Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Aisle-crossing centrists diminishing in Senate
When independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced Wednesday that he wouldn’t seek a fifth term, there was hardly a wet eye in the house. It’s hard to find anybody, conservative or liberal, who has nice things to say about Lieberman, who is so disliked in his home state that the threat of competition from a former pro-wrestling promoter was apparently enough to scare him away from the 20
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Linda P. Campbell] Overdoing it on rights of corporations
If a corporation is a “person” under the law, does it get the kinds of “personal privacy” protections real people enjoy ― just because the adjective personal derives from the noun person?AT&T claims it does.But if that’s what federal law means, it will be one more way in which corporate interests trump those of ordinary Americans.Here’s why: Corporations will be able to use the federal Freedom of
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Yuriko Koike] Peace offensive, not peace, from N.K.
TOKYO ― When a North Korean dove clutching an olive branch suddenly appears, the world should challenge it to reveal its hidden talons. This is only prudent because Kim Jong-il’s recent soothing words to America’s special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, have been heard before.Indeed, what Kim is now offering is not peace, but a “peace offensive” ― a tactic used by the North repeatedly sinc
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Meghan Daum] Gift that can come from experience of failure
Amy Chua, a Yale law professor and mother of two, was unknown to most of the world until two weeks ago. On Jan. 8, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from her then-forthcoming, now-bestselling book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Part memoir and part manifesto, the excerpt was titled “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” and led with a list of activities and behaviors that Chua’s two da
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Doyle McManus] Health care, one more time
On the most important domestic issues of the day, our two political parties don’t merely lay out competing arguments; they inhabit alternative realities.The chasm was apparent over the last few days as the House of Representatives churned relentlessly toward its vote to repeal President Obama’s health-care law. The two-day debate, carried out in a marathon series of two-minute speeches, remained c
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Ian Bremmer] Lebanon provides lessons for Iraq
NEW YORK ― After watching the collapse of Lebanon’s government last week, it is hard not to think about efforts to build a stable Iraq. The two countries have so much in common. Both are volatile democracies where any political question can provoke not just intense debate, but also the threat of violence.Both countries have relative freedom of speech, at least relative to their Arab neighbors, and
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Tim Rutten] Political speech today, it’s not Kennedy’s America
Is our political speech really more bitter and poisonous than it’s ever been?No, though it’s certainly more debased and lacerating than it was just a few short years ago. We’ve been through eras of bitterly expressed politics more often than we’d probably care to admit. The Federalists and anti-Federalists bickered ferociously. Contention over the Bank of the United States during the Jacksonian er
Jan. 23, 2011
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[DAVID IGNATIUS] ‘Smart power’ can be ‘smartly done’
WASHINGTON ― It’s hard to imagine Rome giving a state dinner for the marauding Barbarians. Or ancient Athens feting a rising Sparta. So before you make any assumptions about inevitable conflict between America and China, consider the image of President Hu Jintao tapping his toe to the music of Herbie Hancock in the East Room of the White House. The social whirl of a state visit is as short-lived a
Jan. 23, 2011
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[Su Hao] Peace on Korean Peninsula is common goal
The situation on the Korean Peninsula is crucial to maintaining peace in Northeast Asia. It plays an important role in the security and economic development of the Asia-Pacific region, and has a great impact on overall global stability. Hence, the peninsula has a special place in Sino-U.S. ties. Though the Cold War ended two decades ago, people on the Korean Peninsula are still living in its shado
Jan. 23, 2011
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[Dick Polman] Civility talk is fine, but where are new calls for gun control?
Behold the silence of the lambs. Naturally, I’m talking about the Democrats.One of their own House members has been plugged in the head by a nut job armed with a Glock and a high-capacity magazine, yet even now they can’t muster the courage to talk about sensible gun curbs. That issue is off the national agenda because Democrats have been rendered mute by their terror of the gun lobby.The timidity
Jan. 23, 2011
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[Robert B. Reich] GOP and democrats on health care
Forget the symbolic vote to repeal health care. Republicans don’t have the votes to override Obama’s sure veto.The real move happens later, when Republicans try to cut the money needed to implement the law’s requirement that all Americans buy health insurance.On its face it’s a smart tactic. The individual mandate is the lynchpin of the heath-care law because it spreads the risks. Without the part
Jan. 23, 2011
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Will frustration lead to a tequila uprise?
