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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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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[Robert J. Fouser] AI changes rationale for learning languages
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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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[Daoud Kuttab] Gap between peace and peace process
RAMALLAH ― The United States should stop pushing for the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Doing so might be the best way to achieve peace ― a paradox that reflects the huge gap between a peace process and achieving genuine peace.Make no mistake: this is not a call to arms or an appeal for a violent uprising. Peace between the conflicting parties east of the Mediterranean and we
Jan. 7, 2011
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[Editorial] Risk of relying on China for rare earths
China’s new policy on rare earth mineral exports is causing concern that Japan will face another reduction in supplies of the valuable raw materials from that country in 2011.Chinese authorities have announced their country will lower its ceiling on rare earth exports for the first half of this year by 35 percent from the same period last year. It appears likely that China will eventually impose t
Jan. 7, 2011
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[Editorial] Too many bad losers
Politicians in Taiwan are bad losers. They won’t take their losses lying down. They will whine, complain, protest, and go to court, even though they know they were beaten in elections fair and square. Tsai Ing-wen, chairperson of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, has joined their ranks after she lost the mayoral election in the special municipality of New Taipei City a little more than
Jan. 7, 2011
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[Andrew Sheng] Will breakthroughs in thinking come from the East?
Every year end, I would do a review of what I personally achieved and did not achieve. It is a useful reminder of what we might have missed and should really be doing in the coming year. 2010 went by like a flash. At the global level, it was a year of broad recovery from the crash of 2007-09. The emerging markets grew strongly, whilst the advanced markets still struggled with deleveraging and high
Jan. 7, 2011
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China abuses its monopoly over rare earths
China’s decision to further cut exports of rare-earth elements last week should serve as a wake-up call to Washington: The Chinese monopoly in these minerals ― essential for precision-guided munitions, cruise missiles, radar, high-tech gadgets, solar panels and wind turbines ― must be broken.There are substantial rare-earth deposits outside China, including within the United States. But China’s re
Jan. 6, 2011
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Diplomacy equals optimism over North Korea
If frequent-flier points convert to diplomatic progress, the endless tensions with North Korea might be reduced by a flurry of air travel.This week, U.S. special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, will be in South Korea, China and Japan. His trip and others hint at a return by North Korea to six-party talks that stalled two years ago, when the government in Pyongyang walked away.After a letha
Jan. 6, 2011
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[Caryl Stern] Don’t stop providing aid to children in Haiti
If you’ve never seen a child die, consider yourself very lucky. A few years ago I sat with a 19-year-old mother watching her daughter in a fast, agonized decline. The small hospital lacked the needed medicines to help. For hours the child battled for every single breath, then lost the fight. Suddenly, she was limp, gray ... gone. All hope and possibility for an entire life suspended in that last,
Jan. 6, 2011
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[Yuriko Koike] Is Cold War II under way in Asia?
TOKYO ― Mesmerized by China’s vast military buildup, a new constellation of strategic partnerships among its neighbors, and America’s revitalized commitment to Asian security, many shrewd observers suggest that 2010 saw the first sparks of a new Cold War in Asia. But is “Cold War II” really inevitable?Although appeasing China’s drive for hegemony in Asia is unthinkable, every realistic effort must
Jan. 6, 2011
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[Chris Monday] Prisoner of the Russian system: V.V. Putin
The Christmas to New Year’s period (Gregorian-style) is popular for conducting controversial business. During the little-covered Belarusian “elections,” President Alexander Lukashenko arrested his other competitors, even threatening to send the 3-year-old son of one presidential hopeful to an orphanage. At the same time, Ukraine’s president rounded up his political opponents. In Russia, Mikhail Kh
Jan. 6, 2011
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[William Pesek] Bubbles galore will make 2011 year to remember
Welcome to the year of the bubble.It may seem an odd assertion at a time when many key economies are in, or on the verge of, recession. Yet near-zero interest rates in Washington, Tokyo and Frankfurt have a way of wreaking havoc with markets and human psychology. It’s not a reach to say we have a bubble in bubbles.The forces that will make for an interesting 2011 go beyond monetary policies. A var
Jan. 6, 2011
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[Lee Hsien Loong] Yuan revaluation benefits China, U.S.
