China’s State Grid Corporation, the world’s biggest power company, is on an impressive buying binge. As Bloomberg News reports, the company is “actively in bidding” for power assets in Australia, hoping to add them to a portfolio of Italian, Brazilian and Filipino companies. The goal isn’t simply to invest, however. State Grid’s Chairman Liu Zhenya has a plan that he believes will stall global warming, put millions of people to work and bring about world peace by 2050.The idea is to connect thes

Raising wages by government fiat seems to be catching on. The lowest-paid workers in Britain and California — two of the world’s largest economies — are only the latest beneficiaries of plans to lift the minimum wage.The goal in every case is commendable, but the method is far from ideal. On Friday, Britain’s minimum wage will increase to 7.20 pounds ($10.36) an hour for workers age 25 and older, rising each year until it is expected to be above 9 pounds by 2020. California has agreed to set a $

The Nuclear Security Summit in Washington could not have come at a better time for South Korea, whose utmost security concern is to tackle threats from North Korea’s nuclear weapons. The biennial summit focuses on coping with the threats of nuclear terrorism and strengthening the safety of nuclear materials and facilities. Although the summit does not focus on nonproliferation, it provided a good stage for calling international attention to the North Korean nuclear issue. Besides, the summit dre

Defense alliances are complicated things, but in the U.S. we have bipartisan clarity on one thing: Our allies are letting us down.“If Saudi Arabia was without the cloak of American protection,“ Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said this weekend, ”I don’t think it would be around.” He has also shamed America’s top defense partners in Asia: Japan and South Korea. “We have 28,000 people on the border separating South Korea from this maniac in North Korea. We get nothing,” he said. “We get nothin

In coming days, people will leave our world for a new realm of gunslingers, cyberbots and other exotic sights. Their ticket out of here will be the Oculus Rift — a $600 virtual reality headset hitting the consumer market.Hmm, even from here we can see, through regular prescription spectacles, that you are unimpressed. You wonder if virtual reality is another goofy, expensive fad like 3-D television. You also remember hearing about Google Glass, the $1,500 augmented-reality eyeglasses that allowe

According to the Inquirer’s latest count, at least 542 candidates in the May 9 elections are considered sure winners. Not because of superior odds against their opponent — the result of a better program of governance, perhaps, or a more effective grassroots campaign — but simply by default: They are running unopposed.One may argue, as congressman Arthur Defensor of Iloilo does, that the lack of any adversary in what ought to be an exercise in choosing from a healthy plurality of options is, of a

Climate change is a new facet of life in developing and emerging economies; keeping with the environmental spirit of the times, China’s 13th five-year plan sets out a path of sustainable development for its economic growth. The country has unveiled new strategies to tackle climate change and the plan is expected to achieve nonbinding targets set at the Paris Climate Conference and will exceed expectations set in the Copenhagen accord of 2009. According to the World Resources Institute, an enviro

The sound you hear is America’s Democrats uncorking the champagne. As much as the insane part of me wants Republican Donald Trump to be the next U.S. president, I think the man has blown his chance. Although his country’s democracy allows him to do practically anything to win the nomination for the presidential race, attacking a rival by tweeting an unflattering photo of his wife is more than just hitting below the belt.Not every jaw has dropped, however. “He’s very human and down to earth,” ent

The Democratic Party of Japan marked a fresh start as the Democratic Party in the wake of a merger with the Japan Innovation Party.The DPJ lost the reins of government after a House of Representatives election in 2012. Since then, opposition parties have lacked momentum.The DPJ had been unable to regain support, and other opposition parties that labeled themselves as third-pole forces had also run out of steam.If opposition parties that had split into smaller parties are united again, it will sp

It isn’t easy to be a strong leader in an era of progressives hell-bent on societal destruction. Refusing to compromise when faced with the tyranny of “progressive” reform is difficult at a time when so many leaders are allowing their countries to slip into oblivion under the guise of some greater leftist “good.”Following the recent Islamic State group terrorist attacks in Belgium that killed at least 35 people and injured more than 300, Belgian police blasted a water cannon at about 200 anti-im

