Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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The conscience of a U.S. conservative
This year, from the Supreme Court to the sports pages, discussions of racism have dominated the news. But let’s not kid ourselves and think this is all something new. When it comes to racial issues, the most unfairly maligned American of the last 50 years has been under fire for exactly that long.His name: Barry Goldwater.Political observers limit their summation of his long career as a U.S. senator and presidential candidate to one thing: his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.It is one
July 1, 2014
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[David Ignatius] Israel’s dreamer and doer
WASHINGTON ― At a farewell dinner for Israeli President Shimon Peres here Wednesday night, several of the American guests appeared to approach him with tears in their eyes. This emotional display was a sign of Peres’ personal impact on the U.S.-Israel relationship, and the way his departure marks the passing of an era. Peres, at 90, is the last iconic figure of Israel’s founding generation. All the powerful elements of Israel’s creation are part of his life story: He emigrated from Poland in 193
June 30, 2014
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Climate change problem goes underwater
When it comes to climate change, almost all the attention is on the air. What’s happening to the water, however, is just as worrying ― although for the moment it may be slightly more manageable.Here’s the problem in a seashell: As the oceans absorb about a quarter of the carbon dioxide released by fossil-fuel burning, the pH level in the underwater world is falling, creating the marine version of climate change. Ocean acidification is rising at its fastest pace in 300 million years, according to
June 30, 2014
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With immigration reform dead, Obama in trouble
For months, the dynamics of immigration reform have kept President Barack Obama off balance. On one side, he needed to reassure immigration activists and Hispanic voters that he would expend significant political capital in their behalf. On the other, he had to be certain not to wrap himself so fully in the issue that it became exclusively identified with him. If he were too bold, House Republicans, ever mindful of the base’s delicate feelings, would sink reform no matter how much it hurt them i
June 30, 2014
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[Howard Davies] Looking beyond Juncker for EU leadership
LONDON ― The European Union appears to be capable of concentrating on only one problem at a time. This summer it is the question of who will succeed Jose-Manuel Barroso as President of the European Commission. British Prime Minister David Cameron has found himself fighting a rearguard action to try to block the appointment of the arch-federalist Luxembourger Jean-Claude Juncker.The Commission presidency is no doubt an important job. The Commission retains a monopoly on proposing new legislation,
June 30, 2014
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Kim Jong-un is ready for his close-up
Asian geopolitics may never be the same now that Kim Jong-un has Seth Rogen and James Franco in his cross hairs.Their new comedy, “The Interview,” centers on a plot to assassinate Kim. The baby-faced dictator with the awful haircut doesn’t see the humor in it. His dad, Kim Jong-il was none-too-happy about being the dupe in the 2004 feature, “Team America,” by the “South Park” guys. Nor did he enjoy seeing James Bond foil Pyongyang in 2002’s “Die Another Day.” Now, Kim the younger has warned Wash
June 30, 2014
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[Robert Reich] U.S. needs strong middle class
A few weeks ago I was visited in my office by the chairman of one of the country’s biggest high-tech firms. He wanted to talk about the causes and consequences of widening inequality and the shrinking middle class, and what to do about it.I asked him why he was concerned. “Because the American middle class is the core of our customer base,” he said. “If they can’t afford our products in the years ahead, we’re in deep trouble.”I’m hearing the same refrain these days from a growing number of busin
June 29, 2014
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Russia, China subverting Obama’s Asia ‘pivot’
PARIS ― The irony of recent U.S. foreign interventions is that despite Uncle Sam’s best efforts, the ultimate benefactor ends up being America’s primary economic rival in the area in question. It should come as no surprise that the two economic rivals who usually benefit are China and Russia, both absolute masters of subversion.According to ancient Chinese military expert Sun Tzu: “Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enem
June 29, 2014
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Free trade pitfalls
MUNICH ― The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, currently the subject of intense negotiations between the European Union and the United States, is making big waves. Indeed, given the scale of the two economies, which together account for more than 50 percent of world GDP and one-third of global trade flows, the stakes are high. In order to ensure that the TTIP benefits consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, those negotiating it must recognize and avoid several key traps ― some mor
June 29, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Great power rivalry offers opportunities for Korea
Recently, tensions have risen significantly in Northeast Asia as a rivalry between the United States and Japan on one side and China and Russia on the other takes shape. Last month, China and Russia held large-scale joint naval drills in the East China Sea, demonstrating the growing military ties between the two nations. The exercises were staged north of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, the subject of an escalating territorial dispute between China and Japan.The drills were seen as the two countries
June 29, 2014
