Most Popular
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Seoul transit pass for travelers to be available starting July
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Controversy rekindled over when to name criminals, suspects
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[Weekender] Pet food makers bet big on ‘recession-free’ pet food market
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N. Korea says to deploy new multiple rocket launcher starting this year
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[Drama Tour] Romantic trip to ‘Queen of Tears’ filming spots
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Hybe-Ador CEO conflict gets messier
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Battery makers ramp up efforts to diversify graphite supply chain
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[LLG] Unseen inheritance: Trauma of transnational adoption 'trickles down' to adoptees' children
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‘Monk’ DJ spreading Buddhism goes global
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Prosecutors to summon pastor who allegedly gave Dior bag to first lady
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Tide of debate is slowly turning on climate change
The forthcoming Durban conference comes at a major crossroads in international relations, with continuing economic malaise in the West being counterpoised with the increasingly rapid shift of power to emerging economies. Mirroring this structural change is a fundamental shift in the center of gravity of the global climate change debate that few have yet to recognize. While the outlook for Durban is highly uncertain, a critical mass of countries are currently advancing landmark domestic climate c
Nov. 23, 2011
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[Benigno S. Aquino] Philippines joins the Asian race
MANILA ― In 1980, my father arrived in the United States to undergo a heart bypass, due to the rigors of his imprisonment by the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. The dictatorship offered him a reprieve, but, true to its nature, one dependent on its whims. Having already been condemned by a kangaroo court to death by musketry, my father refused to hoist a white flag. “The Filipino,” he insisted, “is worth dying for.”Three years later, my father went home, not to die, but to infuse new life into
Nov. 23, 2011
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Deutsche Bank could transfer contagion
You’ve probably never heard of Taunus Corp., but according to the Federal Reserve, it’s the U.S.’s eighth-largest bank holding company. Taunus, it turns out, is the North American subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG, with assets of just over $380 billion. Deutsche Bank holds a large amount of European government and bank debt; it also has considerable exposure to lingering real estate problems in the U.S. The bank, therefore, could become a conduit for risk between the two economies. But wh
Nov. 23, 2011
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Bulging jails are other American exception
One area where the U.S. indisputably leads the world is incarceration. There are 2.3 million people behind bars, almost one in every 100 Americans. The federal prison population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, and one in nine black children has a parent in jail. Proportionally, the U.S. has four times as many prisoners as Israel, six times more than Canada or China, eight times more than Germany and 13 times more than Japan. With just a little more than 4 percent of the world’s pop
Nov. 23, 2011
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[Robert Reich] Corporate pledge of allegiance
Despite what the Supreme Court and Mitt Romney say, corporations aren’t people. (I’ll believe they are when Georgia and Texas start executing them.)The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations should be treated no differently than people who have First Amendment rights to spend money on politics. That was the majority’s view in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ― a case that’s opened the floodgates to big money in the upcoming election.Romney agrees corporations are people, and doe
Nov. 23, 2011
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Germany should take wisdom from Keynes
Germany, with the help of the European Central Bank, has achieved a level of dominance in Europe it hasn’t enjoyed since World War II. It is to that period, and a bit earlier, that it might look for lessons on how to save a troubled European project. The rapid fall of euro-area governments in recent days demonstrates the enormous influence Germany and the ECB have gained over sovereign nations. By withholding the money needed to restore confidence in struggling countries’ finances, they have hel
Nov. 22, 2011
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[Daniel Fiedler] Why the ISD clause is necessary
These days the Democratic Party of South Korea is again engaged in obstructing the halls, conference rooms and podiums of the National Assembly. These politicians and their Internet bloggers are whipping the Korean public into a frenzy against the KORUS Free Trade Agreement. This time the issues revolve around the impact of the investor-state dispute (ISD) settlement clause. And again politicians and the Internet demagogues are spreading fear and panic, hyping the alleged imminent takeover of So
Nov. 22, 2011
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Stem cell question
Jamie has felt terrible pain in his stomach for a few weeks. So he squeezes some time out of his hectic schedule and knocks on the door of the regular clinic near his place. After undergoing 20 minute-long endoscopy, he staggers to a seat opposite the doc, and find himself hearing the words, the very words breaking his dizzy body into tiny splinters ... “You have gastric cancer, I’m sorry, it’s terminal...”After that, Jamie’s battle for life begins, leaving no stone unturned to catch even the la
Nov. 22, 2011
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We need to tackle college student debt
Soaring student debt is a problem that only Congress can answer. Until it acts, students and their families will keep falling deeper into debt.For years, state support of higher education has dropped drastically, pushing tuitions up. At the same time, most American families have seen their incomes shrink, forcing them to borrow more and more if they want to send their kids to college. It’s no wonder the total amount of money Americans owe for higher education is now more than what we owe on cred
Nov. 22, 2011
