KABUL, Afghanistan ― It was one of the most emotional moments in Sunday’s handoff ceremony, as Gen. John Allen passed command of U.S. troops in Afghanistan over to Gen. Joe Dunford. To loud applause, Allen recognized two Afghan students sitting in the front row, saying they were like his children, and they represented the future for which U.S. and Afghan troops fought.Allen was correct. The fate of Mustafa and Somaya, two orphans who attend the extraordinary Marefat School in Kabul, will reveal

NEWPORT BEACH ― Facing a turbulent political situation and recurrent street protests, Egypt’s political elite would be well advised to focus on the economic implications of the current turmoil, whether they are in government or in opposition. Doing so would lead them to recognize seven compelling reasons why a more collaborative approach to solving Egypt’s problems is in the country’s collective interest, as well as in their own individual interests.First, if the social and political disorder pe

With less than 10 days left before President-elect Park Geun-hye is sworn in, the shape of the administration she will run still remains undecided due to a partisan gridlock over the government reorganization bill.The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party had agreed to pass the bill through the National Assembly by Feb. 14 to give Park time to finalize the Cabinet lineup before her inauguration on Feb. 25.But they simply let the deadline pass without making any pro

A Seoul court has meted out a heavy punishment to an entrepreneur charged with offshore tax evasion. It sentenced Kwon Hyuk, chairman of Cido Shipping, to four years in jail and 234 billion won in fines for hiding money offshore to evade taxes. He was imprisoned immediately after the verdict.The ruling, although not final, carries much significance as it comes amid a move by the National Tax Service to crack down on offshore tax evasion as part of its campaign to increase tax revenue. Kwon, a re

Over the next days, we’ll learn more vital details about Tuesday’s nuclear test by North Korea.We’ll discover how powerful the blast was ― Pyongyang’s first test in 2006 was widely seen as a partial dud. Its second in 2009 was more impressive but still smaller than expected. Early estimates of Tuesday’s blast suggest the North Koreans are beginning to master nuclear devices with substantial explosive power.We’ll likely learn if Pyongyang has built a nuclear weapon of enriched uranium, a major st

Venezuelans are hungry.Food shortages in this oil-rich state are reaching record levels, and many consumers now have to lurk around behind grocery stores, hoping the merchant will open the back door and sell them corn flour, sugar, cooking oil, chicken ― even toilet paper ― for as much as double the state-set price. An average loaf of bread now costs almost $10.Those high prices are illegal. The socialist state of President Hugo Chavez long ago set price controls for most consumer items. But wit

We are in the most anemic recovery in modern history. The president is talking about boosting the economy and rebuilding the middle class, but Washington isn’t doing squat.In fact, apart from the Fed ― which continues to hold down interest rates in the quixotic hope that banks will begin lending again to average people ― the government is heading in exactly the wrong direction: raising taxes on the middle class and cutting public spending. It’s called austerity economics.Washington is still acti

Signaling that it has no intention of bowing to international demands that it cease its efforts to become a nuclear power, North Korea on Tuesday at 11: 57 a.m. local time detonated a nuclear device, a first for the regime of Kim Jong-un and the country’s third experimental nuclear explosion following tests in 2006 and 2009.The latest nuclear test will further destabilize the East Asian region and the implementation of tougher sanctions in response will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolati

The Thai government is about to award huge contracts as part of its flood prevention plan; is there any hope the plan will be free of corruption?The massive 350-billion baht ($11.7 billion) water management plan that the government initiated in response to the disastrous floods in late 2011 could end up like the aborted Hopewell project or the corruption-plagued Klong Dan Wastewater Treatment Project in Samut Prakan. If the government cannot ensure transparency in the bidding process and engage

North Korea’s nuclear weapons development has entered a more dangerous stage. In light of the deteriorating security environment, Japan should strengthen its deterrence against Pyongyang in cooperation with the United States and other countries.On Tuesday, North Korea went ahead with its third underground nuclear test. It was the first nuclear test under the regime of Kim Jong-un.Pyongyang boasted that it successfully conducted a “high-level” nuclear test using “a miniaturized and lighter” nucle

