Most Popular
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Yoon, Lee end first talks with differences, agree to meet more
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What is Hybe’s next move?
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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China outpaces Korea in smaller OLED shipments for 1st time
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[Herald Interview] Mom’s Touch seeks to replicate success in Japan
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Police to open alleged stalking probe over pastor over Dior bag scandal
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'Queen of Tears' finale sets record viewership ratings as tvN's most-watched series ending
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[News Focus] Lee tells Yoon that he has governed without political dialogue
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Seoul to deploy more military doctors to fill med prof void
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Liberal bloc moves to rewrite student rights ordinance
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Asia’s next crisis is flood of debt
Asia is still traumatized by the great financial crisis of 1997, when Thailand’s devaluation of the baht set off a region-wide collapse in markets. Could it happen here again?The mere question will strike many as odd, given Asia’s rapid growth and progress in strengthening financial systems, improving transparency and amassing trillions of dollars of currency reserves. But Asia now faces three risks that could quickly undo those gains: Federal Reserve tapering, a Chinese crash and an explosion o
Aug. 5, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Turning the opposition party’s fortunes around
The unexpected outcome of the recent parliamentary by-elections surprised us. It turned out to be a landslide victory for the ruling party and a catastrophic defeat for the opposition. While the former opened the Champagne to celebrate, the latter was severely damaged by the stunning defeat that resulted in the resignation of the two cochairmen of the party. People agreed that the calamitous defeat of the opposition party was inevitable for a number of reasons. The first mistake the opposition p
Aug. 5, 2014
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Fighting Ebola is ‘like changing a tire in a hurricane’
West Africa is grappling with one of the world’s most fearsome and elusive adversaries: the Ebola virus.As of Monday, the World Health Organization had tallied more than 850 dead, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. That includes dozens of local health workers and the top Ebola doctors in Sierra Leone and Liberia. WHO chief Margaret Chan said late last week that the epidemic is out of control.As with previous outbreaks, the virus shows no mercy. Ebola kills up to 90 percent of its victim
Aug. 5, 2014
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[Minxin Pei] Hunting tigers in China
CLAREMONT, California ― In the boldest move yet since President Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption campaign, China has announced the start of a formal investigation into “serious disciplinary violations” by one of the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior figures, Zhou Yongkang. Though rumors of Zhou’s political demise had been circulating for nearly a year, anyone familiar with Chinese political intrigue knew that, until the CCP made it official, Zhou’s many powerful patrons and cronies co
Aug. 4, 2014
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Mr. Obama, it’s time to get presidential
Democratic lawmakers left for their summer recess this weekend worried about the midterm elections and despondent over President Barack Obama.Congressional Republicans were torn asunder by internecine warfare, but there also was palpable anxiety among Democrats. Based on conversations with a dozen top Democrats, mostly members, here’s what they might write in a private letter to Obama:Dear Mr. President,We write this in a constructive spirit, knowing you’ve been dealt a difficult hand in foreign
Aug. 4, 2014
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Teach your children well about business
One of my favorite institutions in American life is also the most humble and is a feature of the hot days of my fondest season: the summer lemonade stand.Staffed by neighborhood kids, the stand usually consists of a small table and a few chairs, one of which is usually occupied by a supervising adult who guards against untrustworthy lemonade drinkers. Sadly, it seems even the most innocent scene these days needs a watchful eye to keep it innocent.Just the other day, I was a patron at a stand run
Aug. 4, 2014
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[Naomi Wolf] Israeli society is polarizing over unholy war
NEW YORK ― As the bombardment of Gaza continues, and the civilian death toll rises above 1,200 ― with children comprising one-quarter of the victims ― the world has become polarized. Supporters of Israel’s actions invoke its right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks. Opponents argue that nothing justifies the mass killing of civilians and the destruction of essential infrastructure.Unsurprisingly, Israeli society is polarizing as well. Even as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s gover
Aug. 4, 2014
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A defiant Argentina imperils its future
A faltering economy. A plunging currency. Double-digit inflation. And now the second default on its national debt in little more than a decade.Argentina is in a terrible state. You might think that the architect of this mess, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, would be reluctant to show her face in public ― let alone hobnob with her fellow continental leaders.Nope. Even though Kirchner reportedly is unable to fly her official presidential plane abroad for fear that creditors will impound
Aug. 4, 2014
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[David Ignatius] The Islamic State’s challenge
WASHINGTON ― Warnings from U.S. officials about the terrorist Islamic State that has established a safe haven in Iraq and Syria sound ominously like the intelligence alerts that preceded al-Qaida’s attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Richard Ledgett, the deputy director of the National Security Agency, told the Aspen Security Forum last week that the “most worrisome” threat he‘s tracking are the thousands of foreign fighters training with the Islamic State. Lisa Monaco, the White House counterterrorism ad
Aug. 3, 2014
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Twitter still no match for Facebook
Twitter is now profitable, practically speaking. To justify its inflated valuation, however, it must overcome a problem inherent in all advertising-driven businesses: inertia.Officially, Twitter lost $144.6 million in the second quarter of this year. Normally, it wouldn’t do to trust gimmicky measures like adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) or “adjusted net income” for a large public company. But Twitter is justified in touting these. The adjustments
Aug. 3, 2014
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U.N. disabilities treaty deserves ratification
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should not be controversial: It requires equal access for the disabled and bans discrimination against them in all countries that sign on. There is no question that the Senate should ratify it. The only issue is why it has any opponents at all.Modeled after the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act, the treaty has been ratified by 146 countries and the European Union, and has legions of supporters in the United States ―
Aug. 3, 2014
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[Doyle McManus] Is global chaos the new normal?
