Most Popular
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Yoon, Lee end first talks with differences, agree to meet more
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What is Hybe’s next move?
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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China outpaces Korea in smaller OLED shipments for 1st time
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[Herald Interview] Mom’s Touch seeks to replicate success in Japan
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Police to open alleged stalking probe over pastor over Dior bag scandal
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'Queen of Tears' finale sets record viewership ratings as tvN's most-watched series ending
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[News Focus] Lee tells Yoon that he has governed without political dialogue
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Seoul to deploy more military doctors to fill med prof void
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Liberal bloc moves to rewrite student rights ordinance
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[David Ignatius] Saudi challenge: Islamic State
WASHINGTON ― With Iraq and Syria ablaze, the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia seems almost an afterthought. But Riyadh will be a crucial, if quixotic, ally as the U.S. seeks to mobilize Sunni Muslims against the terrorist Islamic State. The kingdom’s many critics argue that Saudi Arabia itself helped spread the toxic virus by bankrolling Islamist rebels and their extremist Salafist Muslim ideology. As if to insulate itself from such criticism, the kingdom recently donated $100 million to a new U
Aug. 31, 2014
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Now it’s Macau that’s mad at China
As China struggles to bring Hong Kong to heel, it suddenly has another problem child on its hands: Macau, the tiny island-state on China’s south coast that serves as Asia’s Las Vegas.Workers have taken to the streets of China’s other Special Administrative Region seven times this year, demanding higher salaries and better working conditions. Activists have sponsored an unofficial referendum asking Macanese if they support universal suffrage by 2019. Poll organizers, several of whom were temporar
Aug. 31, 2014
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[J. Bradford DeLong] The Greater Depression
BERKELEY, California ― First it was the 2007 financial crisis. Then it became the 2008 financial crisis. Next it was the downturn of 2008-2009. Finally, in mid-2009, it was dubbed the “Great Recession.” And, with the business cycle’s shift onto an upward trajectory in late 2009, the world breathed a collective a sigh of relief. We would not, it was believed, have to move on to the next label, which would inevitably contain the dreaded D-word.But the sense of relief was premature. Contrary to the
Aug. 31, 2014
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Sleep before class, not in it
Teenagers need more sleep. They also need more time in school. A national push is now under way to address the first problem, which is encouraging ― but the second one is no less important.The American Academy of Pediatrics announced this week what a growing body of research has found: Teenagers would benefit from a later start to the school day. Like everything else, a teen’s body clock goes a little haywire during puberty, and the hormone that induces sleep (melatonin) is typically not release
Aug. 31, 2014
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U.S. needs a bargain with Russia to fight terrorism
It should have been a no-brainer for the U.S. and Russia to cooperate to fight Islamic radicals in the Middle East. But even if you place the high-jump bar on the ground, some people will still manage to trip over it ― then insist on going back and tripping over it again.Everything was perfectly set up for a strategic partnership. Both countries’ special forces had long been conducting joint counterterrorism exercises. Some were even conducted on American soil, at Fort Carson, near Colorado Spri
Aug. 31, 2014
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Is social media enlarging or stifling democracy?
As an active, albeit measured, user of social media, I’ve been skeptical of arguments that online forums like Facebook and Twitter are the great equalizer.Some social media proponents believe that such tools unshackle public opinion and promote the exchange of ideas in forums that allow all participants to freely voice their thoughts and feelings, exposing users to a diversity of ideas.We’ve even seen dramatic examples ― during Iran’s “Green Revolution” and more recently in Ferguson, Missouri ―
Aug. 31, 2014
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[Robert Reich] Back to inequality at school
American kids are heading back to school. But the schools they’re heading back to differ dramatically by family income.Which helps explain the growing achievement gap between lower- and higher-income children.Thirty years ago, the average gap on SAT-type tests between children of families in the richest 10 percent and poorest 10 percent was about 90 points on an 800-point scale. Today it’s 125 points.The gap in the mathematical abilities of American kids, by income, is one of widest among the 65
Aug. 29, 2014
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Are good times back in China?
What’s the difference between first class and business class? Apparently nothing, at least on state-owned China Southern Airlines, the mainland’s largest carrier. According to a report in Tuesday’s Financial Times, the airline has decided to rename its top-end cabin as business, to get around a prohibition on Communist Party officials flying first class while on the clock. The airline has reassured travel agents that clients buying the new tickets will “receive the same service as first-class cu
Aug. 29, 2014
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[Peter Sutherland] A step closer to Brexit?
