Elderly South Korean defects to the North
SEOUL • A South Korean man has defected to North Korea, following in the footsteps of his parents who made a high-profile switch of allegiance in the 1980s, according to Pyongyang's state media.
Mr Choe In-guk, 72 - the son of former South Korean foreign minister Choe Dok-shin, who died in 1989, three years after moving to the North with his wife - landed in Pyongyang last Saturday, the state-run Uriminzokkiri reported.
In video footage filmed at an airport and posted by the website on Sunday, Mr Choe said he had decided to live in the North to "fulfil the wishes" of his parents.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BA faces $312m fine over data theft
LONDON • British Airways owner IAG is facing a record US$230 million (S$312 million) fine over the theft of data from 500,000 customers from its website last year, under new data-protection rules policed by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
The ICO proposed a penalty of £183.4 million, or 1.5 per cent of British Airways' 2017 worldwide turnover, for the hack which it said exposed poor security arrangements at the airline.
BA indicated that it planned to appeal against the fine, the product of European data protection rules, called GDPR, that came into force last year. The rules allow regulators to fine companies up to 4 per cent of their global turnover for failing to protect data.
REUTERS
Gamer pleads guilty to hitting partner
SYDNEY • A gamer who inadvertently broadcast an audio of himself striking his pregnant partner while playing the online video game Fortnite yesterday pleaded guilty to assault in a Sydney court.
Luke Munday, 26, admitted to hitting his partner after she repeatedly told him to stop playing the popular video game last December, public broadcaster ABC reported.
Munday had been livestreaming his session on the video platform Twitch, allowing audio of the assault to be broadcast worldwide and go viral on social media.
He pleaded guilty to common assault, which can carry a potential fine and two-year prison term, and will be sentenced next month, the ABC said.
According to police, another user watching the feed called officers, who arrested Munday at his home in the south-west Sydney suburb of Oran Park.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
