SEOUL (ANN/KOREA HERALD) – Karina, a member of K-pop girl group aespa, recently revealed she had torn her cornea, during a livestream with fellow member Gisele on Thursday.
The injury had been kept under wraps, but Karina admitted she had been wearing a protective lens for some time. Although advised to wear an eye patch, she chose not to during the group’s recent appearance at the Billboard Women in Music Awards held in Los Angeles last week.
She also confessed to wearing a cosmetic lens over the protective one while performing on stage, noting that she felt “a bit dizzy,” but assured fans that she is recovering well.
At the awards show, aespa picked up the Group of the Year trophy and performed the English version of their hit track Whiplash for the first time.
The four-member act recently concluded their second world tour, wrapping up with a two-day concert in Seoul last month.
SUZUKA, Japan (AFP) – Four-time world champion Max Verstappen snatched pole position for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, as Yuki Tsunoda qualified 15th in his Red Bull debut.
Red Bull Racing’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen (L) waves at spectators with McLaren’s British driver Lando Norris (C) who came in second and McLaren’s Australian driver Oscar Piastri who came in third in the qualifying session of the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit in Suzuka, Mie prefecture on April 5, 2025. PHOTO: AFP
Red Bull’s Verstappen clocked a fastest lap of 1min 26.983sec to finish 0.012sec ahead of championship leader Norris, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri third.
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) – His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, visited the site of the gas pipeline blaze in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, Selangor Saturday.
On arrival at about 9.40 am, His Majesty was greeted by the Raja Muda of Selangor, Tengku Amir Shah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah; and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
Also present were Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay and Petronas Group Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz.
His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia during the visit. PHOTO: BERNAMA
His Majesty spent time receiving a briefing on the incident before taking a ride in a Subang Jaya City Council (MBSJ) four-wheel drive vehicle to survey the site at ground zero.
Sultan Ibrahim spent about 40 minutes observing the devastation at the scene.
The fire at the Petronas gas pipeline, which occurred at 8.10 am on Tuesday (April 1), saw flames soaring over 30 metres high with temperatures reaching 1,000 degrees Celsius, and it took nearly eight hours to be completely extinguished.
His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia handing out donation to one of the victims at the temporary evacuation centre. PHOTO: BERNAMA
A total of 87 houses have been declared a “total loss” and deemed unfit for occupation while 148 other affected houses that sustained damage can be occupied after repairs.
More than 300 people were displaced and are being sheltered at two relief centres.
NEW YORK (AFP) – Long before Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement, the United States had toyed with imposing high tariffs throughout its history, with inconclusive — and sometimes catastrophic — results.
“We have a 20th century president in a 21st century economy who wants to take us back to the 19th century,” Dartmouth College economics professor Douglas Irwin posted on X.
The 19th century marked the golden age of tariffs in the United States, with an average rate regularly flirting with 50 per cent.
The century extended a doctrine adopted since the country’s founding, which advocated for the protection of the American economy as it underwent a period of industrialisation.
“Careful studies of that period suggest that the tariffs did help protect domestic development of industry to some degree,” said Keith Maskus, a professor at the University of Colorado.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. PHOTO: AP
“But the two more important factors were access to international labor, and capital… which was flowing in the United States during that period,” he added.
Christopher Meissner, a professor at the University of California, Davis, told AFP that in addition to these factors, “the reason we had a thriving industrial sector in the United States was we had great access to natural resources.”
These resources included coal, oil, iron ore, copper and timber — all of which were crucial to industry.
“The industrial sector wouldn’t have been much smaller if we had much lower tariffs,” Meissner added.
Shortly after taking office in January, Trump said: “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913.”
The 78-year-old Republican often references former US president William McKinley, who was behind one of the country’s most restrictive tariff laws, which passed in 1890.
These tariffs did not prevent imports from continuing to grow in the years that followed, although once customs duties were lowered in 1894, the amount of goods the US purchased abroad remained below previous peaks.
Great Depression
In 1929, Harvard professor George Roorbach wrote: “Since the end of the Civil War (1865), during which the United States has been under a protective system almost, if not quite, without interruption, our import trade has enormously expanded.”
“Fluctuations that have occurred seem to be related chiefly to factors other than the ups and downs of tariff rates,” he added.
A year later, the young nation tightened the screws with tariffs again, this time under Republican president Herbert Hoover.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 is best remembered “for triggering a global trade war and deepening the Great Depression,” according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“What generated the depression… was a lot of complicated factors, but the tariff increase is one of them,” said Maskus from the University of Colorado.
