NASA and the other American agency that maintains long-term temperature records, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued separate data compilations on Friday that confirmed the 2014 record. A Japanese agency had released preliminary information in early January showing 2014 as the warmest year.
The University of Tokyo (22nd) and Kyoto University (35th) have maintained their positions as the leading universities in Asia.
Last year, the Education Ministry issued a booklet warning Korean high school students of 'plastic surgery syndrome', citing Michael Jackson and a local woman whose addiction to plastic surgery left her with a grotesquely swollen face.
It was also the first time Shanghai witnessed a decrease in its permanent population since China adopted the policy of reform and opening-up in 1978, Guo Feng, a research fellow at Shanghai Finance Institute, was quoted by news site wallstreetcn.com as saying on Tuesday.
"Protections that promote equality and diversity should not be conditional on someone's sexual orientation," he wrote. "For too long, too many people have had to hide that part of their identity in the workplace."