Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Asia can take care of itself
ASEAN and its three regional partners ― Japan, China and South Korea ― have decided to launch a surveillance mechanism in May in the light of their $120 billion currency-swap facility that was established in 2009, to ensure sufficient U.S. dollar liquidity in the event of a financial crisis caused by sudden, massive capital outflows.The basic idea of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic and Research Offices
April 15, 2011
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Reconstruction panel must offer vision for future
We hope the Reconstruction Design Council set up by the government on April 11 will offer hope and courage to those facing hardship in areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake.Through a Cabinet decision, the government set up the panel of experts tasked with presenting a set of proposals on the reconstruction of areas hit by the massive earthquake and tsunami.The 15-member council, head
April 15, 2011
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[Martin Khor] New battle lines drawn in fighting climate change
The United Nations’ climate talks resumed last week in Bangkok. There was a lot of drama, with developing countries throwing a challenge to developed countries to proclaim themselves once and for all, whether they intend to continue with the Kyoto Protocol or to kill it.This North-South battle had already been boiling the whole of last year, especially at the big climate conference in Cancun in De
April 15, 2011
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Commencement speakers shouldn’t cash in
There are few occasions in life more idyllic than college graduation. Steeped in ceremony, it is the moment of triumph after years of work, a time for parents to beam proudly and gowned students to receive their hard-earned diplomas.However, graduates aren’t the only ones earning something on commencement day. Some colleges and universities are paying exorbitant fees ― not just expenses ― for grad
April 14, 2011
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[Doyle McManus] Lessons of budget battle
Once the dust settles from last week’s short-term budget battle, we may learn something important for the long term: What did voters really want last November when they handed control of the House of Representatives to Speaker John A. Boehner’s Republicans?Budget wonks complain that all that recent brinksmanship and fury was over relatively trivial sums of money, less than 1 percent of the governm
April 14, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Three wise men for Egypt’s transition
CAIRO ― They make an unlikely trio of “founding fathers” for the new Egypt: One is a wily old-school politician, the second is a reticent scientist who won the Nobel Peace Prize, and the third is a hard-nosed business tycoon. But they are emerging as the country’s senior political voices and, interestingly, they share similar views about Egypt’s transition to democracy. The three leaders are Amr M
April 14, 2011
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[Mark Lynas] Why nuclear power is still a good choice
What a strange turn of events. Instead of uniting the environmental movement in renewed opposition to nuclear power, the Fukushima disaster in Japan has divided it still further. An increasing number of green advocates, including some very prominent voices, have declared their support for nuclear power as a clean energy option, even as radioactive water accumulates and the timeline for cleaning up
April 14, 2011
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[Dick Polman] Seven reasons why odds favor Obama
Hey, President Obama has formally announced his re-election bid! I’ve added the exclamation mark to help ratchet up the excitement.It has been a long and difficult slog since Inauguration Day, so I’m going to assume that the looming inevitability of another presidential campaign is about as welcome as the prospect of trace radioactive elements in your milk. Still, attention must be paid. If you’re
April 14, 2011
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[Brahma Chellaney] The geopolitical message from Libya’s upheaval
NEW DELHI ― Will “mission creep” in the West’s intervention in Libya end up creating, inadvertently, a jihadist citadel at Europe’s southern doorstep?Of course, the Western powers must be applauded for their efforts, with the support of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, to prevent a slaughter of Libya’s civilian population. The democratic world should never stand by idly while a tyrant uses mili
April 14, 2011
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Sports bolster spirits in time of national crisis
Japanese professional baseball’s regular season starts Tuesday as the 12 teams of the Central and Pacific leagues play their openers. The pennant race begins, though belatedly, while wounds from the March 11 catastrophe remain fresh.As the nation faces a difficult time, players are urged all the more to do their best to give hope and vigor to disaster victims and the nation as a whole.Both leagues
April 13, 2011
