Most Popular
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Controversy rekindled over when to name criminals, suspects
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Seoul transit pass for travelers to be available starting July
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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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[Weekender] Pet food makers bet big on ‘recession-free’ pet food market
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Prosecutors to summon pastor who allegedly gave Dior bag to first lady
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‘Monk’ DJ spreading Buddhism goes global
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[LLG] Unseen inheritance: Trauma of transnational adoption 'trickles down' to adoptees' children
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Court's ruling set to shape path of medical school expansion
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FM Cho says he will have 'frank, in-depth' talks with Wang
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The Obama miracle, a White House free of scandal
President Barack Obama goes into the 2012 with a weak economy that may doom his reelection. But he has one asset that hasn’t received much attention: He’s honest. The sight of Texas Governor Rick Perry tumbling out of the clown car recently as a “birther” (or at least a birther-enabler) is a sign of weakness, not just for the Perry campaign but for the whole Republican effort to tarnish the president’s character. Although it’s possible that the Solyndra LLC story will become a classic feeding fr
Nov. 2, 2011
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[Klaus Schwab] Three reasons to reform capitalism
Criticism of capitalism has increased in recent months. Protest movements, such as “Occupy Wall Street,” are outraged at the excesses of bankers who, according to the protesters, bear the main responsibility for the current economic crisis ― but apparently are not being held responsible. A growing number of voices from different parts of society are now showing solidarity with the anti-capitalism activities and reflecting the widespread frustration felt by citizens. Undoubtedly, these anti-capit
Nov. 2, 2011
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[Lee Jae-min] Korean frenzy over smartphones
The first digital revolution in Korea came with the wide penetration of broadband. Korea has been thought of as the most wired country in the world. The OECD has long been following the status Internet connections in its 34 member countries, and Korea has been steadily ranked first, with 97 percent households hooked up to a broadband Internet connection. The average for all 34 countries is 62 percent. This explains why Koreans are often frustrated by the slow and sporadic Internet connections ov
Nov. 1, 2011
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[Kim Seong-kon] Have Koreans forgotten their poetic sensibility?
In medieval Korea, poetry was often a medium of correspondence among learned men. People addressed each other in poetry and conveyed messages metaphorically in terse four or five-line poems or three-line sijo. The recipient of the correspondence would also reply with a poem. How poetic were our ancestors’ lives in those days! Westerners may find it hard to understand, but the power of poetry was so potent in Korea that it could remit one’s debts at times and even prevent war at other times. When
Nov. 1, 2011
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Targeting immigrants is a losing strategy
Republican presidential candidates are foolishly jockeying to see who can be the harshest on undocumented immigrants.Michelle Bachmann has called for sealing the U.S.-Mexico border with a double wall. Not to be outdone, Herman Cain has called for an electrified fence backed by military personnel armed with live rounds (though he later said the electrified fence was a joke). And Rick Perry wants more drones in the sky.These positions reveal a cruel disregard for basic human rights and invite a ca
Nov. 1, 2011
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The rich got richer ― and so did most Americans
In the political and economic climate created by consistently high unemployment and shaken by the Occupy Wall Street movement, last week’s Congressional Budget Office report on trends in U.S. household income had the effect of pouring kerosene on a bonfire. The report’s most striking finding, that “for the 1 percent of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007,” led to apocalyptic predictions not just from those at Z
Nov. 1, 2011
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Fenced-in thinking
A record number of immigrants were deported in fiscal 2011. You’d think that would be greeted as good news by Republicans, who have repeatedly demanded that the Obama administration crack down on illegal immigration. But it won’t be. The latest numbers, released last week, are unlikely to sway the current field of Republican presidential hopefuls, who steadfastly refuse to discuss fixing the broken immigration system, arguing that only stricter enforcement, tougher penalties and a 100 percent se
Nov. 1, 2011
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Islamist victory in Tunisia is a win for democracy
It’s official: The Islamists have won the Arab Spring. And the result was as inevitable as it is promising. Last week’s elections in Tunisia gave more than 41 percent of the vote ― a solid plurality ― to the Islamic democrats of the Ennahdha party. The only secularist group that actively campaigned against the Islamists in the race for seats in the constituent assembly, the Progressive Democratic Party, got an embarrassing 17 seats in the 217-member assembly. On the surface, the Islamists’ succe
Nov. 1, 2011
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Credit-default swap risk bomb is wired to explode
The European sovereign debt crisis stands as the latest in a long line of similar crises. Argentina in 2001. Russia in 1998. Mexico in 1994. The list goes back into history. Debt crises are about as natural as earthquakes, but this time there is something different -- and possibly more dangerous. The European nations are linked in a network of debts, as Bill Marsh recently illustrated in the New York Times with a beautiful piece of graphic art. Greece and Italy are prominent; Ireland, Portugal a
Oct. 31, 2011
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[David Ignatius] The mystery of public figures
