Mother of a group member found dead with no traces of robbery: policeA conservative group that has flown anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border said Friday that its senior member’s mother had been killed a day earlier, and possibly by terrorists.The group, Korea Parent Federation, cancelled its leaflet-sending event at Imjingak scheduled for Saturday, claiming she was likely to hav

Whenever gasoline prices spike, it’s a pretty good bet that politicians are going to propose tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This time around, the talk started with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who last week urged President Obama to consider selling oil from the reserve as a way to stabilize prices. Then on Sunday, White House

China’s consumer prices rose 4.9 percent in February from a year earlier, exceeding the government’s 2011 target for a fifth month.The advance was more than the 4.8 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 22 economists. In January, the rise was 4.9 percent. The government has a 4 percent inflation target for the full year.Investors are concerned that monetary tightening to tame infla

The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark rate from 2.75 percent to 3 percent on Thursday. On the same day, President Lee Myung-bak promised a shift in policy from growth to price stability. It was better late than never for both the central bank and the Lee administration to renew their resolve to fight inflation.Following the rate increase, the Bank of Korea governor implied the central bank will t

It should not come as a surprise that many of the baby boomers, those born from 1955 to 1963, will face extreme financial difficulties when they go into retirement. They have not saved enough for retirement, into which they will start going in a couple of years. But not many realize what is in store for them.The number of baby boomers stands at 7 million, or 14 percent of the total population. Mos

Individualism is dead.That’s the stark take-away from an analysis of U.S. congressional voting records by the National Journal.Since 1982, the National Journal has combed congressional votes on key issues and rated legislators’ records. Last year, it reviewed 95 significant votes in both chambers using a relative, not absolute, measure. In other words, it seeks to compare members with one another,

My doorbell rang unexpectedly on Sunday (March 6) afternoon.I wasn’t expecting guests, but I guess the two uninvited ones at my door belong to an organization that is not in the habit of ringing ahead to announce its arrival.The two uniformed Chinese policemen at my door, accompanied by a staff member of the estate management, did not introduce themselves or show any identification. Perhaps they f

Before he was accused of being an anti-Semitic drunk, before videos surfaced of him calling people “ugly Jews” and professing his love for Adolf Hitler, designer John Galliano was a long-time fashion darling who wowed the sartorial elite, season after season, as the creative force behind luxury fashion house Christian Dior.On March 1, at the height of the controversy, Dior fired its creative direc