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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[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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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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[Robert J. Fouser] AI changes rationale for learning languages
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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[Mehdi Khalaji] Rowhani gives facelift to Iran
WASHINGTON ― On June 17, at his first press conference as Iran’s President-elect, Hassan Rowhani broke little new ground in the Islamic Republic’s relations with the West. On nuclear policy, he said that the “era of suspension is over”: Iran will not accept the suspension of uranium enrichment in upcoming negotiations but will seek to make its nuclear activities more transparent in order to build international confidence. Moreover, Iran would welcome direct negotiations with the United States if
June 20, 2013
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Ward off capital risks
The yuan keeps rising, inter-bank rates have shot up, and foreign exchange purchases have slumped, such conflicting trends have caused worries among puzzled China watchers. But are such fears justifiable?The yuan hit new highs on Monday in terms of the official central parity rate, rising to 6.1598 against the U.S. dollar before edging down on Tuesday. It has risen by more than 2 percent since the start of this year.While the economic fundamentals are out of line with the currency appreciation m
June 20, 2013
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All eyes on China’s post-1965 cohort
Talk of China’s future leaders usually revolves around those born in the early 1960s, such as Guangdong party boss Hu Chunhua and Chongqing chief Sun Zhengcai.But lately, the focus has been shifting to the “liu wu hou” cohort ― those born in or after 1965 ― as more emerge in key Communist Party and government posts.There are 15 now in the party committees governing China’s provinces and municipalities, making them a minority among the 400-plus provincial leaders nationwide.Another four post-1965
June 20, 2013
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Peat fires and the return of Malaysian haze
It’s the same old script, year after year. Right around this time, the clear blue skies in parts of our country and a few other countries in the region will turn grey.It is that time of the year when forests are being cleared the easy way by small-time farmers and big-time plantation companies.And so the fires rage on and, aided by the monsoonal wind patterns, bring unhealthy pollutants into our lives. The haze is no respector of geographical or international boundaries. It simply goes where the
June 20, 2013
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[Salman Haidar] Chinese president in America
As China has risen, the U.S. has grappled with the task of coming to terms with this constantly more prominent reality on the international scene. This has not been a smooth process, indeed it has been marked by many disagreements and considerable friction. From time to time, various negative features of China’s emergence have been emphasized in the U.S. and other Western countries, such as its record on democracy and human rights.Official agencies have led the criticism, and, taking their cue f
June 20, 2013
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[David Ignatius] Playing for time in Syria
WASHINGTON ― Critics are correct when they argue that President Obama doesn’t have a strategy for military victory in Syria. The reality is that despite his decision last week to arm the opposition there, Obama is still playing for a negotiated diplomatic transition. It’s a confusing policy with multiple objectives: Obama wants to bolster moderate opposition forces under Gen. Salim Idriss until they’re strong enough to negotiate a transition government. He wants to counter recent offensives by H
June 19, 2013
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Protests in Brazil fueled by middle-class anxiety
It is tempting to liken this week’s surprising protests in Brazil, which have attracted huge crowds in the country’s biggest cities, to another movement a couple of years ago in the Northern Hemisphere. But there are important differences between Brazil’s unrest and the Occupy Wall Street movement. Both succeeded in organizing the discontent of the middle class. Both started with specific complaints ― in Brazil, a 20-centavo (9 cents) rise in bus fares; in the U.S., the excesses of Wall Street a
June 19, 2013
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Immigration reform is more than border security
Federal spending on border security is at a historic high. Illegal crossings are at a 40-year low. Deportations reached record numbers in President Barack Obama’s first term. Let’s get on with the business of fixing the rest of our dysfunctional immigration system.We’re talking to you, Sen. Mark Kirk.Last week, the U.S. Senate began debating an immigration bill, the product of months of negotiations by the Gang of Eight, a group of four Republicans and four Democrats who are serious about gettin
June 19, 2013
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Who’s the real winner of Iran elections?