It’s a chaotic world out there. But we’d better get used to it; this may be the new normal.The Middle East is in flames, not only Gaza but Syria, Iraq and Libya as well. Russia is massing troops on the border of Ukraine. Central Africa is a mess, as are Afghanistan and Pakistan. Parts of Mexico and Central America are ruled by criminal gangs and drug cartels. And those are merely the crises big enough to command front-page attention.“This is historically unprecedented,” former national security
Aug. 3, 2014
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Israel needs to destroy Hamas’ ability to terrorize
WASHINGTON ― Though Israel should never carelessly ignore U.S. pressure, it nevertheless must resist current U.S. efforts to impose a cease-fire on the Israel-Hamas conflict while Israel remains besieged by rockets and tunnels.To be sure, the United States has provided Israel with vital military, economic and diplomatic support since its founding after World War II and, without bedrock U.S. support, Israel could become dangerously isolated.This time, however, Jerusalem must accept the growing fr
Aug. 3, 2014
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Who’s hogging China’s skies?
Over the course of the last decade I’ve flown between Shanghai and Beijing dozens of times with only one on-time arrival to show for it. It’s an absurd and miserable record, but one that ― data confirm ― others share. According to a June 2013 survey of 35 major international airports, Beijing and Shanghai were the worst and second worst, respectively, with only 18.2 percent and 28.72 percent of flights leaving on-time.Who’s to blame for this sorry state of affairs? China’s ever-growing ranks of
Aug. 3, 2014
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[Leo Michel] Impact of Scotland’s secession
Novelist and longtime Scotland resident J.K. Rowling did not mention national security issues when she recently donated 1 million pounds ($1.71 million) to the Better Together Campaign, which wants Scottish voters to reject the independence option in the Sept. 18 referendum. Rowling ― creator of Harry Potter and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft ― did emphasize the economic downsides of a divorce from the rest of the United Kingdom. But if her funds and celebrity status help “no” voters carry the da
Aug. 1, 2014
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Steering ICT revolution to benefit all
BERKELEY, California ― Ten years ago, the world emerged from the dot-com bust and started to look more soberly at the Internet’s potential. While speculative greed and fear of missing out might have overplayed the short-term outlook, the Internet’s immense longer-term prospects were never in doubt. I, and other optimistic economists, assumed that free information and communication would herald an era of rapid productivity growth and improved wellbeing ― to a greater or lesser extent ― for everyo
Aug. 1, 2014
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[David Ignatius] John Kerry’s big blunder
WASHINGTON ― Secretary of State John Kerry has made a significant mistake in how he’s pursuing a Gaza cease-fire ― and it’s not surprising that he has upset both the Israelis and some moderate Palestinians. Kerry’s error has been to put so much emphasis on achieving a quick halt to the bloodshed that he has solidified the role of Hamas, the intractable, unpopular Islamist group that leads Gaza, along with the two hard-line Islamist nations that are its key supporters, Qatar and Turkey. In the pr
July 31, 2014
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Increasing irrelevance of corporate nationality
“You shouldn’t get to call yourself an American company only when you want a handout from the American taxpayers,” President Obama said last week.He was referring to American corporations now busily acquiring foreign companies in order to become non-American, thereby reducing their U.S. tax bills.But the president might as well have been talking about all large American multinationals.Only about a fifth of IBM’s worldwide employees are American, for example, and only 40 percent of GE’s. Most of
July 31, 2014
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Feeding the poor in a rich country
The scorching noon sun made it a brilliant day to be out in Tokyo’s Ueno Park.All around, children were romping happily with their families, soaking up the first rays of summer. Some, like me, were making their way to Ueno Zoo, Japan’s oldest and most famous zoo, at the end of the park.But I wasn’t heading there to admire the pandas or gawk at the giraffes. Instead of going through the zoo gates, I took a sharp right down a parallel path.It was shadier here, under the generous canopy of trees su
July 31, 2014
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[Kavi Chongkittavorn] Tenuous new relations in Asian diplomacy
The Dongwha Duty Free Shop in the Gwanghwamun district in downtown Seoul is regularly thronged with visitors from China, some of the 4 million who now visit South Korea annually, making it the top foreign tourist destination for Chinese travellers.At a nearby information centre, officials from the Korea Tourism Organisation answer questions in Chinese, now so widely used that it has replaced English as the second language at Incheon International Airport.The relationship between the two countrie
July 31, 2014