The end of the Second World War marked the start of a new era in trade, defined by the ratification in 1947 by 23 countries — including the United States — of the GATT free trade agreement.
The agreement created the conditions for the development of international trade by imposing more moderate customs duties.
The momentum was maintained by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico and Canada, which took effect in 1994.
Alongside NAFTA, free trade in the United States was further expanded by the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995, and a 2004 free trade agreement between the United States and several Central American countries.
During his first term in office, Donald Trump reopened the tariff ledger and decided on new measures against China, many of which were maintained under his successor, Joe Biden.
But despite these levies, the US trade deficit with China continued to grow until 2022, when China was hit by a brutal economic slowdown unrelated to the tariffs.
For Keith Maskus, the tariffs on Beijing did not do much to prevent the growth of imports from China.
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) – In a beauty industry that is constantly evolving with new trends and techniques, the traditional Chinese facial massage technique, ‘gua sha’, has been gaining attention as a natural way to achieve a more radiant and sculpted lookMade from natural materials such as jade, rose quartz, buffalo horn or stainless steel, the tool used for this massage is ergonomically designed to fit the contours of the face and it is widely sold online.
‘Gua sha’ is often promoted by influencers on social media, who claim the massage is capable of slimming the face and enhancing the jawline. But how effective is this massage?
According to LCP-certified aesthetic doctor Dr Maizatul Sharidah Meor Zul Hassan, the effects of this technique, which involves using the tool concerned to scrape the skin with moderate pressure, are only temporary and cannot permanently alter the facial structure.
She added, however, while the ‘gua sha’ massage technique does not have the ability to burn fat, it can help reduce puffiness by stimulating blood circulation and the lymphatic system.
“When excess fluid is drained from the face, one may notice a more defined facial shape… but this is only temporary. This is not a process that permanently reshapes the facial structure,” she told Bernama.
For illustration only. PHOTO: FREEPIK
Dr Maizatul Sharidah said facial slimming is better achieved through weight management, a balanced diet and regular exercise.
She also said to maximise the benefits of a ‘gua sha’ massage, the proper technique must be used, pointing out that upward and outward strokes along the jawline and cheeks can help improve blood flow and lymphatic drainage, resulting in the face looking more radiant and lifted, albeit temporarily.
“There is no exact guideline on how often the ‘gua sha’ massage should be done for optimal results, but many studies suggest doing it two to three times a week for the best outcome. Research published in the ‘Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine’ (2019) indicates that ‘gua sha’ can enhance blood circulation and reduce puffiness, contributing positively to the appearance of the skin,” she said.
However, she acknowledged that those who enjoy ‘gua sha’ as part of their beauty routine can continue doing the massage for benefits such as improved skin texture and facial tension relief.
That said, Dr Maizatul Sharidah pointed out that clinical treatments like Botox injections, and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and radiofrequency therapy are “more effective for long-lasting skin tightening and facial contouring”.
“Botox can slim the face by reducing the size of the masseter muscles, providing a longer-lasting effect in reducing the facial width, especially for individuals with enlarged masseter muscles.
“HIFU and radiofrequency treatments, on the other hand, work to tighten the skin and stimulate collagen production. They also offer longer-lasting improvements in facial firmness and elasticity,” she explained.
Meanwhile, 25-year-old Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid, who has been practising the ‘gua sha’ massage technique since last year, believes it has helped to refine and define her facial shape.
“Consistency is the key. I saw results within a week — my cheeks looked slimmer and my double chin disappeared. But at the same time, I also watch my diet to achieve optimum results,” she said, adding she massages her face with the ‘gua sha’ tool daily for five minutes.
Private sector employee Arini Saleh, 34, became interested in trying the ‘gua sha’ massage after seeing positive feedback from other users on social media.
“An influencer frequently shares the effectiveness of this technique so I wanted to try it to resolve my facial asymmetry and enjoy other benefits like improved blood circulation and anti-aging effects,” she said.
KINABATANGAN (Bernama) – A total of 127 residents from 29 families affected by floods in several villages here have been evacuated to the temporary relief centre (PPS) at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Bukit Garam as of 8 am Saturday.
According to a statement from the Sabah Disaster Management Committee secretariat, the number has risen compared to only 14 residents from three families who sought shelter at the centre by midday Saturday.
Police instructing residents to evacuate their flooded homes in Pangkalan Bukit Garam, Kinabatangan, Sabah. PHOTO: BERNAMA
“All those affected are residents from four flood-hit villages,” the secretariat said.
On April 2, Kinabatangan was declared a flood disaster area following continuous rainfall and the Kinabatangan River water level rising to the danger level.
