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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Three selected by Obama may be one too many
In February 2008, a helicopter transporting three U.S. senators had to make an emergency landing in Afghanistan. A crash was averted and all three ― Joe Biden, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel ― survived. Already friends, they bonded over the experience, say people who know them.Now these three amigos are set to reunite in the Obama Cabinet, Biden as veep, Kerry as secretary of state, and former Republican Sen. Hagel as secretary of defense ― although his confirmation hearings will be contentious. The
Jan. 30, 2013
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Leader with spine takes on world heavyweight
Say what you want about Benigno Aquino, but the Philippine president has some brass. First he arrested predecessor Gloria Arroyo on corruption charges and ousted her Supreme Court chief justice. Then he took on the powerful Catholic Church, shepherding free-contraception laws that enraged the Vatican. Next he ran afoul of the local tycoons by backing higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. By tackling these issues along with economic reforms, Aquino’s country is on the way toward an investment-g
Jan. 30, 2013
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[Itamar Rabinovich] Netanyahu set to become weaker prime minister
TEL AVIV ― Few foresaw the surprising setback suffered by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his Likud party, and the right in general in Israel’s recent general election. It is an outcome that will have important ramifications for Israel’s domestic politics and foreign policy alike, particularly its Middle Eastern diplomacy.Although the final vote tally awaits (soldiers’ votes have not yet been fully counted), the basic result is known. Given the current stalemate between the right and left, a
Jan. 30, 2013
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[Daniel Fiedler] Pardoning corruption again
Once again during his presidential term, Lee Myung-bak has used the presidential pardon power, and once again during his presidential term the pardon power has been misused. Although the Blue House asserts such uses have been in strict accordance with law or in the pursuit of the national interest, the truth is that the use of this power to pardon family members, close confidants, or high-ranking chaebol members disregards both the spirit of the power and the original intent behind the power. Ev
Jan. 29, 2013
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Egypt’s transition needs some quiet U.S. help
If ever there was a moment for the U.S. to lead from behind, it is in Egypt and it is now. The popular revolt that began in Cairo’s Tahrir Square two years ago was the most inspiring of the Arab Spring, but what has followed has proved to be the opposite. Amid the chaos, the U.S., Europe and others are holding back on commitments to the Arab world’s largest and most important country. Every step along the way since former President Hosni Mubarak left office in February 2011 has demonstrated how
Jan. 29, 2013
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This soldier’s skill had nothing to do with gender
Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a hunter.She tracked men and she killed them. And no woman was ever better at it.She’d hide under bushes in the snow. Or she’d find a burned-out building and watch in the gray rubble in the cold, waiting for enemy soldiers.And when she’d see them, she’d put her scope on them from a distance, put the cross hairs right on their heads or chests, and pull the trigger.Lyudmila Pavlichenko, hero of the Soviet Union, was a sniper, credited with an astounding 309 kills during Wo
Jan. 29, 2013
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Israeli vote settles little
Here’s a pop quiz for those who have been too busy to notice the surprising results of last week’s Israeli election: Was the key issue (1) Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s testy relationship with President Obama; (2) whether Israel should bomb Iran’s nuclear sites; or (3) whether to revive the mummified peace process?Answer: None of the above. Issues of war and peace had little to do with the sliding support for Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition. (He’ll still be prime minister but will
Jan. 29, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Time to put an end to ‘guilt by association’
In Korea, the specter called “guilt by association” is rampant. Recently, a member of the presidential transition committee resigned from his post. As usual, newspapers immediately jumped to all sorts of conclusions, assuming that he must have had some fatal flaws in his career which did not pass the government’s background check. The reporters conjectured that a possible reason for his abrupt resignation was because his wife’s family is ridiculously wealthy. Some other ungrounded guesses includ
Jan. 29, 2013
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Taiwan must put a stop to brain-drain cycle
Two sets of figures published this week concerning Taiwan’s employment indeed show some of the country’s problems. The lesson, though, is less about the labor market itself and more about its educational, social and economic development.The government’s monthly report on employment showed that the December jobless rate dropped to 4.18 percent, improving by 0.09 percentage points compared to November. Despite the improvement, unemployment among the young and educated is on the rise.Meanwhile, a p
Jan. 28, 2013
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[Alfred Gusenbauer] The American comeback kid
VIENNA ― As is customary at the start of a new year, imposing statistics and trend forecasts are being trumpeted worldwide. For example, in 2016, China is expected to replace the United States as the world’s largest economy. And, by 2040, India’s population will have reached 1.6 billion, surpassing China’s, which will have stagnated a decade earlier. Perhaps the most startling projection is that the U.S. will become an energy exporter by 2020, and will become energy self-sufficient 15 years late
Jan. 28, 2013
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Paul Krugman’s worn-out ideas for Japan
Let’s get over this honeymoon for Japan’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and do a reality check on his idea that the economy is about to boom now that voters have returned him to office. At first, I wondered if I had lost my bearings. Was I just hopelessly cynical after 11 years in Tokyo, watching a numbing parade of inept leaders come and go as the Liberal Democratic Party pledged change that never arrived? The steps Abe has taken in the first few weeks of his latest premiership restored my fa
Jan. 28, 2013
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Science and vaccine diplomacy for Korea
Could “vaccine diplomacy” work on the Korean peninsula? The short answer is yes.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in a New Year’s Day speech, called for reductions in international tension and an end to confrontation with South Korea, while raising the prospect of reunification between the North and South. Ultimately, science diplomacy could play an essential role in helping catalyze improved North-South relations in 2013, with joint programs for elimination of neglected diseases as a cornerstone
Jan. 28, 2013
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[Peter Sutherland] Cameron heralds a new era of turbulence for U.K.
