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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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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The Philippines becomes more business-friendly
Efforts to make it easier for investors to do business in the Philippines are finally starting to pay off. The World Bank and its investment arm, International Finance Corp., released last week the 2014 Doing Business global rankings, with the Philippines posting the most significant jump among the 189 countries covered by the study ― 30 rungs, from 138th in the 2013 rankings to 108th in the latest.This remarkable rise is attributed to key reforms that made it easier for businesses to get credit
Nov. 7, 2013
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Amnesty reflects the how and why of Thai crisis
This is what we were talking about ― the manner in which the “amnesty bill” has been rewritten for just one man and then rushed through the House of Representatives. This is why the term “abuse of democratic mandate” was invented and then unfortunately mistaken as an effort by “coup apologists” to defend all the things that happened to Thaksin Shinawatra. This is why the Thai democracy is so associated with corruption, so much so that we can never be sure which one is the real driving force.This
Nov. 7, 2013
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[David Ignatius] The shape of an Iran deal
WASHINGTON ― As the Obama administration moves into a decisive stage of nuclear negotiations with Iran, officials are considering a two-step process that would begin with a freeze and modest rollback of Iranian enrichment of uranium, matched by a limited easing of U.S.-led economic sanctions on Tehran. Officials hope this first phase would be followed later by a comprehensive agreement that would lift all sanctions in return for a verifiable halt in Iranian nuclear weapons capability. This secon
Nov. 6, 2013
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In the real world, everyone spies on everyone else
I guess it’s not surprising that nobody in Berlin got the joke Barack Obama told on his visit in 2008, when he pledged to a wildly cheering crowd that his election would mean a new era of “allies who will listen to each other.” True, the president’s sense of comic timing needs some fine-tuning: It took five years for him to deliver the punch line ― that he’d be doing his listening on an NSA tap of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel’s cell phone. But give him a break ― it took three seasons befo
Nov. 6, 2013
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[Andres Oppenheimer] Litigation imposes drag on growth
There are many reasons why potentially-rich Latin American nations are growing at a slower pace than their Asian counterparts but one of the least noticed factors ― and one in need of urgent attention ― is that a Latin American may grow old before being able to enforce a business contract in many countries of the region.A new study by the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation, titled “Doing Business 2014,” provides a ranking of the world’s countries with the most cumbersome liti
Nov. 6, 2013
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Risk of reading Bible through modern diagnostics
How did David defeat Goliath? According to the Bible, it was because God was on his side. But according to Malcolm Gladwell, it was largely because Goliath had a disorder known as acromegaly, a tumor on the pituitary gland.This disorder, identified in the late 19th century, manifests as gigantism, and it may affect vision. Gladwell lays out his case in his new book, “David and Goliath.” Acromegaly could account for Goliath’s unusual size, he writes, and the vision problems it can cause could exp
Nov. 6, 2013
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Primary care technician will see you now
One obvious way to address the shortage of primary medical care in the U.S. is to train more people who can provide it. Even if this could somehow happen overnight, though, it wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem: Only 1 in 4 medical-school graduates goes into primary care (the least lucrative area of medicine), and no more than half of nurses and physician assistants do.Just as important, those who do practice general medicine are rarely drawn to work in the rural and inner-city areas where p
Nov. 6, 2013
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Change voting laws before Constitution
In shutting down the government, Congress reached a new level of dysfunction. While many pundits castigated individuals and parties, others more insightfully focused on institutional rules, such as the role of gerrymandering, closed primaries and campaign spending.Others went further. Comparative politics scholar Juan Linz famously demonstrated that presidential democracies are prone to dysfunction, which the United States has largely avoided by having big tent parties that are “diffuse” and all
Nov. 6, 2013
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[Bennett Ramberg] Iran’s nuclear quandary
LOS ANGELES ― When the United States and its allies resume talks over Iran’s nuclear program on Nov. 7-8, the vexing task of crafting Iran’s recent proposal into an enduring agreement will begin in earnest. There are many obstacles to an agreement, but among the least examined is the legacy of nuclear-disarmament efforts involving Libya and North Korea. Both cases raise issues that neither Iran nor the U.S. wants to see repeated ― but that both will have difficulty avoiding.For the U.S., North K
Nov. 5, 2013
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Internet adoptions should be shut down
If you’re desperate for a child or desperate to be rid of one, the Internet is here to help. You can save time, avoid bureaucratic interference and escape the prying eyes of child welfare busybodies. Yes, it’s every bit as awful as it sounds. But it’s true.Illinois, we are told, has some of the strongest adoption laws in the nation. But those laws “are not enough to stem the horrible practice of ‘re-homing’ adopted children who are in perilous circumstances,” according to state Rep. Sara Feigenh