WASHINGTON ― The art of modern politics involves creating the illusion of intimacy with our leaders. But two new biographies remind me that even the most famous personalities remain elusive and, in some ways, unknowable. This combination of closeness and distance will be on display in the 2012 presidential election, where I’m guessing the candidates will be Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. These two politicians have worked overtime to seem relaxed and accessible; they make a point of wearing open-n
Oct. 31, 2011
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A French Manifesto to Unite Occupy Wall Street
You’ve got to love the French. The best-selling book on Amazon.com’s French site is “Indignez-vous!,” an exceedingly slim, elegant rumination on the state of the world by Stephane Hessel, a 94-year-old former United Nations diplomat, concentration-camp survivor and hero of the French Resistance. The 32-page book, with about 4 million copies in print in 30 languages -- including a just-published English version titled “Time for Outrage” -- is clearly meant to serve as a timely blueprint for non-v
Oct. 31, 2011
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Obama’s housing rescue plan
The Obama administration has stepped up efforts to help homeowners refinance their mortgages, potentially bringing relief to millions of those who owe more than their homes are worth. It’s an overdue step that should boost consumer spending, even if it may not avert a huge number of foreclosures. The latter problem requires more aggressive and effective loan modifications, which banks and investors have been reluctant to do ― to their own detriment.The collapse of the housing market has left an
Oct. 31, 2011
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‘Single ladies’ not giving up on marriage
Alongside The Atlantic magazine’s November cover story, “All the Single Ladies,” runs a photograph of its 39-year-old author. In a fawn-colored silk dress and up-do, Kate Bolick contemplatively sips champagne as a bridal bouquet flies over her head.Like many of her never-married peers, she’s scrupulously ignoring the traditional toss. Indeed, as the age of first marriage climbs higher, more single wedding-goers are evading the bouquet, having years ago disproved the catch confirms the next bride
Oct. 31, 2011
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[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Self-control in a nation of vidiots
NEW YORK ― The past half-century has been the age of electronic mass media. Television has reshaped society in every corner of the world. Now an explosion of new media devices is joining the TV set: DVDs, computers, game boxes, smart phones, and more. A growing body of evidence suggests that this media proliferation has countless ill effects.The United States led the world into the television age, and the implications can be seen most directly in America’s long love affair with what Harlan Ellis
Oct. 31, 2011
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Yes to the smart-grid bill for accountability
Considering how Illinois lawmakers tend to vote first and ask questions later, it’s good to see the so-called smart-grid bill getting put through the wringer.This legislation would clear the way for Commonwealth Edison and Ameren to make high-tech upgrades in the electricity network that will more than pay for themselves in coming years. It would streamline an inefficient regulatory process and encourage investment in an aging infrastructure that is acutely vulnerable to outages ― as many Illino
Oct. 30, 2011
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[Robert Reich] Why U.S. needs progressive tax
The so-called “flat tax” is all the rage among Republican presidential hopefuls. Herman Cain was the first. Now, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich have come up with their own flat-tax proposals.The flat tax is a fraud. It raises taxes on the poor and lowers them on the rich.The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that Cain’s flat-tax plan (the only one that’s been set out in any detail) would lower the after-tax incomes of poor households (incomes below $30,000) by 16 percent to 20 percent.Meanwh
Oct. 30, 2011
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Republicans must favor schools over tax cuts
The Republican presidential debates have been replete with discussions about our economic future, but to listen to the candidates you’d think that the biggest problem is an onerous U.S. tax code. I’m all for sensible tax reform, but prosperity depends far more on our skill base than on cutting tax rates that are already low by international standards. If the Republicans want to battle for a more prosperous, and stronger, country, they must start spending a lot more time fighting the failures of
Oct. 30, 2011
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Lending should start playing catch-up with economy
There are tantalizing signs that the worst of the disastrous credit crunch may be over. The most tangible evidence can be found in the latest earnings reports from some of the U.S.’s largest banks. With a few exceptions, financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. reported increases in lending to big businesses and, to a lesser extent, to consumers. Since consumers power growth, making up about two-thirds of the U.S. economy, their ability to get credit may determin
Oct. 30, 2011
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[Mai Yamani] Saudi’s old regime grows older
LONDON ― The contrast between the deaths, within two days of each other, of Libya’s Col. Moammar al-Gadhafi and Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz is one of terminal buffoonery versus decadent gerontocracy. And their demise is likely to lead to very different outcomes: liberation for the Libyans and stagnation for the Saudis.But the death of Sultan, at 86, marks the beginning of a critical period of domestic and foreign uncertainty for the Kingdom. After all, Sultan’s half-brother, King Ab
Oct. 30, 2011
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Tunisia vote raises hopes for Arab women
As Tunisians await final results in their national election, the first in a country remade by the Arab Spring, it’s worth paying particular attention to the outcome for women there. One hopes it leads reformers in other Arab states to understand that it will be impossible to advance their societies if half of the population is held back. Tunisia’s caretaker government crafted an innovative system to ensure that women were represented in the new constituent assembly. Candidates for 217 seats divi
Oct. 28, 2011