LONDON ― Unlike some in Britain’s Conservative Party, Prime Minister David Cameron has not previously given the impression of being obsessed with Europe. He demonstrated no enthusiasm for the European Union, but he appeared clearly less exercised by its supposed iniquities than many Tories are.This view of Cameron’s position is now difficult to sustain. His long-gestating speech on Europe, although containing elements that many might share, also sows the seeds for a prolonged and acrimonious deb
Jan. 28, 2013
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[David Ignatius] Barack Obama ― politician
WASHINGTON ― In his essay “Politics as a Vocation,” the German sociologist Max Weber famously wrote that “politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” In this sense, it seems possible that Barack Obama has finally come to embrace the vocation of politics as he begins his second term as president. I’m saddened by some of what Obama has learned on the way to becoming the politician who can drill those hard boards. I like his voice better when he tries to speak to all Americans, including
Jan. 27, 2013
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Web fuels fight for free speech in China
We all understand the way the Internet has changed everything in the United States, from the way goods are sold to how news is distributed and political campaigns are run.But in China, the growth in number of users, size of e-commerce markets, and profitability of the Internet has already exceeded, or will soon surpass, what has happened here. Some 564 million of the nation’s 1.3 billion people were accessing the Internet in 2012, up 10 percent in a year. And the changes that behavior will bring
Jan. 27, 2013
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Buried history of the Vietnam War in Hanoi
Out beyond the swank poolside bar at Hanoi’s Metropole hotel, which I visited last month, a gated entrance opens onto a dark set of stairs. At the bottom is a dank and musty bomb shelter, and, for those who can read Vietnamese, a sign in golden lettering explaining that Joan Baez and Jane Fonda once took refuge there.I did too, though not at the same time they did.I was a 25-year-old antiwar activist when I traveled to Hanoi in December 1965. I was working as a community organizer in Newark, New
Jan. 27, 2013
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Clinton’s exit highlights Obama’s weaknesses
With her old friend Senator John McCain attacking her and Senator Rand Paul asserting that she should have been fired, Hillary Clinton’s last appearances before Congress last Tuesday seemingly made for an ugly stage exit. We see it differently. In the hearings, Clinton displayed some of her best attributes. She was in command of the facts. She focused on what could be done better. She rose above ideology. And with flashes of both anger and sorrow, particularly at the memory of meeting the famili
Jan. 27, 2013
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[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Beggar thy currency or beggar thy self?
NEWPORT BEACH ― Not many countries nowadays seek a strong exchange rate; a few, including systemically important ones, are already actively weakening their currencies. Yet, because an exchange rate is a relative price, all currencies cannot weaken simultaneously. How the world resolves this basic inconsistency over the next few years will have a major impact on prospects for growth, employment, income distribution, and the functioning of the global economy.Japan is the latest country to say enou
Jan. 27, 2013
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Pakistan: A nation coming apart at the seams
Distracted by the deadly violence in Mali and Algeria, no one seems to be paying adequate attention to the tragicomedy under way in Pakistan.This matters because events of the last week demonstrate without equivocation that Pakistan is an utterly failed state ― but one that possesses nuclear weapons. The country is tumbling down the abyss. Where else could a fundamentalist Muslim cleric who lives in Canada draw tens of thousands of fans to a rally calling for dissolution of the government ― spea
Jan. 25, 2013
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[Jeffrey Frankel] Fixing Europe’s fiscal problems
CAMBRIDGE ― At the start of 2013, the eurozone’s “fiscal compact” entered into force, owing to its ratification on Dec. 21 by a 12th country, Finland, a year after German Chancellor Angela Merkel prodded eurozone leaders into agreement. The compact ― technically called the Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union ― requires member countries to introduce laws limiting their structural government budget deficits to less than 0.5 percent of GDP (or less t
Jan. 25, 2013