Nov. 5, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Confusing Austria with Australia
Until the mid-20th century, Korea was a secluded country largely isolated from the rest of the world. Naturally, the Korean people were unaware of international affairs and situations. Even after the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty in China in 1644, for example, Korean politicians still stubbornly refused to acknowledge the Qing Dynasty. They even built a monument for the Ming Dynasty inside the king’s palace even though the Ming court no longer existed. Historians say that such actions s
Nov. 5, 2013
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Signs of hope despite U.S. drag on economy
It probably won’t surprise you to hear that Washington right now represents far and away the most significant drag on the economy’s growth. This seems obvious given Congress’ recent behavior, which produced to a 16-day government shutdown and threats to default on the nation’s debt.Yet it is also important to consider why Washington is such an impediment to growth. And if we think it through, the picture appears less bleak, and even surprisingly hopeful.Washington affects the economy most direct
Nov. 5, 2013
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India shouldn’t buy what Japan is selling
An obsession with nuclear power makes many political elites secretive, ruthless and delusional, even as their cherished projects threaten millions of people with disaster. But the egregious examples I have in mind here aren’t Iran, Pakistan and North Korea. They are Japan and India, two countries with democratic institutions.Last week in the south Indian city of Pondicherry, I met a friend who had managed to penetrate the security lockdown around Kudankulam, the Russian-built nuclear power stati
Nov. 5, 2013
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[David Ignatius] More chatter than needed
WASHINGTON ― Several years ago, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, an in-house think tank for the intelligence community, launched what is known as the “Good Judgment Project.” The idea is to test through forecasting competitions the factors that lead analysts to make good predictions. One of the most interesting findings, according to a participant in the project, is that forecasting accuracy doesn’t necessarily improve when analysts have access to highly classified signals i
Nov. 4, 2013
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Military action needed to end Syrian horror
RIYADH ― No issue in the world today is of greater immediate importance than the need to end the civil war in Syria. The past two and a half years have been a disaster for peace, stability, and our sense of common humanity. Gut-wrenching images of unspeakable, indiscriminate violence against civilians have shocked the world. According to the latest United Nations estimates, more than 100,000 Syrians, including many children, have lost their lives as a result of the criminal behavior of Bashar al
Nov. 4, 2013
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[Naomi Wolf] Fair Food Program changes lives of tomato pickers
NEW YORK ― The last fast-food hamburger you ate may have cost you next to nothing. But what did the tomato slice on that burger cost the worker who got it there? Almost anywhere in the world ― including in the United States ― the cost can be shockingly high.Appalling wages are just the start. In Florida, tomato pickers earn an average of just $0.50 for every 32-pound (14.5-kilogram) bucket. A worker who picks all day ― backbreaking labor that starts before dawn ― is lucky to earn $10,500 a year,
Nov. 4, 2013
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Edward Snowden has Japan copying China’s playbook
Shinzo Abe is so obsessed with China eclipsing Japan on the global stage that he’s adopting some of his neighbor’s policies. What else can we say about the secrecy law the prime minister’s cabinet approved on Oct. 25, an act that would do so much to undermine and constrain his people’s right to know?Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party says the move ― which gives ministries the authority to classify as state secrets information on counterintelligence, counterterrorism, defense and diplomacy ― is neces
Nov. 4, 2013
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Spying is just like sex ― no treaty can ban it
The uproar in Europe over spying by the U.S. National Security Agency has led to calls for a treaty or code of conduct to limit espionage. To understand why this is naive, imagine a treaty to ban sex. It would be honored in the breach. States, too, have an overwhelming natural impulse: to spy.Spying is (or was until Edward Snowden) largely covert; no one freely admits to doing it. It is also one of the last preserves of the absolute sovereign, unconstrained by law ― think Louis XIV in a trench c
Nov. 4, 2013
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[Robert B. Reich] Irony of Obamacare objections
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says Republicans will seek to delay a requirement of the 2010 Affordable Care Act that all Americans obtain health insurance or face a tax penalty.“With so many unanswered questions and the problems arising around this rollout, it doesn’t make any sense to impose this 1 percent mandate tax on the American people,” Cantor said.While Republicans plot new ways to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, it’s easy to forget that for years they’ve been arguing that any comp
Nov. 3, 2013
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Alternative to U.S. snooping is even less transparency
PARIS ― So-called “transparency advocates” who believe that splaying out all the intelligence activities of America and its allies will result in increased oversight, regulation and accountability have failed to learn the recent lesson of warfare: Whining about what you can’t handle just leads to more secrecy. That’s how we ended up with drones.When the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, broadcast on cable news 24/7, became too much for a majority of the American public to bear, two viable options em
Nov. 3, 2013