Most Popular
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Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
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Jimin of BTS, actor Song Da-eun suspected to be dating, again
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Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
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What's next for the government's push in quota hike?
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Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
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Woman falls to death from acquaintance's home after exhibiting ‘unexplained' behaviors
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N. Korea slams planned S. Korea-US military drills, warns of 'catastrophic aftermath'
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N. Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea: JCS
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‘Malice should not undermine the system, social order,’ says Hybe's Bang
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[Robert J. Fouser] Social attitudes toward language proficiency
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Cruz and Paul vie for fractured conservatives
Two newcomers, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, are the hottest figures in the dominant conservative wing of the Republican Party. In markedly different ways, they both claim to be the heirs to the party’s contemporary patron saint, Ronald Reagan.In a short time, these first-term lawmakers have electrified elements of the party’s base and rattled the Senate establishment. The top two Republican leaders in the chamber, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas, hav
March 24, 2014
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[Andrew Cockburn] Why sanctions don’t really work
In 1919, after allied sanctions on food shipments had starved the Kaiser’s Germany into submission, President Woodrow Wilson endorsed the continued use of sanctions to settle international disputes as an “economic, peaceful, silent, deadly remedy.” Almost a century later, the weapon is more popular than ever, mostly because of a wholly mistaken belief that it makes the targets do what we want. Currently, the United States is enforcing no fewer than 24 separate sanctions regimes directed at targe
March 24, 2014
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The Beatles 50 years late: All you need is love, and a lasting legacy
LONGVIEW, Washington ― Fifty years after their first appearance in the United States seems an adequate amount of time to assess the cultural and musical legacy of the Beatles. The 15-year-old girls from Brooklyn and Queens who shrieked and swooned at first sight of them on “The Ed Sullivan Show” were last seen cashing Social Security checks. Hey, they’re 65. When they swoon these days, concerned relatives call 911.It’s been a while.And it bears remembering that it’s always been presumed the Beat
March 24, 2014
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[Robert J. Shiller] The global economy’s tale risks
TOKYO ― Fluctuations in the world’s economies are largely due to the stories we hear and tell about them. These popular, emotionally relevant narratives sometimes inspire us to go out and spend, start businesses, build new factories and office buildings, and hire employees; at other times, they put fear in our hearts and impel us to sit tight, save our resources, curtail spending, and reduce risk. They either stimulate our “animal spirits” or muffle them.Visiting Japan on a speaking tour, I am s
March 24, 2014
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Goodbye, flexible work arrangements
Millions of salaried workers may soon lose flexibility in how they work. President Barack Obama plans to cover them under federal overtime regulations. This won’t raise their pay. It will, however, effectively convert them into hourly workers ― putting the kibosh on the flexible work arrangements many employees value.Hourly employees get paid time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours a week. However, under the “white collar exemption,” businesses can pay many salaried employees for getting
March 24, 2014
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[Giles Merritt] The Post-Russian world order
BRUSSELS ― Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and the ensuing Crimea crisis is wrongly seen as the start of Cold War II. But, while the fallout from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s defiance of international law and public opinion will be very different from that of the Soviet Union’s long campaign to defeat capitalism, the geopolitical ripple effects are certain to be just as far-reaching, if not more so.Russia is set to sideline itself from the global economy, and by doing so it will usher in
March 23, 2014
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Don’t widen political divide in U.S.
WASHINGTON ― Renewed calls by Republican hotheads for an independent special prosecutor to investigate whether the IRS engaged in criminal conduct during the 2012 campaign should fall on deaf ears.It would be silly to elevate what appears to be an egregious mistake by bureaucrats to the level of a constitutional crisis ― particularly at a time when the nation faces what is arguably its widest partisan divide of the 21st century.Moderate GOP congressional leaders declined to call for a special pr
March 23, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Cutting red tape helps economy pick up speed
When it comes to government regulation, Korea is still a Third World country. This is well illustrated by the low rankings it has continued to receive in the category of “burden of government regulation” in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Reports.Korea’s overall rankings in the past three years were 24th in 2011, 19th in 2012 and 25th in 2013. But in the regulatory burden category, it placed 117th among 142 countries in 2011, 114th among 144 countries in 2012 and 95th am
March 23, 2014
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Crimea’s democracy trampled its constitution
Constitutionalism and democracy go together like chocolate and peanut butter, right? Wrong ― as events proved this week in Crimea.Ukraine’s constitution doesn’t allow for the secession of Crimea and its incorporation into Russia. Yet 96 percent of voting Crimeans chose secession, raising the question of why the constitution should even be followed. Does anyone seriously doubt that the overwhelming majority of Crimeans welcome integration into Russia? The democratic impulse contradicts the consti
March 23, 2014
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Can you see Beijing from the Eiffel Tower?