China’s new leader Xi Jinping has dashed the hopes of those Chinese who long for political reform in his recent warning against a Soviet-style collapse in his country and stressing of the need for the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on the military to avert such a danger.The CCP chief made this tough remark in one of his internal speeches to party cadres during his southern tour to Shenzhen and Guangzhou last December. The content of this speech was disseminated to county-level officials.Extracts

North Korea angered its neighbors ― South Korea, Japan and its ally China ― and the United States when it conducted another nuclear test Tuesday in defiance of U.N. resolutions. The beleaguered communist state did so apparently in the misguided belief that nuclear armament would provide protection for its regime headed by the young leader Kim Jong-un.Contrary to its wishes, however, North Korea may hasten its implosion by making a costly attempt to arm itself with nuclear bombs and long-range mi

The nation sustained a shortfall in its 2012 tax revenue, the first since 2004 when the nation had to control the damage from a credit card crisis. Tax collections fell short of the target by as much as 2.8 trillion won as consumers, among others, tightened their purse strings, imports declined and the property market tanked.Moreover, President Lee Myung-bak’s outgoing administration outspent the total revenue for the first time since the government was established in 1948. The amount, 148.4 bil

North Korea would like nothing more than for the U.S. and its allies to hyperventilate over the North’s third test of a nuclear device. Indeed, with two satellite-cum-missile launches and one nuclear test during his first year in power, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has already displayed an appetite for foreign-policy brinksmanship that goes beyond the political need to show his people that he’s large and in charge.That said, there is good reason for the U.S. to remain calm and carry on, build

WASHINGTON ― Something startling is happening in the Muslim world ― and no, I don’t mean the Arab Spring or the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. According to a leading demographer, a “sea change” is producing a sharp decline in Muslim fertility rates and a “flight from marriage” among Arab women.Nicholas Eberstadt, a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, documented these findings in two recent papers. They tell a story that contradicts the usual picture of a continuing population expl

Kim Jong-un has just carried out North Korea’s third nuclear test and the general mood among experts is, “There they go again.”If history is any indicator, the test will make headlines and the international community’s response will crescendo, followed by near silence. Over the last two decades, alarm bells have quieted despite concerns over continued nuclear and missile testing because experts believe the North Korean nuclear threat is still in its infancy.However, this test is a pivot point. I

The events, during Black History Month, commemorate the 60th anniversary of the truce that ended fighting in the Korean War and the black troops who helped keep South Korea free. It was 65 years ago that Missouri’s own President Harry S. Truman did the unthinkable with an executive order, integrating U.S. armed forces.African-American soldiers had fought in every U.S. war before then ― but in segregated units ― and were never fully recognized or appreciated. It was in the Korean War from 1950 to

DAVOS ― The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos has lost some of its pre-crisis panache. After all, before the meltdown in 2008, the captains of finance and industry could trumpet the virtues of globalization, technology and financial liberalization, which supposedly heralded a new era of relentless growth. The benefits would be shared by all, if only they would do “the right thing.”Those days are gone. But Davos remains a good place to get a sense of the global zeitgeist.It goes with

Under the incoming government, big business groups engaged in unfair labor practices are likely to face mounting pressure to clean up their act. Thus far, some of their old practices have been tolerated, but not anymore.In her Lunar New Year message, President-elect Park Geun-hye renewed her resolve to change the “wrong” practices of the past to usher in a new era. Although she did not mention any specific field where such corrective action was needed, she repeatedly stressed on the campaign tra

It’s not just corrupt prosecutors who make a mockery of the nation’s legal system. Corrupt judges do so as well.The latest example is a judge in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, who granted bail to an unscrupulous university founder charged with embezzling 104 billion won from the 10 schools under his control.According to reports, the judge released Lee Hong-ha, chairman of Seonam University in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, and three other people who helped him, on health grounds Friday, saying