Most Popular
-
1
Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
-
2
Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
-
3
[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
-
4
Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
-
5
Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
-
6
Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
-
7
Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
-
8
NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
-
9
Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
-
10
KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
-
[Jonathan Schell] The fall of the house of Murdoch
NEW YORK ― During the four decades since the Watergate affair engulfed U.S. President Richard Nixon, politicians have repeatedly ignored the scandal’s main lesson: the cover-up is worse than the crime. Like Nixon, they have paid a higher price for concealing their misdeeds than they would have for the misdeeds alone.Now, for once, comes a scandal that breaks that rule: the United Kingdom’s phone-h
July 15, 2011
-
[Editorial] International assistance vital for South Sudan
A newly independent country in North Africa has got off to an uncertain start. The country needs support from the international community until it can move ahead on its own.South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, became the 54th independent nation on the African continent when it officially separated from Sudan on July 9.Over the past half-century, the Sudanese people suffered from ci
July 15, 2011
-
[Martin Khor] Rich economies caught in crisis
There was more bad news about the global economy last week. It looks as if the major developed economies are facing worsening problems that will not go away.This does not augur well for the developing world, as it is still dependent on the richer economies.An economic slowdown in the United States was indicated by last week’s data of a rise in unemployment to 9.2 percent and only 18,000 new non-fa
July 15, 2011
-
[Editorial] Social networks for Taiwan’s presidential poll
The introduction of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks and online video-streaming sites has revolutionized the concept of “breaking news” and information distribution.Using the highly visual and instantaneous new media can allow something to spread faster than the proverbial wildfire, creating a borderless, 24-hour wellspring of data that simultaneously attracts millions of eyeballs acro
July 15, 2011
-
[Editorial] Cruel news for world
For the print media struggling to survive in a world that seems to be inexorably bent on embracing the electronic media, the news that News of the World, London’s biggest selling weekend tabloid, was closing was, indeed, cruel, cruel news. If only for the paper’s longevity, the last issue last Sunday of the 168-year-old News of the World was headline news many times over. The News was an instituti
July 15, 2011
-
[Editorial] China, U.S. need more military exchanges
It is noteworthy that over the years whenever there has been a rift in Sino-U.S. ties, bilateral military relations have always been the first to be affected and that even when bilateral relations are warming, military-to-military exchanges are usually the last to thaw. With the unfolding of a series of reciprocal visits and dialogues between the two militaries this year, including former U.S. Sec
July 15, 2011
-
[Gordon Brown] Why Europe slept during crisis
LONDON ― When the history of the 21st century is written, people will rightly ask why it was that Europe was found wanting during its most intractable economic crisis.They will ask why Europe slept as an undercapitalized banking system floundered, unemployment remained unacceptably high, and the continent’s growth and competitiveness plummeted.Worse still, if a reconstruction plan does not come so
July 14, 2011
-
[Allan Luks] Charities can act as the United States’ conscience
Among the many proposals to raise taxes and cut and reallocate government spending to regain our country’s economic health, one of the most sensitive is decreasing the tax deductibility of charitable contributions.The independent Congressional Budget Office recently reviewed 11 options for revising the income tax treatment of charitable giving, and it grouped them into four categories. All establi
July 14, 2011
-
[Francois Godement] China bargain-hunting in Europe
PARIS ― In Shakespeare’s plays, comedy often meets tragedy. Perhaps Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reflected on this as he watched a performance of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon during his recent European tour. And, apropos the play, he may have been thinking: “To buy or not to buy?” In Bulgaria last March, one of his ministers quipped that “there will always be someone pointing fingers at us, whether
July 14, 2011
-
[Adam Skaggs and Maria da Silva] America’s judiciary: Courting disaster
