Most Popular
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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S. Korean children, teens grow taller, mature faster than before: study
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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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[Graphic News] Number of coffee franchises in S. Korea rises 13%
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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Naver will consider company benefits in deciding on selling Line shares: CEO
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Obama’s tripwire postpones Australia’s destiny
Barack Obama’s visit to Australia prompted the people of Darwin to take out $50,000 worth of insurance to cover him against the risk of a crocodile attack. The gesture seemed to delight the U.S. president. In a speech to about 1,000 Australians troops, his praise of the “legendary Diggers” (soldiers who fought in trenches) and “true blue Aussies” (Australians loyal to local values) went down a treat. The applause from troops at Robertson military base showed their support for a deployment plan t
Nov. 27, 2011
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Americans Elect: Another presidential gene pool
A few weeks ago I wrote about an effort to put a centrist “third party” candidate on the presidential ballot next year, launched by an organization called Americans Elect. The privately funded group plans to stage a wide-open primary on the Internet, to enable voters to choose a ticket drawn from the middle of the political spectrum. Voters can propose anyone they like, but the process is designed for potential centrist candidates such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Sen. Evan Bayh,
Nov. 25, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Arab Spring and the Saudi enigma
RIYADH ― On a main boulevard here is a forbidding building, shaped like the base of an inverted pyramid, where the Interior Ministry has its headquarters. It’s a place that scares Saudi liberals, cheers conservatives and symbolizes the tightly controlled security of the kingdom. It’s also the home base of Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince and likely future king, Nayef bin Abdul Aziz. During this Arab Spring of turbulence, Saudi Arabia has remained surprisingly calm. That’s due in part to the popul
Nov. 25, 2011
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Flood disaster reveals the true national spirit
The government and the public will have to work together to rehabilitate the nation after the flood crisis, to ensure that we emerge stronger. Beneath the lower growth-rate forecasts recently announced by some economic institutes, there are a number of issues that the government will have to tackle to ensure the nation rebounds in the long run.Instead of focusing on bolstering short-term growth, Thailand should have a comprehensive platform to address future natural disasters, to win back the co
Nov. 25, 2011
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Cyber cooperation needed
The United States continues to blame China for alleged intrusions into U.S. government and defense industry computer networks. This month a report released by the Project 2049 Initiative, a U.S.-based think tank, details China’s signals intelligence organization, and what role it thinks the People’s Liberation Army has in collecting cyber intelligence. And last month, a draft report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission claimed that cyber hackers “achieved all the steps requi
Nov. 25, 2011
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Should Monju reactor program be scrapped?
The Government Revitalization Unit has proposed a drastic review of the Monju program, which aims to develop a next-generation nuclear reactor. The review will include whether the program should be scrapped.During the unit’s policy review session that started Sunday, all seven members of the screening committee, which includes Diet members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, criticized the program. “More than 1 trillion yen has been injected so far, but the program has borne no fruit,” one
Nov. 25, 2011
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[Shahid Javed Burki] South Asia’s whispering enemies
ISLAMABAD ― The leaders of the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation recently met in the Maldives for their 17th annual summit. Previous SAARC summits achieved little in the way of regional cooperation. If they are remembered at all, it is for the progress made in getting India and Pakistan to talk to each another. While this time was no different, there are growing signs of a thaw in relations.Improvement in the India-Pakistan relationship ― the main obstacle
Nov. 25, 2011
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Giving thanks for productive insurgents, U.S. resilience
Scanning the public arena, some might be hard-pressed to find cause for thanks. Unemployment remains stubbornly high, inflicting pain on millions of Americans and undermining the futures of millions more. The economy at large is skittish, bracing for the sound of other shoes dropping in Europe. The national debt just surpassed $15 trillion. What’s more, the U.S. is sharply divided along ideological lines, with the opposing sides sorting themselves with dispiriting consistency by race, age and so
Nov. 24, 2011
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[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Anatomy of economic uncertainty
NEWPORT BEACH ― The sense of uncertainty prevailing in the West is palpable, and rightly so. People are worried about their futures, with a record number now fearing that their children may end up worse off than them. Unfortunately, things will become even more unsettling in the months ahead.The United States is having difficulties returning its economy to the path of high growth and vigorous job creation. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of U.S. cities, and thousands of others in E
Nov. 24, 2011
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Concerns for information security in South Korea
In today’s information society businesses are becoming globalized and interlinked with each other on the Internet. In addition, companies are handling larger amounts of data and managing confidential information. This obviously increases the potential risks of cyber security and privacy on the Internet for businesses.According to a survey in 2010 from the Korea Internet & Security Agency, Korean businesses seem in grave danger of information security vulnerabilities because of hidden risks. Firs
Nov. 24, 2011
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Can the American empire fight back?
