Rep. Chung Dong-young, a supreme council member of the main opposition Democratic Party, has added fuel to an escalating debate on welfare reform by calling for wealth taxes to finance the party’s universal welfare scheme.Chung, who was the DP’s candidate for the 2007 presidential election, proposed on Thursday the introduction a wealth tax and a welfare tax. The wealth tax targets the nation’s ri

Pushed by the United States and China, the two Koreas are set to resume dialogue. On the heels of the U.S.-China summit in Washington on Wednesday, North Korea proposed that the two sides hold high-ranking military talks to discuss the sinking of the South Korean Navy’s Cheonan warship and the North’s shelling of the South’s Yeonpyeong Island. Seoul accepted to enter talks with the North to see wh

Many Latinos have grown frustrated by the failure of Democrats and Republicans to craft a comprehensive reform of national immigration policy. Those disaffected voters may have a new home: the Tequila Party, an independent, grassroots effort designed to mobilize Latinos much as the tea party movement has seized on the anger and frustration of fiscal conservatives.The Tequila Party remains more an

As if Haiti needed another plague, former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier made a surprise return to the country on Sunday after 25 years of exile, raising alarm about his intentions and complicating efforts to resolve a paralyzing electoral crisis.The one-time “president for life” is a polarizing figure who governed Haiti during one of its most wretched eras. His return is yet another dos

The pieces just don’t add up.Credit card debt outstanding has fallen 27 straight months for a total decline of $177.2 billion.The unemployment rate has been stuck above 9 percent for 20 months.Average hourly earnings rose 1.9 percent in 2010.Personal income rose less than 4 percent in the 12 months ended November.About 23 percent of homes with mortgages are worth less than the amount of the loan.F

Shenzhen is famous for being the guinea pig for China’s development over the past three decades. It became China’s first special economic zone in 1980 as the government pioneered the nation’s economic opening-up in this former fishing village adjacent to Hong Kong. Now higher education is the latest area in which the city is blazing a trail for the rest of the country, as it is setting up a univer

Few were expecting any surprises from the ASEAN Ministerial Retreat in Lombok, Indonesia over the weekend. So when news emerged that the 10-member group was urging an easing of sanctions against Burma (Myanmar), we found it rather shocking, if not altogether disturbing.The introduction of a regime sanctioned constitution, general elections and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi are grounds for Indone

In the past 12 and a half months great areas of the world have experienced extreme, crazy and topsy-turvy weather. Both the western and eastern worlds suffered a midsummer breakdown:The hottest summer (more than 100 degrees F for the first time) in Russia, sparking wildfires and blanketing Moscow with toxic smog;The heaviest monsoon rains in Pakistan, causing rivers to rampage over the countryside

1. Megamind Opened Jan. 13Directed by Tom McGrathStarring Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt2. Hello GhostOpened Dec. 22Directed by Kim Yeong-takStarring Cha Tae-hyeon, Kang Ye-won 3. The Last GodfatherOpened Dec. 29Directed by Shim Hyung-raeStarring Shim Hyung-rae4. Love and Other DrugsOpened Jan. 13Directed by Edward ZwickStarring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway5. Season of the WitchOpened Jan. 13Directed b

The Cheonghae Unit, which was deployed in March 2009 to join an international anti-piracy campaign in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast, has thus far subdued pirate ships on 15 occasions.The unit, consisting of a 4,500-ton destroyer, a helicopter and three high-speed boats, has also escorted hundreds of vessels passing through the waters off Somalia and assisted in their safe navigation. The f