LONDON ― The referendum on Scottish independence, due on Sept. 18, comes at a time of growing opposition in the United Kingdom to remaining in the European Union. This is significant, because Scotland is the strongest base of pro-European sentiment in the U.K.For example, a poll conducted earlier this year determined that if a referendum on continued EU membership had been held in June in the U.K. as a whole, 47.1 percent would have voted to leave, with 39.4 percent voting to remain. But a poll
Aug. 28, 2014
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The war in Gaza’s clear loser: Netanyahu
Back in 2009, Israel was festooned with election campaign banners that read, “A Strong Leader for a Strong Nation.” They were Benjamin Netanyahu’s banners, which, even if he had them in stock today, he would not dare use.We have reached the Morning After, and this is an unhappy, dissatisfied, wounded and worried country. Israel is not feeling strong. And Israelis know that in this neighborhood, if you are not strong or do not appear strong, you simply cannot survive. Makor Rishon, a center-right
Aug. 28, 2014
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[Gurmeet Kanwal] Democracy under siege in Pakistan
The situation unfolding in Pakistan is truly precarious and is headed towards a dangerous denouement. Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, and Tahir-ul-Qadri, a rabble-rousing cleric, have led a march to Islamabad and have entered the closely protected “red zone” whose security has been handed over to the army. With Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reportedly having agreed to “share space” with the army the likelihood of a military coup appears to have passed, but the army brass ha
Aug. 28, 2014
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Thailand’s path to democracy already constricted
By its very definition, reform to strengthen democracy must be inclusive. Otherwise democracy will never have the chance to take deep root in society. And by “inclusive” we mean that all voices and all demands ― whatever their means of peaceful expression ― must be tolerated by the powers-that-be.Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said last week he did not want to see any street rallies, protests or demonstrations that might give the impression of social confusion or disorder. Rather than protesti
Aug. 28, 2014
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Wan Azizah stepping out of her comfort zone
If one had to sum up the sentiments at the PKR annual congress last weekend, it would be that the party rank and file are suffering from political fatigue.The party faithful are exhausted, some are disillusioned and others are fed up.And who can blame them? PKR went through a marathon party election that saw flying chairs and upturned ballot boxes while the Selangor chief minister crisis is still not over.The cracks were evident among those sitting on the stage and also in the empty chairs and s
Aug. 28, 2014
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[David Ignatius] Obama’s back-to-work challenge
WASHINGTON ― It’s “back to school” week for President Barack Obama, after what a CNN analyst called “the vacation from Hell.” So perhaps it’s a good time to examine what’s been going wrong for Obama recently and whether he can fix it. The common complaint of late is that Obama is “disengaged.” This has always been somewhat of an issue, given his reticent public style, but the criticism intensified during his Martha’s Vineyard holiday. It’s an odd critique: Obama works at least as diligently as G
Aug. 27, 2014
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Can Korea’s economy tax itself to prosperity?
For a supposed conservative, South Korean President Park Geun-hye is considering a shocking proposal ― taxing companies for having too much money. She wants to slap a 10 percent levy on excessive cash piles, hoping that companies such as Samsung will instead choose to spend the money on higher wages and new investments to aid the flagging economy.It’s a great idea, and one that some of Park’s peers in Asia should consider ― including Japan’s Shinzo Abe.Korea’s economy is dominated by family-run
Aug. 27, 2014
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A second round of containment debate
PARIS ― At the Cold War’s outset, there was an intense debate in the United States between those who wanted to contain communism and those who wanted to roll it back. Was it sufficient to fix limits on the Soviet Union’s ambitions, or was a more aggressive stance, sometimes described as “containment plus,” necessary?The recent spat between U.S. President Barack Obama and his former secretary of state (and possible successor), Hillary Clinton, seems to have revived that debate. But are its terms
Aug. 27, 2014
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[Trudy Rubin] U.S. will have to confront Islamic State fighters
How do you deal with a hideous terrorist group that has morphed into a Mideast state with a huge war chest and an aggressive army ― and beheads an American journalist?Since the gruesome slaughter of James Foley, U.S. officials are debating whether the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria can be contained or must be rolled back in the near term. President Barack Obama appears wedded to a strategy of containment ― so far.But I’ve been struck by the intensity with which current and former government and
Aug. 27, 2014
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China is driving the BRICS train
Rarely has an acronym led such a charmed life as BRICS. Casually invented by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economist and Bloomberg View columnist Jim O’Neill to label emerging markets of promise, it actually brought together leaders from the disparate countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Last week in Brazil, they took a decisive step toward building institutions that could plausibly challenge the long geopolitical and economic ascendancy of the West. The New Development
Aug. 27, 2014
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[Robert J. Fouser] Time for presidential leadership
Before the crack of dawn on May 9, 1970, President Richard Nixon and four Secret Service agents quietly left the White House and drove to the Lincoln Memorial, where about 300,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters were camped out. Nixon talked with the student leaders for 45 minutes before nervous Secret Service agents rushed him back to the White House. Nixon and the student leaders had little in common, and meeting did nothing to change opinions on either side. History has treated the meeting as a b
Aug. 26, 2014
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France’s fake crisis boosts the far right
France is reshuffling its government for the second time in 147 days because at least two leftist ministers rebelled against Prime Minister Manuel Valls’s pro-business, anti-spending inclinations, such as they are. As traditional center-left and center-right politicians bicker about inefficient, half-baked fixes for real economic problems, public trust for them is at rock bottom, and the extreme right stands to gain the most. Valls’s cabinet was always a shaky creation. To counter the prime mini
Aug. 26, 2014