The Redcoats are coming! The Redcoats are coming!Remember what your elementary school teacher taught you about the War of Independence? The British wore scarlet coats, which made them easy marks and symbolized institutional pomposity, adherence to status over efficiency and an out-of-touch empire bent on doing things the old way. The rebellious American colonists, on the other hand, wore whatever; they were nimble, unencumbered by institutional baggage and not too proud to employ guerrilla tacti
Nov. 24, 2011
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Penn State squandered window to handle crisis
At least six months.That’s the minimum amount of time that Pennsylvania State University officials had to ready their public response before everything hit the fan in the Jerry Sandusky case. While the debate continues as to who within the Penn State community was on notice of Sandusky’s alleged sexual abuse of children over the years, it is undeniable that, since the spring, the university was on notice of a potentially earth-shattering investigation. Still, the ineptitude that appears to have
Nov. 24, 2011
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[Brahma Chellaney] Extremists waiting in the wings
NEW DELHI ― Following the death of Libya’s Muammar el-Gadhafi, Libya’s interim government announced the “liberation” of the country. It also declared that a system based on sharia (Islamic law), including polygamy, would replace the secular dictatorship that Gadhafi ran for 42 years. Swapping one form of authoritarianism for another seems a cruel letdown after seven months of NATO airstrikes in the name of democracy.In fact, the Western powers that brought about regime change in Libya have made
Nov. 24, 2011
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Tide of debate is slowly turning on climate change
The forthcoming Durban conference comes at a major crossroads in international relations, with continuing economic malaise in the West being counterpoised with the increasingly rapid shift of power to emerging economies. Mirroring this structural change is a fundamental shift in the center of gravity of the global climate change debate that few have yet to recognize. While the outlook for Durban is highly uncertain, a critical mass of countries are currently advancing landmark domestic climate c
Nov. 23, 2011
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[Benigno S. Aquino] Philippines joins the Asian race
MANILA ― In 1980, my father arrived in the United States to undergo a heart bypass, due to the rigors of his imprisonment by the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. The dictatorship offered him a reprieve, but, true to its nature, one dependent on its whims. Having already been condemned by a kangaroo court to death by musketry, my father refused to hoist a white flag. “The Filipino,” he insisted, “is worth dying for.”Three years later, my father went home, not to die, but to infuse new life into
Nov. 23, 2011
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Deutsche Bank could transfer contagion
You’ve probably never heard of Taunus Corp., but according to the Federal Reserve, it’s the U.S.’s eighth-largest bank holding company. Taunus, it turns out, is the North American subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG, with assets of just over $380 billion. Deutsche Bank holds a large amount of European government and bank debt; it also has considerable exposure to lingering real estate problems in the U.S. The bank, therefore, could become a conduit for risk between the two economies. But wh
Nov. 23, 2011
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Bulging jails are other American exception
One area where the U.S. indisputably leads the world is incarceration. There are 2.3 million people behind bars, almost one in every 100 Americans. The federal prison population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, and one in nine black children has a parent in jail. Proportionally, the U.S. has four times as many prisoners as Israel, six times more than Canada or China, eight times more than Germany and 13 times more than Japan. With just a little more than 4 percent of the world’s pop
Nov. 23, 2011
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[Robert Reich] Corporate pledge of allegiance
Despite what the Supreme Court and Mitt Romney say, corporations aren’t people. (I’ll believe they are when Georgia and Texas start executing them.)The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations should be treated no differently than people who have First Amendment rights to spend money on politics. That was the majority’s view in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ― a case that’s opened the floodgates to big money in the upcoming election.Romney agrees corporations are people, and doe
Nov. 23, 2011
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Germany should take wisdom from Keynes
Germany, with the help of the European Central Bank, has achieved a level of dominance in Europe it hasn’t enjoyed since World War II. It is to that period, and a bit earlier, that it might look for lessons on how to save a troubled European project. The rapid fall of euro-area governments in recent days demonstrates the enormous influence Germany and the ECB have gained over sovereign nations. By withholding the money needed to restore confidence in struggling countries’ finances, they have hel
Nov. 22, 2011
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[Daniel Fiedler] Why the ISD clause is necessary
These days the Democratic Party of South Korea is again engaged in obstructing the halls, conference rooms and podiums of the National Assembly. These politicians and their Internet bloggers are whipping the Korean public into a frenzy against the KORUS Free Trade Agreement. This time the issues revolve around the impact of the investor-state dispute (ISD) settlement clause. And again politicians and the Internet demagogues are spreading fear and panic, hyping the alleged imminent takeover of So
Nov. 22, 2011