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Target practice for emerging market central banks
ISTANBUL ― Central bankers want only a few things. To achieve any of them they usually seek to nudge inflation expectations, demonstrate the transparency of monetary policy, and establish their institutions’ credibility. To communicate their intentions simply and clearly, they may set an explicit target range in terms of a particular economic variable, or announce a forecast for the variable, or offer forward guidance by specifying a threshold value for it that must be met before changing intere
June 29, 2014
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[Dominique Moisi] Return of the sleepwalkers
PARIS ― On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were murdered in Sarajevo ― triggering a series of bad decisions that culminated in World War I. A century later, the world is again roiled by conflict and uncertainty, exemplified in the Middle East, Ukraine, and the East and South China Seas. Can an understanding of the mistakes made in 1914 help the world to avoid another major catastrophe?To be sure, the gl
June 27, 2014
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Japan plays its casino card to boost economy
As investors place bets on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s program for economic growth, the success of Japan’s revival plans may rest, oddly enough, on casinos.For more than a decade now, Las Vegas Sands chief Sheldon Adelson and his counterparts have salivated over bringing gambling tables to Asia’s richest nation. Abe is nudging lawmakers to legalize casinos to help boost gross domestic product. With analysts estimating Japan’s gambling-resort market will be worth $40 billion a year by 2025, it se
June 27, 2014
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[David Ignatius] ISIL led by charismatic man
WASHINGTON ― A glimpse of the passionate loyalty inspired by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the insurgent group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, comes in a recent video made by a 20-year-old Muslim recruit from the British city of Cardiff, Wales. “We understand no borders,” says the young man, identified as Nasser Muthana, a recruit who apparently joined ISIL about eight months ago. “We have participated in battles in (Syria) and in a few days we will go to Iraq and will f
June 26, 2014
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Is the United States a ‘worthless’ ally?
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, a common favorite for the job of European Union foreign policy chief, has been recorded calling the U.S. a worthless ally. That must have been a nasty shock for the State Department, coming from a diplomat perceived to be more pro-American than many of his European colleagues.The Polish weekly Wprost has somehow come by a number of recorded conversations between various Polish government officials. It is now Sikorski’s turn. In an exchange earlier thi
June 26, 2014
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Diplomatic corps not a branch of Thai military
By agreeing to ask for foreign countries’ cooperation in hunting down exiled anti-junta activists and academics, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry has lost its way. The National Council for Peace and Order had already handed the ministry the tough task of explaining the reasons behind the coup to the international community and beseeching their understanding.The ministry has done that job well so far. The most prominent foreign nations will never agree that a military coup against an elected governmen
June 26, 2014
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Will one apology resolve issue of sexist remarks?
Why didn’t the male assembly member come forward sooner to admit to the sexist remark he made toward a female colleague during a Tokyo Metropolitan assembly session?During a session last Wednesday, Ayaka Shiomura of Your Party was raising a question about the metropolitan government’s support measures for pregnancy and child-rearing. She did so by taking into account the current situation in which women tend to marry and give birth later in life, while an increasing number of women are receiving
June 26, 2014
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Good-bye to guanxi in the Chinese job market
Tang Jun, a famous professional manager in China wrote part of an open letter to seven million college graduates this year, saying that no matter whether for work or in life, people can’t do without relationships, or guanxi, in China, which means one’s social networks are of the upmost importance for one’s personal development. So for students, using the referral from social acquaintances can be a good way to get a job because such guanxi is a person’s unique resource.Although he wrote less than
June 26, 2014
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[Kim Hoo-ran] ‘Hangover’ is an uneasy mirror
The latest music video from singer Psy released earlier this month has failed to garner as much attention as his previous hits “Gangnam Style” (2012) and “Gentleman” (2013), which have so far recorded more than 2 billion and 700 million views on YouTube, respectively. The response to the “Hangover” music video featuring U.S. rapper Snoop Dogg has been lukewarm, with fans and critics alike disappointed with the lackluster song. Interestingly, some people take issue with the music video for portra
June 25, 2014
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Obama misses chance to tell extent of Iraq threat
When President Obama went on TV last week to outline his response to terrorist advances in Iraq, he missed a chance to do something essential: convey how serious the threat is to the Mideast ― and to us.The practical steps he proposed made sense in the short run (although they should have been taken at least a year earlier): Increase U.S. intelligence surveillance of Iraq and Syria; send up to 300 more U.S. military advisers to Iraq to learn what’s really going on; make an intense diplomatic eff
June 25, 2014