Most Popular
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Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
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Why Korean crime stories typically feature nameless, faceless perpetrators
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Debate on 'no-seniors zones' heats up
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Is NewJeans headed for a long 'break'?
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Jimin of BTS, actor Song Da-eun suspected to be dating, again
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S. Korea, Cambodia forge strategic partnership
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Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
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[KH Explains] Hyundai-backed Motional’s struggles deepen as Tesla eyes August robotaxi debut
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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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[Kim Seong-kon] We need Samsung-, LG-endowed professors
When people reach a comfortable standard of living, they often turn to cultural activities such as watching movies, attending concerts and visiting art exhibitions to enrich their lives. When big corporations make a fortune, they donate money to libraries and museums as a goodwill gesture of returning their profits to society. Sometimes, they establish a cultural foundation through which they can promote cultural exchange. (The Daesan Foundation, for one, comes to mind). And when movie directors
Sept. 18, 2012
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Heart attack is no reason to disappear in China
What does it say about China when the man seen as the next president disappears for 13 days and leadership circles pretend nothing is amiss? The answer is that officials in Beijing still cling to their Kremlin-like ways. It is one thing for Ethiopia, with $32 billion of output, to be mired in similar intrigue (Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was confirmed dead last month after weeks of rumors and conspiracy theories). It is quite another when it takes place in a country whose economy might surpass t
Sept. 17, 2012
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[Mehdi Khalaji] Iran’s strategy for U.S. election
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have again hit a wall, but the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appears unconcerned. Indeed, Khamenei seems convinced that neither the United States nor Israel will attack its nuclear facilities ― at least not before the U.S. presidential election in November. Ironically, while Khamenei is no fan of democracy, he relies on the fact that his principal enemies are bound by democratic constraints. Khamenei controls Iran’s
Sept. 17, 2012
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To be presidential, Romney must first be truthful
Presidential campaigns sometimes turn on big moments that help voters ponder the central question they have about every challenger: What would this person actually be like as president? These aren’t the same as gaffes, which are slips of the tongue that may be politically damaging but say little about the candidates except that they misspoke. I’m talking instead about critical moments of miscalculation ― often made in desperation ― that illuminate important truths about a politician. In 1964, Ba
Sept. 17, 2012
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Castration as a measure against child rape
Imagine a town which has outlawed the most conventional form of criminal punishment, imprisonment. It believes that incarcerating a human being in a jail cell for five, 10 or 20 years is cruel and outdated. Instead, it reintegrates “criminals” back into the community with counseling and encouragement. It has concluded that locking up a human being, whatever his crime, is an infringement of his human right to freedom and liberty. The aforementioned example is a paradisiacal community. When one co
Sept. 17, 2012
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[Shashi Tharoor] India’s parliament held hostage by the opposition
NEW DELHI ― The ongoing disruption of the “monsoon session” of the Indian parliament has showcased both the resilience of India’s democracy and the irresponsibility with which its custodians treat it.Demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the allegedly improper allocation of coal-mining blocks to private companies, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has stalled parliament’s work for three of the session’s four weeks. The repeated paralysis of parliament by slogan-shou
Sept. 17, 2012
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[Dominique Moisi] For whom the Syrian bell tolls
PARIS ― With every passing week, the Syrian conflict increasingly resembles the Spanish Civil War. The images of warplanes bombing civilians and destroying cities have turned Aleppo into a latter-day version of Guernica, immortalized in Picasso’s masterpiece. But the real similarities between the two conflicts are to be found in the behavior of the international community’s main actors, which have again taken opposite sides. On one side stand Russia and Iran, cynically determined to buttress Pre
Sept. 16, 2012
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Looking beyond religion in the Middle East
The chaotic violence that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three American staffers in Libya, and that resulted in a mob storming the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, has been garbed in religious language and references. However, the religious rhetoric from all corners distracts from the real issues: serious domestic political fragmentation in Libya and Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and America’s place in the region.Media attention has focused on a polemic 14-minute movie trai
Sept. 16, 2012
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Japan must listen to the truth about its history
When it comes to Japan’s spirit of the development, Japanese believe in Iitokodori ― getting good things from others regardless of historical relations or cultural differences, only if they are beneficial to Japan. That suits an island country with few natural resources, and there is no doubt that Japan’s flourishing development is thanks partly to the inherent characteristics of Iitokodori.The problem is, though, Tokyo has never been reluctant to take any actions against other neighboring count
Sept. 16, 2012
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[Meghan Daum] Naomi Wolf’s vaginal sideshow
It’s a strange time to be a woman. I say this not because state legislatures enacted no less than 95 restrictions on reproductive rights this year. I say it not because, at the same time, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker repealed his state’s equal pay law and Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman conjectured that “money is more important for men.” Or because, just last month, an alarming number of male legislators demonstrated serious confusion about the birds and the bees.I’m saying it because Naomi W
Sept. 16, 2012
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[Eli Park Sorensen] Exchanging experiences among generations
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s autobiography “Living to Tell the Tale” (2002) begins with an anecdote from his youth. One day his mother asks him to assist her on a journey back to the world of his grandparents, Aracataca, the place where Garcia Marquez grew up. The grandparents have passed away, and their house is about to be sold. The house, however, turns out to be worthless, too old and damaged.In fact, the whole town has turned into a withering memory of bygone days, a place living in the past ra
Sept. 16, 2012
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Is Vladimir Putin the Russian Reagan?