Many Latinos have grown frustrated by the failure of Democrats and Republicans to craft a comprehensive reform of national immigration policy. Those disaffected voters may have a new home: the Tequila Party, an independent, grassroots effort designed to mobilize Latinos much as the tea party movement has seized on the anger and frustration of fiscal conservatives.The Tequila Party remains more an
Jan. 21, 2011
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Haiti should hold Duvalier accountable
As if Haiti needed another plague, former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier made a surprise return to the country on Sunday after 25 years of exile, raising alarm about his intentions and complicating efforts to resolve a paralyzing electoral crisis.The one-time “president for life” is a polarizing figure who governed Haiti during one of its most wretched eras. His return is yet another dos
Jan. 21, 2011
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[Caroline Baum] No jobs? No income? No problem for U.S. shoppers
The pieces just don’t add up.Credit card debt outstanding has fallen 27 straight months for a total decline of $177.2 billion.The unemployment rate has been stuck above 9 percent for 20 months.Average hourly earnings rose 1.9 percent in 2010.Personal income rose less than 4 percent in the 12 months ended November.About 23 percent of homes with mortgages are worth less than the amount of the loan.F
Jan. 21, 2011
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[William Pfaff] Unrest in Tunisia and the Ivory Coast
PARIS ― Dictators do not usually die in bed. Successful retirement is always a problem for them, and few solve it. It is a problem for everybody else when they leave. What’s to be done afterwards? The popular uprising that overturned the dictatorial Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali regime in Tunisia last week sent a thrill of hope through Arab populations, or at least through Arab democrats.Except for the
Jan. 21, 2011
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[Editorial] Nanfang aims to be world-class university
Shenzhen is famous for being the guinea pig for China’s development over the past three decades. It became China’s first special economic zone in 1980 as the government pioneered the nation’s economic opening-up in this former fishing village adjacent to Hong Kong. Now higher education is the latest area in which the city is blazing a trail for the rest of the country, as it is setting up a univer
Jan. 21, 2011
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[Editorial] It is premature to ease sanctions on Burma
Few were expecting any surprises from the ASEAN Ministerial Retreat in Lombok, Indonesia over the weekend. So when news emerged that the 10-member group was urging an easing of sanctions against Burma (Myanmar), we found it rather shocking, if not altogether disturbing.The introduction of a regime sanctioned constitution, general elections and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi are grounds for Indone
Jan. 21, 2011
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[Editorial] Crazy weather
In the past 12 and a half months great areas of the world have experienced extreme, crazy and topsy-turvy weather. Both the western and eastern worlds suffered a midsummer breakdown:The hottest summer (more than 100 degrees F for the first time) in Russia, sparking wildfires and blanketing Moscow with toxic smog;The heaviest monsoon rains in Pakistan, causing rivers to rampage over the countryside
Jan. 21, 2011
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[Yao Yunzhu] Thawing China-U.S. military relations
The recent visit by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Beijing has been widely interpreted as marking the restart of Sino-U.S. military ties, which were damaged by the Barack Obama administration’s decision to approve a $6.4 billion arms sale package to Taiwan in early 2010. Both sides described the visit as successful and positive and agreed to build stable military relations by taking gra
Jan. 21, 2011
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Meet the Chinese as the landlord for U.S.
All the bluster on Capitol Hill about punishing China for suppressing the value of its currency misses the bigger picture: We and the Chinese need each other to remain strong.China holds almost $1 trillion in U.S. debt. That gives it a huge stake in our nation’s future. Much like a landlord or banker, China relies on us to pay our bills. Considering how the U.S. is asking the world to keep lending
Jan. 20, 2011