Seven villages in the district, located about 306 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu, have been affected by the floods. The relief centre at SK Bukit Garam has been operating since 6 pm on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the State Disaster Operations Control Centre issued an Evacuation Order under the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) Directive No. 1, officially declaring the area a red zone.
The action was taken following the refusal of some residents to evacuate to the relief centre despite the Kinabatangan River level exceeding the danger mark.
MANILA (Bernama-Xinhua) – A van carrying tourists plunged into a 50-metre ravine in the northern Philippines, killing five passengers on board and injuring nine more, police said Saturday, reported Xinhua.
The police said the accident happened around 10 pm local time on Friday in Sadanga, a town in the Mountain Province, north of Manila.
Police, firemen and local rescuers work together to rescue the passengers, all of them tourists, of a van that fell from a 50-meter ravine on Friday night. PHOTO: COURTESY OF SADANGA POLICE via ANN/Philippine Daily Inquirer
According to the investigation, the van slid down the road and landed in the river, resulting in the death of three male and two female passengers at the scene.
Rescuers who immediately rushed to the scene used ropes to descend the ravine and lift the surviving passengers to safety.
The survivors were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The province in the Cordillera Administrative Region has narrow, steep, and slippery roads on rainy days.
YANGON (AFP) – The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen above 3,300, state media said Saturday, as the United Nations aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation.
The March 28 quake flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, according to new figures published by state media.
More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses.
A United Nations estimate suggests that more than three million people may have been affected by the 7.7-magnitude quake, compounding previous challenges caused by four years of civil war.
A rescue worker walks past heavy construction equipment being used to clear rubble at the site of a collapsed building in Mandalay on April 5, 2025, following the March 28 earthquake. PHOTO: AFP
The UN’s top aid official on Saturday met with victims in the central Myanmar city of Mandalay — situated close to the epicentre and now grappling with severe damage across the city.
“The destruction is staggering,” Tom Fletcher wrote in a post on X.
“The world must rally behind the people of Myanmar”.
The new toll was announced after the country’s military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing returned from a rare foreign trip to a regional summit in Bangkok on Friday, where he met with leaders including the prime ministers of Thailand and India.
The general’s attendance at the summit courted controversy, with protesters at the venue displaying a banner calling him a “murderer” and anti-junta groups condemning his inclusion.
His armed forces have ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup, when they wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a multi-sided conflict that has yet to be resolved.
The junta has reportedly conducted dozens of attacks since the earthquake, including at least 16 since a temporary truce was announced on Wednesday, the UN said Friday.
Years of fighting have left Myanmar’s economy and infrastructure in tatters, significantly hampering international efforts to provide relief since the quake.
China, Russia and India were among the first countries to provide support, sending rescue teams to Myanmar to help locate survivors.
The United States has traditionally been at the forefront of international disaster relief, but President Donald Trump has dismantled the country’s humanitarian aid agency.
Washington said Friday it was adding USD7 million on top of an earlier USD2 million in assistance to Myanmar.
(AP) – Liking a co-worker’s photo on social media. Sending them direct messages. Checking in on Slack more often than before.
Progressively interacting in this way with someone outside your relationship may be no big deal to you. To your significant other, however, it may be microcheating, which some people consider a form of infidelity because it can involve building a bond one heart emoji at a time.
Although pushing the boundaries of what’s allowed in a relationship is not a new concept, the issue has become even more common with the rise of remote work, said William Schroeder, a therapist and owner of Just Mind Counseling centers in Austin, Texas.
“People are having more digital relationships so it kind of creates more space for that,” Schroeder said. “In this work-from-home environment, it can happen even easier because it’s real low risk.”
What is microcheating?
Microcheating, a term popularised by Australian psychologist Melanie Schilling, could be anything short of a physical or emotional relationship if it involves a behavior you can’t talk about openly with a partner.
Besides furtive social media chatting, it also could mean lingering too long at the water cooler to talk to a co-worker, sharing personal details of your own relationship, or dressing up if you know you’ll see someone.
AP Illustration / Annie Ng
“We’ve just put a newer label on it,” said Abby Medcalf, a psychologist in Berkeley, California, and host of the “Relationships Made Easy” podcast.
But Medcalf noted that with most of her patients in recent years, microcheating involves texting or messages on social media. And it can be a slippery slope.
What’s the big deal?
As relationship norms evolve and terms like “polyamory” come out of the shadows, liking or commenting on a photo may seem fairly innocuous. Many couples don’t care, Medcalf said, but people who do shouldn’t feel bad for it.
“There isn’t a right and wrong in relationships,” she said. “It comes down to preferences.”