It would seem that we’re now at the stage of global economic lunacy where the worldwide socialist slide is so far gone that the president of Russia is lecturing the world, and particularly Europe, about the risks of socialism.Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Vladivostok, Russia, Vladimir Putin promoted the merits of free-market economics. He said that by pulling the former Soviet satellite states into its sphere after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Europe chose to t
Sept. 14, 2012
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[Robert B. Reich] ‘Basic bargain’ and recovery
The question at the core of America’s upcoming presidential election isn’t merely whose story most voting Americans believe to be true ― Mitt Romney’s claim that the economy is in a stall and Obama’s policies haven’t worked, or Barack Obama’s claim that it’s slowly mending and his approach is working.If that were all there was to it, last Friday’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the economy added only 96,000 jobs in August ― below what’s needed merely to keep up with the growt
Sept. 14, 2012
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[David Ignatius] Puzzled by a ‘red line’ demand
WASHINGTON ― As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his almost daily demands that the U.S. announce its “red line” for going to war with Iran, the question puzzling the White House is what the Israeli leader wants beyond what President Obama has already stated. Obama believes he has drawn the U.S. red line as clearly as a superpower ever should, given that some ambiguity is useful in deterring an adversary. For the record, Obama said in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic
Sept. 13, 2012
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Infrastructure boost in the Philippines
The Benigno Aquino administration’s flagship Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme took a big leap forward last week with the approval of 407 billion pesos ($9.7 billion) worth of infrastructure projects that will address flooding in Metro Manila, improve access to the provinces and deal with the transportation problem in the metropolis.Topping the list of projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board chaired by President Aquino is the 35-billion peso flo
Sept. 13, 2012
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DPJ contenders must debate revival of Japan
It is essential that the candidates in the upcoming Democratic Party of Japan presidential election review the DPJ’s past three years in power and hold a responsible policy debate to rehabilitate the party and restore public trust.Official campaigning for the DPJ presidential election began Monday. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda; former Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu; former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi; and former farm minister M
Sept. 13, 2012
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[Kuldeep Nagi] Prejudice, discrimination bar growth in ASEAN
Today every member of ASEAN claims to be a free and just society, but where do these countries stand vis-a-vis the rights of ethnic minorities? Although there is lot of discussion about rights within the region, there is no coherent legal framework or strong laws to fight against systemic prejudice, blatant discrimination and the undermining of the rights of minorities. Caste, religion, language, ethnicity and gender ― all these are divisive forces.ASEAN diversity, instead of becoming an asset a
Sept. 13, 2012
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[Peter Singer] Public health vs. free speech?
PRINCETON ― In contrasting decisions last month, a United States Court of Appeals struck down a U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirement that cigarettes be sold in packs with graphic health warnings, while Australia’s highest court upheld a law that goes much further. The Australian law requires not only health warnings and images of the physical damage that smoking causes, but also that the packs themselves be plain, with brand names in small generic type, no logos, and no color other than
Sept. 12, 2012
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Squabbles in the South China Sea
The world has many trouble spots that have long posed a risk to peace and stability ― the Persian Gulf, Israel and its neighbors, and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, to name the most obvious. One looming danger is far from the usual arc of crisis. It’s the South China Sea, where territorial disputes and national ambitions are heightening tension and posing a small but not insignificant risk of escalation.China has long been at odds with many of its neighbors over various islands in these waters
Sept. 12, 2012
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Apple vs. Samsung: Is copying theft or innovation?
Does anyone own the rectangle? Should anyone own the rectangle?These questions may sound absurd, but they’re at the heart of U.S. patent law’s Battle of the Titans: Apple vs. Samsung. On Aug. 24, a San Jose, California, jury awarded Apple Inc. a whopping $1.05 billion in damages. Apple had accused Samsung of copying its intellectual property, including its very broad design patents for rectangular “electronic devices.” And Apple wants to use those patents to stop its competitor from selling item
Sept. 12, 2012