Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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Slow the growth of the U.S. defense budget
Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ plan to reduce the Pentagon budget over the next five years is appropriate, overdue and even brave. The politics and emotions will be intense.For a federal budget awash in red ink, no government role is above review, and cutting. The Pentagon has avoided scrutiny for a decade, with soaring growth in the budget taxpayers nominally know about, and two expensive wars e
Jan. 14, 2011
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[William Pesek] Americans are figuring out who is world’s No. 1
Nine percent of Americans think Japan is the world’s top economic power, and that raises an obvious question: Huh?If we knew exactly who that current-events-challenged minority was, we could make a bundle sending them e-mails on how to redeem unclaimed fortunes in Nigerian banks. Thankfully, most Americans got it right in a Jan. 5-9 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. I
Jan. 14, 2011
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[Shashi Tharoor] India at the U.N. Security Council
NEW DELHI ― Indian diplomacy began 2011 with election to the chair of the U.N. Counter-Terrorism Committee, a body of some importance to the country (and one which many thought India might not be asked to lead, given its strong feelings on the issue). Coming in the wake of India’s record margin of victory in the race for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, this news confirms India’s stan
Jan. 14, 2011
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[Editorial] Japan’s new adults must think, act globally
Today (Jan. 10) marks Coming-of-Age Day, when 1.24 million people born in 1990 start a new chapter in their life. We hope they will take a firm first step into adulthood while retaining their self-awareness and recognizing their responsibility as adults.Nevertheless, many of them will be apprehensive about what their future holds amid the job market’s “ultra-ice age” caused by the protracted anemi
Jan. 14, 2011
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[Editorial] Procedural diplomacy
During his preview of Indonesia’s 2011 foreign policy, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa rightly highlighted the demanding schedule of the next 12 months. As chair of ASEAN for 2011, Indonesia will host more than 300 meetings at various levels. The meetings will cover various areas of cooperation of the 10-member grouping, including trade, investment and defense. Mingled among the multiple ASEAN
Jan. 14, 2011
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[Editorial] Taiwan should lead the way in adopting electric vehicles
You might have noticed a new brand of car called “Luxgen” on Taiwan’s roads. Luxgen was founded by Taiwan’s biggest carmaker, Yulon, as a separate, indigenous Taiwanese auto company in 2009. Luxgen (the name is a combination of the words, “Luxury” and “Genius”) is doing very well. The company’s website claims that Luxgen is now number six in the Taiwanese market. Yulon is, of course, just one of s
Jan. 14, 2011
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[Chen Weihua] Double standards of Western companies
For months, the West has been attacking China for tightening control of its rare earth exports. The assault is likely to escalate, as China recently announced it would slash its rare earth export quota by 37 percent for the first half of 2011. China is also introducing more stringent environmental standards for the rare earth industry, which are likely to send many small businesses in the industry
Jan. 14, 2011
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Local bellwether elections in Osaka and Aichi
The results of coming local elections in Osaka and Aichi prefectures could have a great impact on the shape of Japan’s local government. The people concerned need to carefully watch and consider the moves of two men ― Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto and Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura. Hashimoto has the idea of dissolving the Osaka city and integrating the Osaka city and prefectural governments into a met
Jan. 13, 2011
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[Kevin Horrigan] Selective wussification
For eight years, Ed Rendell was governor of Pennsylvania. The eight years before that, he was mayor of Philadelphia. In all that time, he never got the national attention he’s received in his last two weeks as governor, since unburdening himself about what he called “the wussification of America.”He was upset that the NFL postponed the Dec. 26 game between his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and the v
Jan. 13, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Cries Americans choose to ignore
WASHINGTON ― Did our angry political culture help motivate Jared Lee Loughner on what authorities say was his mad shooting spree? Maybe, but a more troubling question for me is why nobody stopped this often incoherent, irrational young man on his long path to the rampage in Tucson. I don’t just mean the people who sold Loughner his Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol last November, or the people at a Wa