The world has recovered remarkably quickly from the financial crisis. But growth is now on two tracks: developed economies still struggling with fiscal, financial and structural problems, while emerging economies, especially in Asia, are growing robustly. The resulting global imbalances have created international tensions. The Group of 20 has emerged as a forum to tackle these issues. It was espec
Jan. 6, 2011
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Efforts needed to plug big welfare loopholes
Only when those in need receive the minimum living allowance will this form of state aid fulfill its proper role of redistributing social wealth in a fair manner and thus ease the gap between the haves and have-nots. The fact that more than 7,000 relatives of officials at various levels were deprived of the privilege to such allowances in East China’s Jiangxi province alone sends the message that
Jan. 5, 2011
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Investors need to check what they’re buying
Housing prices are sliding again, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Factors include the sluggish recovery, ineffective private and public efforts to prevent foreclosures, suddenly risk-averse lenders and temporary tax credits that generated a short-lived and artificial rally in home sales. But a lawsuit filed last week provides a pointed reminder that the bubble would never have happened
Jan. 5, 2011
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[Bob Ray Sanders] Talking frankly about planning for end-of-life decisions
“You come into this world on the way out.”All my life, I have heard that axiom. Even as a child, I understood it meant I would die. Of course, as a youngster, I assumed that day would be many years away.Over time, I learned that death is not reserved for the old. Children, young adults and people in their prime could also get a visit from the Grim Reaper.Death is no respecter of persons ― no one c
Jan. 5, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Is the U.S. economic engine repaired?
WASHINGTON ― “We have magneto trouble. How, then, can we start up again?” mused John Maynard Keynes in December 1930, likening the stagnant economy of the Great Depression to a broken generator in an automobile. Fear not, he wrote, the car eventually would get rolling again, and “we need not assume ... that motoring is over.” As 2011 begins, many investors are acting as if Keynes’ “magneto trouble
Jan. 5, 2011
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[Doyle McManus] The upward mobility gap widening in the U.S.
Here’s a familiar fact: Economic inequality is rising in the United States. The rich have gotten richer, the poor have stayed poor, and families in the middle have seen their incomes stagnate.Here’s a less-familiar fact: Opportunity in America isn’t what it used to be either. Among children born into low-income households, more than two-thirds grow up to earn a below-average income, and only 6 per
Jan. 5, 2011
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[Trudy Rubin] Areas to watch for progress in 2011
I hope that 2011 will provide better foreign policy stories than 2010 did.Consider this woeful litany: The continuing fighting in Afghanistan, the jihadis and floods of Pakistan, a recovering but deeply troubled Iraq, a nuclear-bent Iran that crushed the “Green” opposition. Add a failed Mideast peace process, an increasingly aggressive China and regressive Russia, and a United States drawn inward
Jan. 5, 2011
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[Sanjeev Sanyal] India’s elites in legitimacy crisis amid series of scandals
NEW DELHI ― For a country with 1.2 billion people, India is ruled by a surprisingly small elite, which runs everything from the government to large companies and even sports bodies. But a series of scandals, some involving billions of dollars, has now seriously undermined that elite’s standing in the eyes of the Indian public.Almost anyone in a position of power in India, including well-known prin
Jan. 5, 2011
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No more agonizing over same-sex marriage
We can’t peer into President Obama’s soul, but his statement last week that he is “struggling” with whether to endorse same-sex marriage is open to an unedifying interpretation. Given the president’s support of gay rights in other contexts, his opposition to marriage equality raises the question of whether the struggle Obama referred to is between politics and principle. If so, we hope principle w
Jan. 4, 2011
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Top universities may reopen door to ROTC
With his signature last week, President Obama ended the military’s distasteful policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” In doing away with this discriminatory practice, he also ushered the American armed forces back into the mainstream of American life. One salutary consequence is that some of the nation’s most prestigious universities now are willing to host Reserve Officer Training Corps units on thei
Jan. 4, 2011