NEWPORT BEACH ― Six internal factors suggest that the United States’ economy is slowly healing. For some observers, these factors were deemed sufficient to form the critical mass needed to propel the economy into escape velocity.While I hoped that they might be proven right, the recent stream of weak economic data, including May’s timid net job creation of only 69,000, confirmed my doubts. With this and other elements of a disheartening employment report now suddenly raising widespread worries a

CAIRO ― “Bashar should abandon power and retire safely in Egypt. The general-prosecutor is murder-friendly,” a friend, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told me as we watched former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s trial in the Police Academy’s criminal court. Although Mubarak and his interior (security) minister, Habib al-Adly, were handed life sentences at the conclusion of their trials, the generals who ran Egypt’s apparatus of repression as deputy interior ministers were acqui

Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan has been elected the new chairman of the main opposition Democratic United Party. The six-term lawmaker won a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Rep. Kim Han-gil on Saturday, the final day of the party’s leadership race that began on May 20.The new leader’s primary task is to manage the selection of a party candidate for the presidential election in December. The job sounds simple but is in fact complex because the party, after nominating its own presidenti

Spain has at last decided to request European financing to recapitalize its teetering banks, becoming the fourth eurozone country to receive an EU bailout, following Greece, Ireland and Portugal.Madrid’s request for a financial rescue is welcome news for the global economy, as it would calm market jitters over Spanish banks, which are swamped with bad debts resulting from their reckless lending to property developers.The specific amount of aid has not yet been set, as an assessment of the capita

Mathematical certainty is elusive, but here’s a number that I can cite with absolute confidence: So far, 100 percent of the truly bad homilies I have ever heard at Mass have come from the male half of our species.Could women give bad homilies at Mass? Theoretically, of course. It just takes lack of preparation and a dearth of talent, and presto: a homily that puts the faithful to sleep or makes them want to run from the church, screaming. In fact, a lot of Catholics have already quietly run from

Last year it hit the newspapers that Korea had one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Experts scrambled to explain this phenomenon, but perhaps one of the foremost contributing factors to this statistic is that in Korea people tend to not seek or even shun therapy when dealing with distress. The reason for this is that employers can view your mental history in the interview process. Basically, you have two choices: seek help or remain employable. No one should have to make this choice, b

“The highest result of education is tolerance.” (Helen Keller)I’m a permanent resident residing in Busan, South Korea.I came to South Korea in 1996 to take advantage of Korean people, especially women, and to generally be a bad influence upon Korean culture.My Korean wife is a victim of my trickery and my children are the result of our relationship. Wait a second, wrong story. I’m just waking up from my MBC-induced bad dream. If you watched “The Shocking Truth About Relationships with Foreigners

The single-mother revolution shouldn’t need much introduction. It started in the 1960s when the nation began to sever the historical connection between marriage and childbearing and to turn single motherhood and the fatherless family into a viable, even welcome, arrangement for children and for society. The reasons for the shift were many, including the sexual revolution, a powerful strain of anti-marriage feminism and a “super bug” of American individualism that hit the country in the 1960s and

North Korea, which has conducted two nuclear tests in the past, is alarmingly provocative. It has recently proclaimed itself a nuclear weapons state in defiance of the international community’s demand that it dismantle its nuclear weapons program.It has also picked out President Lee Myung-bak and news outlets in Seoul as potential targets for a “holy war of retribution.” As if to demonstrate its resolve, it sends its jet fighters threateningly close to the Demilitarized Zone before calling them

Ancient China had a great civilization, with the Great Wall being one of its legacies attesting to its ancient history. But was it necessary for modern China to dot the fortifications of non-Chinese ancient civilizations and link them to extend the length of the Great Wall, as it has done now?The wall, the largest manmade structure in the world, is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth and other materials. According to a 2009 Chinese estimate, the wall, built to fend off

What happens when a brutal regime gets replaced by an alternative and largely unknown entity? Exhibit A: Libya.Shortly after Moammar Gadhafi bumped his head on a bullet, the “rebels” took over and promptly declared Sharia law. It’s a start ― I guess. Though a start of what, no one’s really quite sure. This week, a new set of Libyan “rebels” has emerged to replace the old ones, seizing control of Tripoli airport and diverting flights. It’s just like the game Whack-a-Mole: Knock one down, and five