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[Laurence Kotlikoff] U.S. squabbles over peanuts to tame elderly
The time to disagree agreeably is over for health care policy in America.U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress last week approved a measly budget cut of $39 billion and no tax increases. That leaves us with a massive deficit equal to 9 percent of gross domestic product and a debt-to-GDP ratio that will exceed 90 percent within six years.Our politicians touted this deal as the biggest compromise
April 13, 2011
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America’s Arab world comeback
AMMAN ― Without much fanfare, the past few months have seen no anti-American demonstrations and no burning of American flags across the Arab world. Arabs seem increasingly willing to accept ― and even applaud ― the Obama administration’s policy toward the region.Of course, Arabs are still unhappy with the United States’ continued bias toward Israel. Its inability to end the 44-year military occupa
April 13, 2011
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[Michael Smerconish] Birthers’ conspiracy plot: Plants are legion
Every time I hear Donald Trump talk about President Obama’s birth certificate, I think of O.J. Simpson.The conspiracy theory invented by Simpson’s defenders was every bit as loopy as the fantasies concerning Obama. Remember the O.J. defense ruse?Years before the murder, conspirators would have had to incite Simpson to commit domestic abuse, laying a foundation for a future motive.Several weeks bef
April 13, 2011
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[Peter Lovenheim] Social experiment: Know thy neighbor
When I was growing up in upstate New York in the late 1950s and ‘60s, people didn’t exercise in public the way they do now. You didn’t see adults jogging, biking or power-walking on the street.Except one. Nearly every day, a middle-age woman of slight build walked rapidly through our suburban neighborhood, usually with her head down. No one knew her name, so we called her the Walker. She usually w
April 13, 2011
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[Shahid Javed Burki] India-Pakistan diplomatic test match
LAHORE ― In 2005, during a visit to Islamabad, I met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and told him of a conversation I had had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. The Indian leader, whom I have known for years, had said that he wanted better relations with Pakistan as one his legacies.Musharraf’s response was interesting. He said he had the same aspiration, but that it would need effo
April 13, 2011
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Let’s call Mexico’s drug cartels what they are
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, gets it. When drug cartel thugs order mass kidnappings, explode bombs, murder scores of public officials, behead victims or hang them from overpasses, and post signs in border-area cities warning of more violence if they don’t get their way, that’s not mere drug trafficking. That’s terrorism.Finally, someone in Washington is taking action in response to the unpre
April 12, 2011
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Empower the FCC to protect Internet access
Even the Federal Communications Commission’s timid assertion of rights and protections for consumers on the Internet continues to inspire the wrath of Republicans.The U.S. House of Representatives cleared the way for a resolution disapproving of the FCC’s net-neutrality guidelines adopted in December. Debate and a vote on the resolution, a formal device used by Congress to block actions taken by f
April 12, 2011
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[Jonathan Alter] Shutdown dance just a warm-up?
The root canal Americans experienced over the averted government shutdown may seem painless compared with the operation that’s coming: debate over raising the debt ceiling followed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan to overhaul the government.The political fates of President Barack Obama and most of Congress depend on the outcome. While the stakes for the 2011 budget skirmish has
April 12, 2011
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[David Ignatius] The paradoxical power of the weak
CAIRO ― The weak have a new power in the modern media age: Their suffering is visible to millions of well-intentioned people around the world who are likely to support humanitarian intervention to rescue them from their plight. But there’s a dangerous corollary to this new power of the weak: It can lead disorganized groups to start fights with established authorities that they can’t finish ― unles
April 12, 2011
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[Lindsey M. Burke] Value of scholarships in U.S. school system
Imagine being a low-income parent in the District of Columbia. As a parent living below the federal poverty line in one of the country’s most expensive cities, the options available for your child’s education are limited.There are the D.C. Public Schools, which rank 51st in the nation on measures of academic achievement, but first in terms of school violence. And there are D.C. Public Charter Scho
April 12, 2011