As guests in Korea who only speak French and English, my wife and I have been amazed at the polite and helpful approach most Koreans have shown in helping us to buy groceries, get to the hospital, or travel to a certain destination. Having moved from America, a country with increasingly little patience for foreigners, we both appreciate the warm approach we have come to enjoy in Korea. However, re

A familiar pattern of past presidential elections is that early in the cycle both parties gin up their base with warnings about dire consequences if the other side controls the next Supreme Court selections; after a few well-timed speeches and fundraising appeals the matter is usually ignored by the electorate. Next year could be different by becoming the first time since 1968 that the Supreme Cou

TOKYO (AFP) ― Support for the cabinet of Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has plunged to 15 percent, the lowest level since his center-left party took power in 2009, a newspaper poll said Tuesday.Seventy percent of voters want Kan ― under pressure over his handling of the March 11 quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster ― to resign before parliament enters a recess late next month, said the Asahi Shim

Beirut says Assad’s legitimacy is from Syrian people’s willBEIRUT (AP) ― Syria accused Washington of provocation Tuesday after the U.S. said President Bashar Assad had lost legitimacy and the American administration had nothing invested in him remaining in power.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued her strongest condemnation yet of Assad late Monday after mobs of hundreds of regim

SAN FRANCISCO ― It’s the summer of Gertrude Stein.The expatriate art collector, poet and novelist (who would hate all these commas) died in 1946. But her image and influence are on display at two popular San Francisco exhibitions and in the hit Woody Allen film “Midnight in Paris.”The attention likely would have pleased Stein, always her own best publicist.“She would have loved it,” said Dara Solo

 

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes, founder of budget-travel giant AirAsia, will host the regional edition of the business-themed reality show “The Apprentice,” its producer said Tuesday.Like its U.S. counterpart, the Asian edition will be an elimination-style competition with the eventual winner earning the right to be a paid apprentice to Fernandes.“We are tremendously ex