Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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[Jeffrey Frankel] U.S. court rulings to undermine debt restructuring
Argentina and its bankers have been barred from making payments to fulfill debt-restructuring agreements reached with the country’s creditors, unless the 7 percent of creditors who rejected the agreements are paid in full ― a judgment that is likely to stick, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld it. Though it is hard to cry for Argentina, the ruling in favor of the holdouts is bad news for the global financial system and sets back the evolution of the international regime for restructuring
July 21, 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
July 21, 2014
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Intelligence agencies should prove value of technology
A newly leaked document stolen by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden last year reveals that one of the NSA’s partner agencies within the “Five Eyes” Anglo-intelligence network ― Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, responsible for signals intelligence ― dedicated vast resources to fooling around on the Internet, according to journalist Glenn Greenwald. The GCHQ has reportedly developed tools capable of playing with the results of online polls; sending out spoo
July 21, 2014
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[Robert J. Shiller] Booming until it hurts?
NEW HAVEN ― In recent months, concern has intensified among the world’s financial experts and news media that overheated asset markets ― real estate, equities, and long-term bonds ― could lead to a major correction and another economic crisis. The general public seems unbothered: Google Trends shows some pickup in the search term “stock market bubble,” but it is not at its peak 2007 levels, and “housing bubble” searches are relatively infrequent.But the experts’ concern is notable and healthy, b
July 20, 2014
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What to fear if China crashes
Few moments in modern financial history were scarier than the week of Sept. 15, 2008, when first Lehman Brothers and then American International Group collapsed. Who could forget the cratering stock markets, panicky bailout negotiations, rampant foreclosures, depressing job losses and decimated retirement accounts ― not to mention the discouraging recovery since then?Yet a Chinese crash might make 2008 look like a garden party. As the risks of one increase, it’s worth exploring how it might look
July 20, 2014
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[Said A. Arjomand] Rouhani’s U.S. dependence in remaking Iran
TEHRAN ― Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently marked the end of his first year in office not only with smiles, but also with further evidence of his efforts at domestic reform and geostrategic reorientation. In Iran’s case, these two imperatives have long gone hand in hand.Rouhani now says that Iran would be willing to work with the United States in Iraq. The dire threat to both Iranian and U.S. interests posed by the Islamic State (formerly the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has, evident
July 20, 2014
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Obama’s foreign policy echoes Nixon’s
Don’t like President Obama’s foreign policy? Blame President Richard M. Nixon. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for the former to acknowledge the influence of the latter, even as we approach the 40th anniversary next month of Nixon’s resignation.In a recent commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy, Obama was quick to quote Dwight D. Eisenhower (“War is mankind’s most tragic and stupid folly”) and to reference John F. Kennedy (“At the height of the Cold War, (he) spoke about the need
July 20, 2014
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How to fight unhealthy air pollution? Eat your broccoli
If you live in a region with lots of air pollution, you might not always breathe easy. So it might help to sit back, relax and enjoy a helping or two of broccoli.Better yet, have a stiff cup of broccoli-sprout tea.It might not be the advice you expect to protect yourself from pollution.But a study that Thomas Kensler and his team began at Johns Hopkins University and completed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that a molecule generated during broccoli consumption, and with
July 20, 2014
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[David Ignatius] U.S. foreign policy shortcomings
WASHINGTON ― When Attorney General Eric Holder says that the Islamic State that has taken root in Iraq and Syria poses a “deadly” threat, and that he has “extreme, extreme concern” about its bomb makers, that sounds like an emergency. Yet the Obama administration hasn’t settled on a coordinated, aggressive response that might prevent this inferno from spreading. The delay in framing a credible plan for stopping the Islamic State is part of a larger worry about President Obama’s foreign policy. E
July 18, 2014
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The German-American breakup
When President Barack Obama spoke in July 2008 in Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate, he told a rapturous German audience that peace and progress “require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.” It was supposed to be the opposite of George W. Bush’s cowboy diplomacy, which alienated the Federal Republic of Germany and much of Europe. Yet six years later, relations between Washington and Berlin are more mistrustful than ever.The main problem
July 18, 2014
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A more stable world requires more stable policies