Last week, as Parisians were choked by the city’s worst, Eiffel Tower-obscuring smog since 1997, they were left to ask the same, depressing question: How does this compare with Beijing?As it happens, not well. For a few days at least, the air quality in Paris was much worse than in Beijing. (This was partially due to an unusual clean spell in Beijing.)Paris responded by imposing an alternating-day driving ban, starting Monday with even-numbered plates and continuing on Tuesday with odd-numbered
March 23, 2014
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[David Ignatius] America’s challenge in Ukraine
WASHINGTON ― Vladimir Putin baptized his conquest of Crimea with a powerful, unsettling speech that should be a warning that an embattled Russia is fighting for what it sees as its national dignity ― in ways that require a firm and patient U.S. response. Putin played all the strings of the balalaika in his speech Tuesday announcing the annexation of Crimea. He was, by turns: sentimental, sarcastic, resentful and intimidating. He put the world on notice that he is determined to restore Russia’s p
March 21, 2014
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The Russian Godfather’s paranoid world
WARSAW ― Russian President Vladimir Putin is behaving like a Mafia boss. In invading, occupying, and finally annexing Crimea, he pointed Russia’s guns at Ukraine and said: your territorial sovereignty or your life. So far, extortion has worked ― and Putin knows it.Indeed, in his speech announcing the annexation of Crimea, Putin spoke his mind: his regime fears no punishment and will do whatever it pleases. Crimea is just the first step toward realizing his dream of revived Russian greatness.His
March 21, 2014
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[David Ignatius] What we learned in Crimea
WASHINGTON ― From the photographs we’ve seen of the Russian special operations, or “Spetsnaz,” troops that intervened in Crimea, several things are obvious: They’re secretive, moving without insignia and often covering their faces; they’re disciplined and they’re decisive. The diplomatic response to the Russian intervention is continuing. But Pentagon officials are beginning to assess the military “lessons learned.” The bottom line is that Russia’s move into Crimea was a study in the speedy depl
March 20, 2014
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Sanctions on Russia symbolic of a hollow culture
PARIS ― There are fewer things more pathetic than watching someone take a running dive off a high board only to end in a spectacular belly flop and still think that they’re scoring a perfect 10. That’s U.S. President Barack Obama right now on the issue of sanctions against Russia. It’s a worrying attitude that increasingly permeates Western culture.Europe and America supported a coup d’tat against a democratically elected government and president in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, which in turn l
March 20, 2014
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History is a nightmare ― sometimes in 3-D
Comedy, epic, drama, romance, action, sci-fi and more: the choice is almost endless for film-lovers. But enjoyment usually trumps everything ― including some precious lessons hidden among the flickering images.The influential Los Angeles Film Critics Association obviously enjoyed “Her” a lot, naming it Best Film of 2013 in a tie with “Gravity.”Along with Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, the unusual plot must have wowed the critics. The sci-fi comedy romance tells of a guy who develops deep feeling
March 20, 2014
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Taiwan’s lawmakers stuck in legislative kindergarten
On March 12, the Legislative Yuan for the first time held deliberations over the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement, after the pact was submitted by the Cabinet more than three months ago. However, the deliberation failed to be processed due to physical altercations and non-stop disputes between ruling party and opposition lawmakers.Many DPP lawmakers on Tuesday night brought their own sleeping bags into the meeting room where the deliberation would be held, and stayed overnight in order t
March 20, 2014
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ASEAN must stand up to China over Uighurs
This is not the first such group to have arrived in this region in recent years. But our neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have always dealt with these migrants harshly, deporting them to face prosecution in China. Beijing is no doubt pleased by this policy, but it damages ASEAN’s reputation.Some 220 Uighurs were found hiding on a rubber plantation in Songkhla province last Thursday. The speculation is that they come from western China’s Xinjiang Uighurs Autonomous Region,
March 20, 2014
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[Karim Raslan] Technocrats toying with politics
Political considerations have not served Indonesians well in several sectors, and capable and honest administrators are needed.On Jan. 31, 2014, Gita Wirjawan, who was Indonesia’s trade minister, surprised everyone by resigning from his Cabinet post in order to concentrate on his nascent political career.Gita ― a Harvard-educated investment banker turned government official ― is running in the ruling Democratic Party’s presidential primaries.He’s also a close confidant of President Susilo Bamban
March 20, 2014
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What does the West want from Ukraine?
Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his country’s annexation of Crimea, how should the European Union and the U.S. respond? With tougher sanctions, certainly, and with plans to lessen the West’s economic dependence on Russia ― but also with clearer thinking about Ukraine’s future than has been demonstrated up to now.The sanctions announced so far are too puny. Travel bans and asset freezes can hurt, but only if they are aimed at a sufficient number of sufficiently influential
March 19, 2014
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[Park Sang-seek] Korea between China, Japan
A month ago Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared the current China-Japan relationship to that of Britain and Germany in the early 20th century, and the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that there are similarities between the current security environment in East Asia and 19th-century Europe. Their remarks touched off a debate in the intellectual community and mass media in South Korea. Such a reaction is quite natural, considering that the Abe government openly advocates
March 19, 2014