The Korea Herald

Sony Ericsson eyes Android market with new phones

IndustryJun 23, 2011

SINGAPORE (AP) ― Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson unveiled two new Android models Wednesday in a bid to grab more of the burgeoning smartphone market.The company, a joint venture between L.M. Ericsson and Sony Corp., plans to launch the Xperia ray and Xperia active models during the third quarter, Chief Marketing Officer Steve Walker announced in Singapore. A staff member submerges the Xperia Acti
Merkel warns against Greek debt restructuring

World BusinessJun 23, 2011

BERLIN (AP) ― A full-scale restructuring of Greek debt would have “completely uncontrollable” effects on financial markets and could threaten other countries’ stability, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Wednesday.Imposing a so-called haircut on Greek debt ― reducing the amount to be repaid ― would endanger not only banks and other creditors who hold Greek bonds, but also institutions that
Korean expat seeks new opportunities in Ghana

PeopleJun 23, 2011

Mention Ghana and Koreans usually think of an underdeveloped country in Africa or a popular chocolate bar named after the country.However, to pioneers like Lim Do-jae, who now operates several companies in the western part of Africa, the land is full of opportunities.“Ghana produces 240 thousands barrels of oil per day. Now is the time to penetrate the market,” says Lim, who is the president of Ko
[Herald Interview] Col. Kim: A war hero, a great humanitarian

PeopleJun 23, 2011

Korean-American professor tells story of man who transcended ethnic rivalryChang Tae-han, professor at University of California, Riverside, recalled his last visit to Colonel Kim Young-oak, a highly decorated Korean-American war hero, when he was already in a coma at a hospital in Los Angeles six years ago.“I told him that his biography, written in Korean, had just been published in Korea. He did
Why social media isn’t

ViewpointsJun 23, 2011

Mexican food and beer. That’s what retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor suggests might pull this fractured nation back together again. Those were the tools she used to reach consensus in the 1970s when she was a leader in the Arizona legislature.“I’ll tell you what I did,” she said last week at a conference in Washington, sponsored by Arizona State University’s Center for Social Cohes
Kindle vs. books: The dead trees society

ViewpointsJun 23, 2011

Several weeks into December last year, my parents suggested I might like a Kindle for Christmas.I was sitting in my room at school, and my eyes darted to the bookshelf on my left. From the silence on the line they could tell I wasn’t enthusiastic; I muttered something about not needing another gadget, mostly because I couldn’t find a way to shape my reluctance into words. The conversation was tact
[Dick Polman] GOP begins to question value of Afghan war

ViewpointsJun 23, 2011

In the waning minutes of last week’s Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney was opining about Afghanistan when he uttered something that, in past years, would have been condemned by virtually all Republicans as dovish blasphemy.He said: “I also think we’ve learned that our troops shouldn’t go off and try and fight a war of independence for another nation.”It’s rare to hear a Republican front-
[Nouriel Roubini] That stalling feeling in the world

ViewpointsJun 23, 2011

NEW YORK ― Despite the series of low-probability, high-impact events that have hit the global economy in 2011, financial markets continued to rise happily until a month or so ago. The year began with rising food, oil, and commodity prices, giving rise to the specter of high inflation. Then massive turmoil erupted in the Middle East, further ratcheting up oil prices. Then came Japan’s terrible eart
[Editorial] OECD’s advice

EditorialJun 23, 2011

A random glance at newspaper front pages shows that few encouraging stories are making the headlines these days. Instead, they are filled with corruption scandals involving public officeholders, never-ending animosity among ostensibly irreconcilable political adversaries, looming economic disasters ― you name it, it’s there.Few bright spots are in sight at a time of political transition. Instead,
[Editorial] Tuition fee cuts

EditorialJun 23, 2011

The legislation process is under way to cut university tuition fees. Similar efforts are being made by the administration. But it will be no less important for the administration to close private universities and colleges whose lifeline is nothing but government subsidies.On Wednesday, the parliamentary committee on education approved a bill banning the transfer of collected tuition fees to reserv
For African-Americans, a divide over Obama

ViewpointsJun 23, 2011

It was the kind of insular, issue-driven, black-on-black debate that ordinarily doesn’t attract the media spotlight, even on the slowest news day. But thanks to the unprecedented profile of Barack Obama, the most famous black person in modern history, this one got hot.Last month, in an interview with Chris Hedges on Truthdig.com, Princeton professor Cornel West gave a scathing assessment of Obama’
[David Ignatius] Efforts to avoid a summer of blood

ViewpointsJun 23, 2011

WASHINGTON ― “Peace is at hand,” Henry Kissinger famously announced in October 1972 after a seeming breakthrough in Vietnam negotiations. But it wasn’t at hand. It took three more months to complete the Paris Peace Accords, which collapsed in 1975 when North Vietnam overran Saigon. This Vietnam history is a caution against premature optimism about diplomatic solutions to deeply embedded conflicts,
China releases artist Ai Weiwei on bail

World NewsJun 23, 2011

Activist’s detention was part of major government crackdown on ‘Jasmine’ protestersBEIJING (AFP) ― Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was released on bail in Beijing Wednesday nearly three months after he was detained during the government’s biggest crackdown on activists in years.Police released him after he confessed to tax evasion and because he suffers from a “chronic disease,” the official Xi
U.S. to pull 30,000-plus troops from Afghanistan

World NewsJun 23, 2011

President Obama says withdrawal marks beginning of ‘efforts to wind down the war’WASHINGTON (AP) ― Beginning to wind down a long and devastating war, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday night he was pulling home 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by next summer, withdrawing the “surge” of forces he had sent to rescue a flailing effort. “The tide of war is receding,” Said Obama to a country eage
Guggenheim Museum introduces Lee U-fan

TheaterJun 23, 2011

Installation view of Lee U-fan’s “Dialogue” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (Kukje Gallery/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation)The first retrospective exhibition in the U.S. on South Korean artist Lee U-fan opened on Friday at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Titled “Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity,” the exhibition looks back on the artist’s career of almost half a century by presenting 9