3.9 million) in land from the descendants of nine alleged collaborators who worked for Japan during its 1910 to 1945 colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula, a presidential committee said in a statement. The property owners can file a lawsuit to contest the government decision, the committee said. Committee head Kim Chang-kuk said in a statement that the seizures, the first of more to come, would enable the nation "to recover our people's dignity that was violated by Japanese imperialism and those involved in pro-Japanese and anti-nationalistic acts."
■ JAPAN
Film sickens people
Watching the Hollywood film Babel could make viewers feel ill, its local distributor said in national newspaper advertisements published yesterday. At least 15 people have complained of feeling sick while watching the film starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett since it was released in Japan on April 28, a spokeswoman for the distributor Gaga Communications said. The film, about the spiraling international consequences of a shooting in Morocco, became a media sensation in Japan well ahead of its release, as Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as a deaf mute schoolgirl. But a scene in which Kikuchi's character visits a night club where strobe lights flash for about a minute has made some Japanese moviegoers queasy.
■ JAPAN
Magicians seek damages
A group of magicians sued TV broadcasters on Tuesday for revealing the secrets behind a series of coin tricks, a news report said. Forty-nine magicians are seeking a total of ¥1.9 million (US$16,000) in damages from Nippon Television Network Corp and TV Asahi Corp for airing shows last year that revealed how magicians perform tricks involving coins, Kyodo News agency said. In a suit filed with the Tokyo District Court, the magicians claimed the programs infringed on their common property, it said.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Terrier died saving kids
A plucky Jack Russell terrier named George saved five New Zealand children from two marauding pitbulls, but was so severely mauled in the fight he had to be destroyed, his owner said yesterday. George was playing with the group of children as they returned home from buying sweets at a neighborhood shop in the small North Island town of Manaia on Sunday when the two pitbulls appeared and lunged toward them, his owner Allan Gay said. "If it wasn't for George, those kids would have copped it," Gay said.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Rice and pork fuel workers
The average male worker is primarily powered by rice, greasy pork, instant noodles and cheap liquor, a government survey said. Rice accounted for about 35 percent of the calorie intake for the typical male worker. Pork products accounted for 5 percent and the local liquor called soju was at just over 2 percent, the survey from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute said. The typical woman had a similar breakdown for her main sources of nourishment, but they drank less soju than men and more sugar-laden instant coffee, the survey said. The nation has been battling a problem of obesity as people have shifted away from the traditional diet.
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