Denouncing a proposal to cut $150 million out of a courts budget that has already absorbed a $200 million reduction, California’s chief justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, recently warned that the “devastating and crippling” cuts would “threaten access to justice for all.”California’s not alone. Last month, 350 court employees in New York were laid off to offset $170 million in cuts to the state judicia
July 14, 2011
-
[Steffen Hertog] The perils of economic populism in the Mideast
The first signs of a post-revolutionary hangover are everywhere in the Arab world. Where unity of purpose once defined the reform movements in Egypt and Tunisia, now particular interests are coming to the fore. Forces for change are fracturing. Conflicts revolve not just around the constitutional framework of the transition away from dictatorship or the place of Islam in public life, but increasin
July 14, 2011
-
[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Ideological crisis of capitalism
NEW YORK ― Just a few years ago, a powerful ideology ― the belief in free and unfettered markets ― brought the world to the brink of ruin. Even in its hey-day, from the early 1980s until 2007, American-style deregulated capitalism brought greater material well-being only to the very richest in the richest country of the world. Indeed, over the course of this ideology’s 30-year ascendance, most Ame
July 13, 2011
-
[By Jonathan Alter] Sputnik dreams lost to space shuttle realities
It’s hard to believe that less than six months ago President Barack Obama was talking about a “Sputnik moment.” In his State of the Union address he proposed huge investments in infrastructure, innovation and education to help us “win the future.” The president still wants those investments, but nowadays he means something different when he talks about the need to “do something big.” At his news c
July 13, 2011
-
[Linda Yueh] Seeing double at central banks
The current issue is that the monetary aggregate (M4) measure of lending to the private sector is at its lowest level in a decade, while inflation is more than double the BOE’s target.OXFORD ― Central banks are now targeting liquidity, not just inflation. The credit boom of the past decade highlighted the inadequacy of focusing only on prices, and underscored the need for the monetary authority of
July 13, 2011
-
[Ehab Kotb] Revolution leaving much of Egypt behind
CAIRO ― Dramatic and once unimaginable changes have occurred in Egypt over the last six months. President Hosni Mubarak has been ousted from office. The people have won the right to new and free elections. The long-feared secret police appears to have been muzzled.But this revolution has only occurred in Cairo and the northern part of the country.Upper Egypt, an area that forms more than two-third
July 13, 2011
-
[Tayler Clough ] Taxi drivers discriminate
As guests in Korea who only speak French and English, my wife and I have been amazed at the polite and helpful approach most Koreans have shown in helping us to buy groceries, get to the hospital, or travel to a certain destination. Having moved from America, a country with increasingly little patience for foreigners, we both appreciate the warm approach we have come to enjoy in Korea. However, re
July 13, 2011
-
[Albert R. Hunt] High court may wade into election-year politics
A familiar pattern of past presidential elections is that early in the cycle both parties gin up their base with warnings about dire consequences if the other side controls the next Supreme Court selections; after a few well-timed speeches and fundraising appeals the matter is usually ignored by the electorate. Next year could be different by becoming the first time since 1968 that the Supreme Cou
July 13, 2011
-
[William Pesek] Viral video says it all about Japan’s economy
If a poll were taken to pick the most reviled man in Japan, Ryu Matsumoto would win hands down. Until Tuesday, he had Japan’s second-most important job: reconstruction minister. Four months after the earthquake and tsunami, no issue looms larger than how Japan rebuilds, boosts growth and reassesses its nuclear industry. On July 3, a week into the job, Matsumoto headed north to check the devastatio
July 12, 2011
-
[Lee Jae-min] A new start for South Sudan
The establishment of South Sudan last weekend sowed a seed of new hope. For the seed to bear fruit, wholehearted assistance from the international community is crucial.A major breakup occurred over the weekend and this one was very peaceful. The southern part of Sudan seceded from the country and went independent. The Republic of South Sudan was thus established on July 9 with the attendance of ma
July 12, 2011
-
[Naomi Klein] Climate change and disaster in Montana
“We’re a disaster area,” Alexis Bonogofsky told me, “and it’s going to take a long time to get over it.”Bonogofsky and her partner, Mike Scott, are all over the news this week, telling the world about how Montana’s Exxon Mobil pipeline spill has fouled their goat ranch and is threatening the health of their animals.But my conversation with Bonogofsky was four full days before the pipeline began po
July 12, 2011