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Solyndra scandal and the Nov. 3 layoffs
The White House decision to back a California-based maker of advanced solar panels with a $535 million loan guarantee in 2009 looks seedier by the day. By all appearances, this deal and subsequent debacle had more to do with campaign cash and hoodwinking voters than it did with green energy.Solyndra Inc. burned through its loans in just two years, filed for bankruptcy and threw its employees on the street.If the story stopped there, it would be bad enough. But a trail of emails trickling out ove
Nov. 22, 2011
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[Kim Seong-kon] No such thing as a free lunch
English-speaking people often say, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” It is a well-known adage that implies “you cannot get something for nothing.” Some Koreans may take the phrase to simply mean: “If somebody invites you to lunch, he has a favor to ask and you are obliged to help him.” Such an interpretation is not completely wrong, but the maxim means more than that. The saying can also mean: “If you want something, you need to give up something else,” or “If you get something at no cos
Nov. 22, 2011
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U.S. hesitant to ‘reckon with evil’ in Syria
Samantha Power used to be best known for her tour-de-force book, “A Problem From Hell,” in which she correctly accused the United States of willfully ignoring genocide in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and elsewhere.“Despite graphic media coverage,” she wrote, “American policymakers” are “extremely slow to muster the imagination to reckon with evil.”Now Power sits in the Obama White House, a senior staffer on the National Security Council. She’s watching along with everyone else in Washington as Syria
Nov. 21, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Saudi Arabia’s role in Mideast
RIYADH ― Over this past year of Arab Spring revolt, Saudi Arabia has increasingly replaced the United States as the key status-quo power in the Middle East ― a role that seems likely to expand even more in coming years as the Saudis boost their military and economic spending. Saudis describe the kingdom’s growing role as a reaction, in part, to the diminished clout of the United States. They still regard the U.S.-Saudi relationship as valuable, but it’s no longer seen as a guarantor of their sec
Nov. 21, 2011
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Islam offers a third way in Pakistan, Tunisia
During the worldwide depression of the mid-1930s, the poet and Islamic modernist Muhammad Iqbal, often called Pakistan’s spiritual founder, wrote a poem dramatizing the inadequacies of Western political and economic systems. Democracy and capitalism had empowered a privileged elite in the name of the people, Iqbal felt. But he was not much fonder of Marxism, which was then coming into vogue among anti-colonial activists across South Asia and the Middle East: But what’s the answer to the mischief
Nov. 21, 2011
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Turn underwater homes into college diplomas
Both in the real world and in the corridors of power, the consensus is that the congressional supercommittee will fail to compromise this week on how to close the country’s multi-trillion-dollar federal budget deficit and, as a result, a series of cuts, totaling $1.2 trillion, will automatically kick in. Many people believe this failure to act will short-circuit what little hope exists for an economic recovery. And it will be yet another demonstration of the inability of our political parties to
Nov. 21, 2011
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[Graham E. Fuller] Who wins and who loses in the turmoil of Arab change?
Who are the winners and losers in the dramatic and evolving turmoil in the Middle East? For the citizens of Arab world the way ahead may yet be rough and unpredictable, but events represent a major net gain in breaking away from the frozen, sterile and crushing old orders.But with the breakup of the old Middle East system on the international level, who wins and who loses?The biggest single loser, hands down, is Israel. Many of the old dictators propped up by U.S. money and political support to
Nov. 21, 2011
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Salmon sushi roll might have big hidden price tag
Salmon, once a pricey delicacy, is now an affordable staple at supermarkets and sushi restaurants everywhere. For that, we can thank fish farms. They produce 70 percent of the salmon eaten by consumers, who savor its subtle texture and rich flavor. Medical researchers say the fatty acids in salmon might help prevent cancer and heart disease. So it was troubling that researchers over the past few weeks may have found an infectious disease known as salmon anemia in wild fish in British Columbia. L
Nov. 20, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Too overt with covert on Iran
ABU DHABI ― The leading Republican candidates were weirdly overt with their promises in last weekend’s debate about waging covert war against Iran, and even assassinating its scientists. Perhaps it’s a sign that foreigners don’t take American politics very seriously, but the inflammatory talk created barely a ripple in this part of the world. Or maybe the savvy, cynical Middle East believes that the covert war has already begun ― with Israel’s Mossad conducting lethal operations of the sort Repu
Nov. 20, 2011
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Let’s prepare for the biotechnology age
If we call the 20th century the age of physics and chemistry, the 21st century will be the age of biotechnology. Since Dr. James Watson and Dr. Francis Crick discovered the DNA double helix in 1953, biology has made great progress. Nowadays, so-called biotechnology can clone a life form in addition to manipulating genes. Since the first cloned sheep Dolly came into being in 1996 in Britain, also in Korea, a cloned cow Youngrongie and a cloned dog Snuppy have been “born” in succession.Moreover, K
Nov. 20, 2011
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[Meghan Daum] Don’t drink the Kool-Aid
Drunk any Kool-Aid lately? Or maybe you accused someone else of doing it? If so, congratulations, you’re right in step with one of the nation’s most popular idiomatic trends. A snappy, fruit-flavored way of referring to someone who unquestioningly embraces a particular leader or ideology, “drinking the Kool-Aid” has become a staple of self-righteous public discourse.Bill O’Reilly is fond of the expression, as is Washington Times columnist Marybeth Hicks, whose new book “Don’t Let the Kids Drink
Nov. 20, 2011