Economic sanctions have become the “silver bullet” of American foreign policy over the last decade, because they’re cheaper and more effective in compelling adversaries than traditional military power. But Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warns of a “risk of overuse” that could neuter the sanctions weapon and harm America. Lew made his unusual case against “sanctions overreach” in an interview last week, and in a speech prepared for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His caution against

Jerusalem is not one city, but two. Nearly 50 years after Israel captured East Jerusalem, the city remains as divided as ever. As its neighborhoods suffer from a new wave of violence, acknowledging this reality is becoming increasingly urgent. Settling the status of Jerusalem – as two cities, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians – must be made a priority if peace between the two sides is ever to be achieved.The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan called for the division of British-controlled

Five years ago, the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster spread deadly radiation by land and by sea. In the years since, Japan and the rest of the world have learned many lessons about why the reactor failed and how to prevent another such catastrophes. But one of the most intriguing lessons of Fukushima involves hundreds of thousands of Japanese children potentially exposed to excessive radiation.Japanese public health officials were aware of an increased incidence of thyroid cancer in Russia

My first exposure to democracy was when I was a student at Jaedong Elementary School. My class had to elect a president. The school was one of the earliest public education institutes in Korea, situated in the old residential zone of Seoul, in what is now Bukchon. The principal, a man of small frame with a booming voice, constantly beseeched us to love our nation. During weekly assemblies, he used to display a faded, old national flag that the school had somehow preserved from the country’s colo

Q. What’s a good way to waste millions of dollars of taxpayer money without trying very hard?A. Wait for a devastating terrorist attack to frighten people, and then deploy at airports and transportation hubs lots of highly visible security measures that make people feel more secure without actually making them safer.I hate to be cynical, but in the years since 9/11, I have seen this drama play out repeatedly. The terrorists carry out a major attack at home or abroad, politicians call for improve

South Korea is a country with a big headache: North Korea. The North has lately been more intensely provocative. This week, it fired a short-range rocket. Two weeks ago, it was medium-range ballistic missiles. Before that, it was a nuclear test.And now, U.S. President Barack Obama, President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are meeting in Washington on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit. While this is a welcome development because it means the world leaders are actu

A viral video released in February showed Boston Dynamics’ new bipedal robot, Atlas, performing human-like tasks: opening doors, tromping about in the snow, lifting and stacking boxes. Tech geeks cheered and Silicon Valley investors salivated at the potential end to human manual labor.　Shortly thereafter, White House economists released a forecast that calculated more precisely whom Atlas and other forms of automation are going to put out of work. Most occupations that pay less than $20 an hour

What makes Seoul? Back in town after a 10-month absence, I have been obsessed with the question as I meet old friends and visit places that feel as familiar as the town I was born in. I have toyed with the question before, but the struggle to find an answer seems more intense this time. To answer the question, I have been working on the outlines of a “theory of Seoul” that can explain the past and present while offering a window into the future.I have always thought of Seoul as a jumble. The rap

Recently, North Korea threatened the South by carrying out military drills that involved simulated attacks on Seoul using more than 100 pieces of long-range artillery. The North insolently declared it would turn the South Korean capital into “a sea of flames.” Strangely, no one in the South seemed to care or be on alert. Clearly, this situation posed a serious threat to South Korea’s national security, and yet the people in the South seemed completely oblivious. But what if the North were to act

Starting next month, the government of India will require that cigarette packs be largely covered in graphic warning labels. That’s smart; in other countries, such warnings have effectively pushed smokers to quit. The trouble is that cigarettes aren’t India’s biggest tobacco problem.　Most Indians who smoke, smoke a much cheaper, unfiltered product called a bidi: shredded tobacco wrapped in a “tendu,” or ebony, leaf and tied with a string. Popular among the poor -- a pack can cost as little as 10