Jan. 13, 2011
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[Greogry Rodriguez] Image of Americans in post-American era
The ugly American ― the stereotypically brutish, ethnocentric, bumbling traveler abroad ― is dead. He’s gone the way of global U.S. hegemony, the strong dollar and mid-20th century American naivete.Thirty years ago, the streets of major European capitals were awash with wide-eyed, culturally entitled, middle-class American tourists who were members of the first generation to take advantage of fore
Jan. 13, 2011
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[Catherine Collins and Douglas Frantz] CIA needs sunlight, and Tinners case might shine some on it
By its nature, an intelligence service is antithetical to the transparency and accountability that are hallmarks of a democracy. When the Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947, diplomat Dean Acheson wrote, “I had the gravest forebodings about this organization and warned the president that as set up neither he, the National Security Council, nor anyone else would be in a position to know
Jan. 13, 2011
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[Joel Brinkley Back to ‘normal’ in the Middle East
Life is returning to normal in Israel and the Palestinian territories, now that the latest round of peace talks is dead.Militants in Gaza are firing dozens of missiles into Israel once again, forcing Israelis to dive into bomb shelters. Israel is responding with air strikes.Israelis are building new West Bank settlements at a furious pace ― 2,000 new homes under construction right now and 13,000 m
Jan. 13, 2011
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2011 promises to be year of electric car
This year can be the year in which electric cars make headway in attracting a large number of customers who want to buy a vehicle that has no gas emmissions over a vehicle that runs on fossil fuels. But many problems must be overcome before electric cars become a transportation mainstay. Nissan kicked off fierce competition in electric car sales with the December launch of the Leaf, a five-door ha
Jan. 12, 2011
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Tobacco companies behind the smoke screen
Cigarette makers do a lot more than shred tobacco and roll it up in thin sheets of paper. A December report by the surgeon general’s office outlined a host of changes that tobacco companies have made over the years to render smoking easier to start and harder to quit. For instance, vents and other filter designs make the smoke feel less harsh even though it does the same damage. A bigger, quicker
Jan. 12, 2011
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[Mike Matz] A gift of wilderness
When most Americans hear the words “public lands” they think of our national parks or national forests or perhaps even our national wildlife refuges. Yet, what might surprise them is that the largest category of our publicly owned land is administered by a little-known agency, the Bureau of Land Management, with a big mandate ― taking care of 400,000 square miles, an area nearly four times the siz
Jan. 12, 2011
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[Erik Berglof] Emerging Europe’s reform for growth
LONDON ― After the 1997-98 financial crisis, policymakers in Asia’s major emerging markets ― South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and even Indonesia ― vowed “never again” to be humiliated by international capital markets. They set out to address the structural weaknesses that had brought their systems down.Many countries in emerging Europe had similar near-death experiences in the recent global crisis
Jan. 12, 2011
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[Matthew Lynn] Beatles ‘Revolution’ returns decades later
“You say you want a revolution,” the Beatles sang in a song that was released in the year that students across Europe famously took to the streets to protest against the established order.It may not quite be 1968 all over again. Even so, there is a whiff of youthful rebellion in the air. Young people across the region have been staging angry demonstrations in the last few months as government aust
Jan. 12, 2011
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[Albert Hunt] Shooting reveals dark side of U.S. exceptionalism
Violence isn’t endemic to America. Gun violence is.The tragic killings of six people including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl and serious injury to Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson this weekend underscored this tragic reality. Gun murders occur in other developed countries, not with anywhere near the frequency.There are almost 300 million guns in America, a third of the
Jan. 12, 2011
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[Robert B. Reich] Stealth attack on American education
Over the long term, the only way we’re going to raise wages, grow the economy and improve American competitiveness is by investing in our people ― especially their educations.Yet we’re falling behind. In a recent survey of 34 advanced nations by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, our kids came in 25th in math, 17th in science, and 14th in reading. The average 15-year-old Am
Jan. 12, 2011