We’re five years into a so-called recovery that’s been a bonanza for the rich but a bust for the middle class, which is fueling a new populism. “The game is rigged and the American people know that. They get it right down to their toes,” says Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.Left- and right-wing populists remain deeply divided over the role of government. Even so, the major fault line in American politics seems to be shifting, from Democrat vs. Republican to populist vs. establishment ― those

More than one month has passed since the Sewol ferry capsized off the southwestern island of Jindo. At the site of the tragedy, divers are still struggling against strong underwater currents and low visibility to retrieve the bodies of the deceased. Among an estimated 476 passengers on board, only 172 have been rescued, with 286 confirmed dead and 18 still missing. It is difficult to tell when the search and rescue operations will be completed as the Coast Guard intends to keep working until the

WASHINGTON ― The chamber of horrors of the Syrian civil war has spawned a terrorist group so extreme that it has been rejected even by al-Qaida ― and this toxic group is now establishing a safe haven in the city of Raqqah in northern Syria that could soon be used to attack foreign targets. The hyper-militant terrorist group is known in the West as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Its efforts to establish a Muslim caliphate that spans the two countries, and to absorb another al-Qaida

What, exactly, is wrong with economic inequality?Thomas Piketty’s improbable best-seller, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” has put that question in sharp relief. As just about everyone now knows, Piketty contends that over the next century, inequality is likely to grow. In response, he outlines a series of policies designed to reduce wealth at the very top of society, including a progressive income tax and a global wealth tax.But Piketty says surprisingly little about why economic inequali

Vietnam and the Philippines called on the other member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at their summit in Burma (Myanmar) on Sunday to take stronger action to confront China over its provocative actions in the South China Sea. But their call fell on deaf ears.Vietnam led the denunciation, accusing China of “brazenly” triggering the confrontation between Vietnamese and Chinese flotillas last week over the installation by Beijing of a giant oil rig at the Paracel Islands in

By the end of this year, half of South Sudan’s 12 million people will either be in flight, facing starvation or dead. That was the shocking but all too real prognosis presented to me on arrival Tuesday in Juba, the nation’s capital.Over the last five months, this newest of nations, and one of the world’s poorest, has been plunged into a maelstrom of violence that has displaced more than 1.2 million people and raised the specter of ethnic cleansing. With more than 4 million already desperately hu