Even if a specific action has not been discussed and forbidden, trouble arises when it takes away energy from your primary relationship, she said.
“It’s cheating if your partner doesn’t like it, or doesn’t know about it, or wouldn’t like it if they knew about it,” she said.
She advised resisting the urge to snoop, which is a sign there is a lack of trust in the relationship. “All you want to know is, how is your partner treating you?” she said. “Do you feel No. 1?”
How should couples handle it?
Schroeder said every relationship has boundaries, some of which may have been discussed and others that are implied. These days, the gray area is bigger than ever.
Particularly if a couple met on a dating app, it’s important to discuss whether to disable it and be exclusive, he said. Then define what “exclusive” means, such as not dating other people, continuing conversations through an app or pursuing others on social media.
The best time to bring it up is long before a problem arises, even if it’s difficult to know when or how, he said. He equated having this talk with driving.
“If you think that you have a full tank of gas, you’re not going to start thinking, ‘When should we stop to get gas?'” he said.
A woman checks social media on her phone. PHOTO: AP
A change in behavior — if your significant other seems to be more secretive with their phone, for instance, or checks social media more often — could a sign of an issue, he said. But try not to be accusatory. Rather, mention you have noticed they are more engaged with their phone and that it worries you because you’re not sure what it means.
“Having that kind of curiosity is a much better place to have a conversation,” Schroeder said.
He said microcheating happens for many reasons, but often it’s because people are simply looking for that spark they feel from a new relationship. Some patients who engage in secretive behavior never cross further lines, but Schroeder said noticing if you yourself are doing it can be instructive.
Also, it doesn’t necessarily mean the end of a relationship.
“It can be this crisis to rebuild,” he said. “Sometimes when these little microcheating examples come up, it can be really helpful to understand, ‘Alright, why is this coming up for me?'”
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States said Friday it was raising its assistance to earthquake-hit Myanmar but added it was unfair to expect the nation to keep leading humanitarian relief around the world.
The State Department said it was adding USD7 million on top of an earlier USD2 million, channeled through groups already on the ground in the military-run country where more than 3,000 people are confirmed dead.
The assistance will help provide emergency shelter, food, medical care and water, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce wrote on X.
The United States has traditionally been at the forefront of disaster relief, but President Donald Trump has dismantled the US humanitarian aid agency, with workers receiving dismissal notices just as the 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck last week.
China — which has jostled the United States for influence in Asia — as well as Russia and neighboring India promptly sent rescue teams to Myanmar before the United States even announced its support.
Rescue workers stand on the street next to a collapsed building in Mandalay on April 5, 2025, following the March 28 earthquake. PHOTO: AFP
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that humanitarian aid needs to be “properly balanced” against other priorities for the United States.
“China is a very rich country; India is a rich country,” Rubio told reporters earlier Friday in Brussels.
“There are a lot of other countries in the world, and everyone should pitch in,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s fair to assume that the United States needs to continue to share the burden — 60, 70 per cent — of humanitarian aid around the world,” he said.
He took issue with critics who said that the US response could have been faster, saying: “These are people that are part of that NGO industrial complex.”
“They have a military junta that doesn’t like us, doesn’t necessarily allow us to operate in that country the way we wanted to. That would have impeded our response no matter what,” he said.
US ups Myanmar quake aid, says others should bear burden
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States said Friday it was raising its assistance to earthquake-hit Myanmar but added it was unfair to expect the nation to keep leading humanitarian relief around the world.
The State Department said it was adding USD7 million on top of an earlier USD2 million, channeled through groups already on the ground in the military-run country where more than 3,000 people are confirmed dead.
The assistance will help provide emergency shelter, food, medical care and water, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce wrote on X.
The United States has traditionally been at the forefront of disaster relief, but President Donald Trump has dismantled the US humanitarian aid agency, with workers receiving dismissal notices just as the 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck last week.
China — which has jostled the United States for influence in Asia — as well as Russia and neighboring India promptly sent rescue teams to Myanmar before the United States even announced its support.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that humanitarian aid needs to be “properly balanced” against other priorities for the United States.
“China is a very rich country; India is a rich country,” Rubio told reporters earlier Friday in Brussels.
“There are a lot of other countries in the world, and everyone should pitch in,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s fair to assume that the United States needs to continue to share the burden — 60, 70 per cent — of humanitarian aid around the world,” he said.
He took issue with critics who said that the US response could have been faster, saying: “These are people that are part of that NGO industrial complex.”
“They have a military junta that doesn’t like us, doesn’t necessarily allow us to operate in that country the way we wanted to. That would have impeded our response no matter what,” he said.