The Korea Herald

Aussie firms whinge about carbon tax

IndustryJul 11, 2011

Australia’s largest airline says the tax will cost as much as $123 million in 2013Macarthur Coal Ltd., BlueScope Steel Ltd., and Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. led declines in Australian trading Monday after the government unveiled the country’s first levy on greenhouse-gas emissions. Polluters will pay AU$23 ($24.74) per metric ton of carbon emissions, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Sunday in Canbe
IMF chief calls on U.S. to raise borrowing limit

World BusinessJul 11, 2011

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde conducts a press conference in Washington, D.C. on July 6. (AFP-Yonhap News)WASHINGTON (AP) ― The International Monetary Fund’s new chief foresees “real nasty consequences” for the U.S. and global economies if the U.S. fails to raise its borrowing limit.Christine Lagarde, the first woman to head the lending institution, said in an interview broadcast Sunday
Asia rates have room to rise beyond inflation peak

World BusinessJul 11, 2011
Debt talks hit wall, Obama warns clock ticking

World BusinessJul 11, 2011
A century on, Korean-Mexicans trace roots

World NewsJul 11, 2011

MERIDA, Mexico (Yonhap News) ― With colorful fans in their hands, a group of five young girls moved with quick, light steps, forming a circle and flapping the fans up and down. Their movements were meant to evoke ocean waves typical in the Korean fan dance, but they looked a bit awkward.“Uno, dos, tres y cuatro,” their teacher, Mana Eugenia Olsen Agular, shouted, counting their steps in Spanish to
[Michael Smerconish] An overture of candidates’ theme songs

ViewpointsJul 11, 2011

Why is there always such poor advance work when it comes to presidential candidates and theme songs?Every four years, it seems, someone uses a song without getting the necessary clearance. You’d think politicians would learn from their predecessors’ mistakes.Three decades ago, Bruce Springsteen didn’t want Ronald Reagan using “Born in the U.S.A.” And two weeks ago, Tom Petty told Michele Bachmann
[Editorial] Corporate luxury cars

EditorialJul 11, 2011

Companies buy luxury cars for a variety of business purposes. Keeping fleets of expensive cars might demonstrate business strength and add to corporate creditability. Nothing wrong if company owners, their spouses and children holding executive positions drive these corporate cars for commuting or on local tours with domestic or foreign clients.It is a totally different matter, however, if the son
[Editorial] 2018 and North Korea

EditorialJul 11, 2011

Even at the height of celebrations over winning the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in the city of PyeongChang, South Koreans have a shadow of anxiety as to how North Koreans might be reacting to it. This is because the past decades history of inter-Korean relations over the includes some extremely serious incidents which analysts linked to the North’s attempt to disrupt major sports f
[David Ignatius] Ready to be a company man

ViewpointsJul 11, 2011

The challenge for an intelligence chief is to develop sufficient intellectual distance from military plans and policy papers so that he can give the president independent assessments. WASHINGTON ― What sort of agenda will David Petraeus pursue as director of the CIA, after he leaves Afghanistan later this month? He laid out a basic road map in his June 23 confirmation hearing. After spending a wee
Heavy rain kills 15, leaves three missing

Social affairsJul 11, 2011

A road collapses after heavy rain hits Wanju, North Jeolla Province. (Yonhap News)Fifteen people died and five went missing during the massive downpour that swept the country over the weekend. The damage is expected to increase since the state weather agency forecast that heavy rains would blanket the nation by the end of next week. The National Emergency Management Agency on Monday said the rainf
[John Kass] Sickening story sure to provide ‘Bella Vita’

ViewpointsJul 11, 2011

Just when you think Casey Anthony can’t possibly nauseate you anymore than she has already, try this:She wants more children.“I had a dream not too long ago that I was pregnant,” she wrote in a letter to another prison inmate a few years ago.“It was like having Cays all over again,” Anthony continued, referring to her little girl, Caylee. “I’ve thought about adopting, which even sounds weird to me
[Thomas Klassen] A decade of Seoul

ViewpointsJul 11, 2011

For nearly a decade I’ve been visiting Seoul regularly. Each time I arrive, Seoul is a new city. My current trip finds the city more relaxed than ever. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, there is more time in Seoul. More time for its inhabitants to frequent the ever growing number of cafes. More time for complaining about how bad things are, like the economy and the weather, when they are not.The s
[Trudy Rubin] With Iran poised to move, should U.S. be leaving Iraq?

ViewpointsJul 11, 2011

Does anyone remember Iraq?As the United States moves toward withdrawing its last 46,000 troops from that country by the end of 2011, Iraq has become a black hole. It is the place Americans want to forget and the media hardly cover.No wonder. Although violence is way down since the mid-2000s, there’s been a resurgence of car bombs and sectarian killings. The Iraqi government barely functions, and t
[Thitinan Pongsudhirak] Poll result heralds a Thai spring?

ViewpointsJul 11, 2011

BANGKOK ― The thunderous results of Thailand’s general election on July 3 will seem familiar to anyone attuned to the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. Entrenched incumbent regimes everywhere are under severe stress from advances in information technology, shifts in demographics, rising expectations, and the obsolescence of Cold War exigencies. In the absence of a willingness
Cho pushes for easier overseas voting

PoliticsJul 11, 2011

Rep. Cho Jin-hyeong of the Grand National Party talks in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. (Yang Dong-chul/The Korea Herald)Lawmaker proposes postal votes, transport for Korean voters in remote areasPending bills must be passed to ensure the 7 million Korean citizens overseas can exercise their political rights, a ruling party lawmaker has said.“We don’t have much time left until this Nove