Hasan Rowhani’s victory in the first round of the presidential elections in Iran is presented in the international media mostly as an ignominious defeat to the hard-line clerics and Iran’s supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Indeed, prima facie, Rowhani’s victory seems as a ray of hope for a change in Iran’s domestic and international policy. However, a closer look at the “democratic” procedure that took place in Iran last weekend and at its implications suggests that Khamenei and the hard-lin
June 19, 2013
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[Simon Johnson] Trade deal could stick U.S. with EU bank bomb
With grand rhetoric, Group of Eight leaders this week seized upon the prospect of a deal between the U.S. and Europe that would reduce or eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers. David Cameron, the U.K. prime minister, called it “the biggest bilateral trade deal in history” and “a once-in-a-generation prize” that “we are determined to seize.” But would the proposed trans-Atlantic trade agreement really be a prize, or would it more closely resemble a poisoned chalice for the U.S.? I think the
June 19, 2013
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[Daniel Fiedler] Advancing South Korean courts
Recently South Korea has acceded to a number of international conventions covering children’s rights, adoption issues and international child abduction. In March the U.N. convention on child abduction was signed and in May the convention on international adoption. And yet despite all of this seeming advancement, the decisions of the South Korean judiciary still must meet international standards required before these treaties will be effective in practice.This is because all of these treaties hav
June 18, 2013
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Abe’s revival plan races against the clock
Are Shinzo Abe’s days as Japan’s prime minister numbered? Many will dismiss this question as premature or naive ― perhaps both. The architect of “Abenomics” boasts a higher approval rating than any of the eight previous Japanese prime ministers. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party is heading to a big victory in next month’s upper-house election. Supporters are convinced he will use that mandate to end Japan’s 20-year deflationary funk with boldness, creativity and panache. There’s just one problem wi
June 18, 2013
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Rowhani’s victory, the world’s opportunity
The election of Hassan Rowhani as Iran’s president has drawn stern warnings, including from the Israeli prime minister, against the hope that his victory signals meaningful change. It’s too soon to know exactly what it signals ― but the result is a welcome surprise and an opportunity that should be cautiously explored. The June 14 vote replaces President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a cartoon extremist who would be funny if he weren’t so frightening, with a more approachable interlocutor. Rowhani isn’t
June 18, 2013
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What we don’t know on guns might be killing us
How do criminals get their guns? Are there observable patterns to gun crime? Who is at the greatest risk of injury, or causing injury to others, from firearm use? Which gun-safety practices are most effective at preventing accidental injury? The answers to these and other basic questions remain difficult and obscure in part thanks to a senseless ban, on the books for a decade, that limits research on gun violence and denies researchers and even police and prosecutors access to federal gun data.
June 18, 2013
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Gun control is making gains after Newtown
Six months ago, Americans reacted with horror to the slaughter of 20 children and six school employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Suddenly, gun safety legislation was front and center everywhere, including Washington.Then in April, a recalcitrant Senate succumbed to pressure from gun manufacturers and the NRA’s leadership and failed to pass even the most modest measure, a bill to extend background checks to gun shows and Internet sales. The president was angry, the familie
June 18, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Blaming self vs. blaming society
When it comes to the issue of “society” versus the “individual,” Koreans tend to stress the importance of society, whereas Americans value the individual and individuality. Koreans tend to think that without society, there can be no individual. On the contrary, Americans seem to think that the individual comes first, and then society. Likewise, Koreans prefer community and the community spirit, while Americans value independence and individuality. That is why so many Koreans chant, “Long live ou
June 18, 2013
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Don’t underestimate Iran’s election upset
Iran’s presidential election presents a paradox. The vote was free enough for Hassan Rohani to score a shocking win and for the favored conservative candidate to finish a dismal third. And yet it was blatantly unfair because hundreds of reformist and pragmatic candidates were blocked from running. For policymakers in the U.S. and Europe, this presents a challenge: How should they respond to this remarkable upset victory for Rohani, who was the eventual candidate of Iranian reformists and is also
June 17, 2013
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[David Ignatius] Charting a Middle East path
WASHINGTON ― What is America’s strategy in the Middle East? That question is more urgent as the Obama administration finally moves to arm the Syrian opposition. The U.S. needs a framework that connects its policy in Syria with what’s happening in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey and elsewhere in the region. The administration’s specific rationale for arming the rebels is that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons. But crusades against WMD have a bad history in the Middle East, a
June 17, 2013
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All quiet despite warnings of currency wars
CAMBRIDGE ― The term “currency wars” is a catchy way of saying “competitive devaluation.” In the wake of the sharp fall in the value of the yen over the last six months, owing to the monetary component of Japan’s efforts to jump-start its economy, the issue is expected to feature prominently on the agenda at the G8’s upcoming summit in Northern Ireland. But should it?According to the International Monetary Fund, competitive devaluation occurs when countries are “manipulating exchange rates…to ga
June 17, 2013
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India’s corrupt cricket
NEW DELHI ― A casual reader of India’s newspapers for the last several weeks would be forgiven for wondering whether the country was suddenly bereft of political controversy, sex scandals, or official corruption ― normally the standard headline fare here. The newspapers’ front pages have had space ― under massive banner headlines ― only for a topic normally reserved for the sports pages: cricket.The cause is not some particularly exciting test match. Instead, the public has been outraged by luri
June 17, 2013