The world is lately an unstable mess, as crazily off balance as at anytime in the past three and a half decades, says a recent front-page story in The Wall Street Journal, and it’s clearly, frighteningly true.Look at the Middle East and you see bloody conflict in Iraq and Syria and escalating missile exchanges between Israel andHamas. Look at Eastern Europe and you see Ukraine trying to defend itself from pro-Russian rebels. Look at Asia and you see China telling its neighbors that their territo
July 17, 2014
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[Kim Kyung-ho] A regime isolated from history
The arrival of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at a South Korean port last week irked North Korea, which has recently mixed a show of force with some conciliatory gestures in an apparent bid to break out of its growing isolation. The 97,000-ton USS George Washington is now participating in a joint drill with South Korean naval ships, which will be followed by a trilateral search and rescue exercise with Japan in waters south of Jejudo Island next week.Pyongyang denounced the moves as a “
July 17, 2014
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[Salman Haidar] Pakistan hits back at domestic terrorists
A major operation by the Pakistani army has recently been conducted in the frontier areas bordering Afghanistan to try to control the militant groups that have so strongly established themselves there. The frontier region has long been a haven for numerous groups of local and imported armed militants; they have been there for ages, seemingly a law unto themselves outside the reach of the regular administration, but recently they have become bold and confident enough to challenge the Pakistani st
July 17, 2014
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All the lessons learned from this year’s World Cup
The FIFA World Cup 2014 brought joy to football lovers across the world and sadness to losers, especially those in the host country, Brazil. It also brought with it lessons on how to truly enjoy a sporting event.Going through blogs dedicated to the FIFA World Cup 2014, I must say that the one on the World Economic Forum’s website won much of my attention. Before each match, the blog would carry a comparison between the two competing countries in four key metrics: gender equality, technological r
July 17, 2014
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What’s next for Indonesia
Indonesia went to the polls last Wednesday to elect a new president, ending what was a roller coaster of a campaign marked by character assassination, titanic debates and see-sawing opinion polls.All the reputable polling houses point to a victory for the furniture manufacturer-turned-governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”).His rival, the ex-General Prabowo Subianto, has naturally refused to concede.Nonetheless, the narrow margin (projections have shown Jokowi winning by 4 percent to 6 perce
July 17, 2014
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[Hwang Jang-jin] More respect for nonhumans
An alien species has invaded polluted rivers. The unsightly creature fouls water, taints the landscape and crowds out native rivals. When dead and ruptured, it emits toxic gas that suffocates fish.These claims are still under debate, or at least not yet proven, but they constitute a recent environmentalist narrative and popular impression about the fast-spreading invertebrate Pectinatella magnifica, commonly known as a bryozoan, or moss animal.The primitive, gelatinous masses they form began to
July 16, 2014
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Global climate change in a microcosm
If you were looking for a place to contemplate global climate change in a microcosm ― climate change writ small ― you could do worse than to consider my humble corner of the world.In some respects, this area is a laboratory for the competing climate and energy tensions that are developing worldwide, pointing toward catastrophes that appear to be more or less inevitable.I drive often through the heart of this laboratory. At one end of the trip, the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, and its 300,000 r
July 16, 2014
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[Chris Patten] History of liberty from Beethoven to Beijing
LONDON ― On July 1, 17 years ago, I was sailing on Britain’s Royal Yacht away from Hong Kong where, at midnight the previous day, China assumed sovereignty under the terms of an international agreement with the United Kingdom (tabled at the United Nations) known as the Joint Declaration. That agreement guaranteed Hong Kong’s way of life for 50 years under Deng Xiaoping’s slogan “One country, two systems.” The rule of law and the freedoms associated with pluralism ― due process and the freedom of
July 16, 2014
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In Ukraine, some good news on foreign policy
I’ve got some foreign policy good news. Really.Never mind that U.S. foreign policy appears irrelevant in Gaza, spineless in Syria, irresponsible in Iraq and grossly stupid in Germany (whoever OK’d our dumb spy efforts there should be fired).There is one important country where U.S. efforts may yet achieve a positive outcome. I’m talking about Ukraine, where Russia’s Vladimir Putin has just blinked in his efforts to dismantle the country ― in large part because Western sanctions (even mild ones)
July 16, 2014
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The Blatterball diaries
LONDON ― The World Cup has concluded with its usual flourish, and much of the world, as usual, couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement of it all ― which is exactly the outcome that Sepp Blatter wants. Blatter, the president of FIFA, the Cup’s organizing body, wants the afterglow of an exciting month of play to blot out the corruption and backroom deals ― and, most recently, a ticket scandal ― that have roiled his tenure.Times were very different in 1998, when Blatter took up his role.
July 16, 2014