Informing, engaging & connecting the people of the world. MARCH 5, 2020

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As advertising campaigns for major world cities go, “Let’s Take a Break From Social Life” is not exactly inspiring. The slogan, though, rolled out by Seoul authorities this week, accurately describes life for many South Koreans these days, as they limit face-to-face interaction to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On March 5, 1963, the Hula-Hoop is patented. First marketed in 1958, the plastic ring that users swiveled around their hips, became a major American fad, selling an estimated 25 million in the first four months it was available. The idea for the Hula-Hoop came after its creators saw Australian kids swiveling a wooden hoop during gym classes. The plastic version, which derives its name from the Hawaiian dance of the same name, was demonstrated on playgrounds in Southern California, launching an intense but short-lived mania.

VIDEO: The United States on Wednesday recognized 12 women from around the globe with International Women of Courage awards for their leadership in advocating for human rights, democracy, gender equality and women’s empowerment. One of the honorees is Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh, who exposed the existence of a Muslim detention camp in China’s Xinjiang region.

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a high stakes meeting Thursday in Moscow aimed at de-escalating tensions between armies of Turkey, a NATO member, and Russia, a nuclear superpower, in Syria’s war-torn Idlib province.

VIDEO: Its doomed maiden voyage happened more than a century ago, but the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 remains the stuff of popular culture and the object of deep-sea salvage. A firm has recovered more than 5,000 of its artifacts, but as VOA reports, time may be running out to raise the ship’s Holy Grail.

VIDEO: If someone were to pile up all textile waste that New Yorkers send to landfills every year, the resulting heap would be as tall as the Empire State Building, according to the NYC Sanitation Department. But the Big Apple fashion designers seem to know how to reduce that and are happy to show the world what to do with old clothes during ReFashion Week NYC.