WASHINGTON ― People are looking for the wrong “scandal” about Attorney General Eric Holder. The problem with Holder is the plain fact that, in the judgment of a wide range of legal colleagues, he has been a mediocre attorney general. Holder’s mistakes in management and judgment are clear in the current controversy about leak investigations. He was silent as zealous prosecutors overrode the Justice Department’s guidelines for subpoenaing reporters; he recused himself from the case, but bizarrely

Michael Douglas may have done more for awareness about human papillomavirus than all the education programs health advocates have ever sponsored. The actor revealed this week that his throat cancer was caused by an HPV infection, the result of his having oral sex with an HPV-infected woman. The HPV problem can certainly use the attention. A dozen or so variants of HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease, cause cancer. For people who don’t have the virus, vaccines can prevent infection.

The government has unveiled a comprehensive job creation road map to attain President Park Geun-hye’s pledge to boost the nation’s employment rate from the present 64.2 percent to 70 percent by 2017.To achieve the goal, the road map calls for creating a total of 2.38 million jobs, or 476,000 per year during the next five years, a tall order given the economy’s limited job-creating capacity. The blueprint rests on three pillars: expanding part-time employment, fostering “creative” service busines

The forced repatriation of nine North Korean refugees from Laos has triggered loud calls for legislation aimed at improving human rights conditions in North Korea and providing support to people fleeing the pariah state.Many North Korea experts here assert that had there been such a law, the nine young North Koreans would not have been sent back to the North, where they are feared to face brutal punishment. They note that one underlying cause of the debacle was poor communication between the Kor

Protests against plans to replace an Istanbul park with a shopping mall have spread across Turkey, metastasizing into something far more politically significant. While the demonstrations aren’t the start of a Turkish Spring, they show why Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s design to turn his country into a presidential republic next year should be stopped. The police response to the Gezi Park protests has been brutal, injuring hundreds of people and turning central Istanbul into a battle zone

After a firestorm of criticism, the Obama administration is suggesting that it will make amends for its aggressive pursuit of journalists suspected of receiving leaks of classified information. But airy affirmations of the importance of a free press and vague promises of a new look at Justice Department regulations aren’t enough. The administration needs to commit itself in specific terms to stronger protections for news gathering that will be embodied in a federal statute.It was bad enough that

South Korea struggles these days with the issue of multiculturalism. Proponents argue that for South Korea to truly become an advanced nation it must enact progressive ways to deal with the influx of foreigners coming to participate in one of Asia’s most successful economies. Those opposing such programs cite Korean ideals of self-reliance and point to the difficulties that Europe is experiencing with the integration of newcomers. Newspapers and television programs in South Korea are filled with

Everybody knows that Japan has an energy crisis. We also know that the yen has greatly depreciated, by some 20 percent in just a few weeks. It’s time to put these two facts together. “Abenomics,” the shorthand for the aggressive economic strategies being pursued by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is the hot thing in Asia. What wonders will the weak yen work for Japan’s export machine? Is a recovery just around the corner? Despite its volatility, Japan’s stock market says so, and foreign investors, in

The world should stop panicking over China’s economic slowdown. It’s actually a good thing. This advice won’t go down well in Australia, which has made a big leveraged bet that China will keep growing 10 percent forever. It won’t comfort exporters in Japan, Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan. Traders won’t be happy to see prices of oil, gold and steel plunge as demand from the mainland shrinks. Asia, as a whole, will shudder if China weakens the yuan. Europe might have to find a new benefactor for

The invention of the Internet has brought about an unprecedented revolution that has altered human lives forever. It has created, among other things, an alternative world called cyberspace, in which even misfits and self-proclaimed pundits thrive and prosper. Cyberspace provides a space in which anyone can publish his or her opinions, criticizing or praising people and things freely. Nevertheless, the Internet has brought about a number of negative side effects. For example, so many young people

The militaries of South Korea and the United States have reportedly agreed to maintain the current unified command structure for allied forces even after Seoul takes back the wartime operational control of its armed forces from Washington in December 2015.The two sides had originally agreed to dissolve the U.S.-South Korean Combined Forces Command following the planned OPCON transfer, with each military operating on its own under a parallel command structure.Yet according to reports, they recent

The government has finalized the financing plan for President Park Geun-hye’s campaign pledges.It is the first time a Korean government has come up with a detailed funding scheme to implement the president’s election promises. To her credit, Park had budget officials clearly show the public how much money would be needed to deliver on her promises and where it would come from.According to the final plan, a total of 134.8 trillion won would be needed over the next five years to translate the pled

China and the European Union are quarreling over Chinese exports of solar panels, which Europe says are being dumped in its markets. It’s a stupid fight ― but one that could easily escalate into a bigger trade conflict if both sides don’t take care. In the short run, the EU should withdraw its threat of punitive tariffs. In the long run, all the big trading nations, including the U.S., should reform the anti-dumping rules that encourage this nonsensical wrangling. So far, Europe has been followi

BERKELEY ― By any economic measure, we are living in disappointing times. In the United States, 7.2 percent of the normal productive labor currently stands idle, while the employment gap in Europe is rising and due to exceed that of the U.S. by the end of the year. So it is important to step back and remind ourselves that the “lost decade” that we are currently suffering is not our long-run economic destiny.As Paul Krugman recently reminded us, John Maynard Keynes perhaps put it best:“This is a

NEW YORK ― On May 26, Angelina Jolie’s aunt, Debbie Martin, died of breast cancer at 61. Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died at 56 from a related illness, ovarian cancer. And, two weeks before Martin died, Jolie revealed that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy after testing positive for a BRCA gene mutation ― which is correlated with a woman’s being five times more susceptible to breast cancer and 28 times more susceptible to ovarian cancer.The test for the BRCA mutation is e

Apple Inc.’s success at avoiding billions of dollars in U.S. taxes through some (apparently) legal maneuvers has tax pundits pointing their guns at the corporate tax system. The case has revived numerous hoary cures for the supposed evil of corporate taxes.The cures include abolishing the corporate tax altogether, turning it into a pure “territorial” system that taxes multinational firms only in proportion to the income generated within the United States, declaring a tax “holiday” allowing busin

Someone steals your most sensitive secrets. Then, planning a face-to-face meeting, he says he wants to develop “a new type” of relationship with you. At what point, exactly, would you start thinking he was planning to drink your milkshake? Ahead of the first summit meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China on June 7, the two nations are on the brink of geopolitical conflict. As its officials acknowledge, China is a classic rising power, poised to challenge U.S

WASHINGTON ― U.S. officials describe a common frustration in dealing with China over the past decade. Beijing wants to be recognized as a rising economic power but refuses to be an active partner in maintaining security. Beijing has seemed to want a free ride, without the corresponding responsibilities. This week will test whether China’s new president, Xi Jinping, intends to play a more engaged role with America and the world. Xi will spend two days in secluded strategic talks with President Ob

PARIS ― The war in Syria is Russia’s to lose. Arguably, it could very well end up being Russia’s biggest test as a player on the world stage since the end of the Cold War.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, are meeting here in Paris this week to discuss the possibility of discussions. The topic of whether to allow Iran at the adults’ negotiating table with the nonplastic cutlery is sure to come up, further delaying any seriousness to the notion of endin

Is the Bank of Japan creating the biggest pyramid scheme in history? In recent weeks Haruhiko Kuroda has been the toast of the financial world, winning plaudits from Nobel laureates Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz. The move by the BOJ governor to end deflation with large bond purchases has been cheered by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao and the Japanese business establishment. Yet markets are raising troubling ques