The power of friendship

August 21, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

New research suggests that friendship makes a big difference in overcoming depression.

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South Korea fired dozens of shells Thursday at rival North Korea after the North lobbed a single rocket at a South Korean town near the world's most heavily armed border, the South's Defense Ministry said. The North was backing up an earlier threat to attack South Korean border loudspeakers that, after a lull of 11 years, have started broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda. The broadcasts are in response to Seoul's accusation that the North planted land mines on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone that maimed two South Korean soldiers earlier this month.

A massive car bomb claimed by Islamic State militants ripped into a national security building in a residential neighborhood in Cairo early Thursday, wounding at least 29 people and blowing the facades off nearby buildings. The blast, which went off around 2 a.m., demolished a wall in front of the government building, smashed its structure and left gaping holes exposing its offices. Of those hurt, 11 were police and soldiers. No deaths were reported. Authorities said high-powered explosives were used in the blast, which was heard and felt across the city.

Thai authorities gave confusing statements about the Bangkok bombing investigation Thursday, with a military spokesman saying they believe the attack wasn't the work of international terrorists — a day after police issued an arrest warrant for the prime suspect that described him as a "foreign man." Three days after the attack at a revered shrine in central Bangkok killed 20 people, authorities appeared to have few solid leads into the perpetrators of the deadliest attack in Thailand's recent history. Police said they suspect the plot involved at least 10 people but described that figure as theoretical.

Former President Jimmy Carter announced Thursday that he has cancer in his brain and he will immediately begin treatment, saying he is "at ease with whatever comes." "I'm ready for anything and looking forward to a new adventure," said Carter, appearing upbeat and making jokes as he openly talked about his illness during a news conference.

A Palestinian held without charge by Israel ended his unprecedented 66-day hunger strike Thursday, his lawyer said, after the Supreme Court ordered him released from detention. The decision by Mohammed Allan to halt his fast appeared to avert a crisis over two controversial Israeli actions that threatened to unleash Palestinian violence as his health deteriorated. Allan's case tested a new Israeli law allowing fasting inmates to be force-fed, a measure that many doctors say amounts to torture. It also cast light on Israel's use of administrative detention — the holding of suspects in special cases for long periods without charge.

Coca-Cola says it will start publishing information about its health and nutrition efforts after it was criticized for funding a group that many felt touted the company's message. On Wednesday evening, Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent said in an editorial published in The Wall Street Journal that he was disappointed that the company's actions have created "more confusion and mistrust." Moving forward, he said the company will publish "a list of health and well-being partnerships and research activities" the company has funded in the past five years. That information will be updated every six months, he said. The Atlanta-based company came under fire after a New York Times story on Aug. 9 that detailed how Coca-Cola Co. gave $1.5 million to help start the Global Energy Balance Network. The story said the group promotes the idea that people are overly fixated on how much they're eating, rather than how much exercising.

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