This editorial was produced in an office, so it may be 13 percent less productive and efficient at its job than if it were written at home. Then again, if it were produced at home, away from the boss’s gaze, it might still be goofing off, collecting glib phrases and sentence fragments without cohering into anything persuasive. In the latest debate over telecommuting, sparked by Yahoo! Inc.’s announcement that all employees working from home must start showing up at the office, the two camps have

The government has resubmitted to the Diet a bill calling for the adoption of identification numbers for individuals to be used for the administration of social security programs and tax payments. The ruling and some opposition parties recognize the need to introduce the numbering system. Deliberations on the bill should begin as soon as possible so it can be approved by the current Diet session. Under the system, cards carrying numbers, individuals’ photos and IC chips would be issued to all ci

It was a defining moment whose time had come. When our men went out in full force to reclaim the ground that foreign intruders had occupied since Feb. 9, it was, as the prime minister rightly puts it, “in defense of the country’s honor and sovereignty.”We had been extremely patient in dealing with the hundred-plus followers of the Sulu Sultan encamped at Kampung Tanduo, outside Felda Sahabat 17, about 160km from Lahad Datu. It was our wish to negotiate a peaceful settlement that would have preve

China has executed Golden Triangle warlord Nor Kham and three accomplices after they were convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in October 2011.Thai Hsang Kham, Lao Zha Xika and Yi Lai, who was stateless, were executed along with Nor Kham after the nation’s highest court approved their death sentences.Nor Kham and his gang were found guilty of attacking two Chinese cargo ships in collusion with Thai soldiers while they kidnapped other Chinese sailors and held their ships

Here come those dastardly dams!In Asia, Africa and the Middle East, nations are aggressively building new hydroelectric dams, seemingly heedless of the potentially disastrous effects on the countries downstream.As examples, Laos broke ground on a new Mekong River dam that’s causing concern bordering on fury in Cambodia and Vietnam. India is enraged about a new Chinese dam going up on the Brahmaputra River. And Ethiopia’s new dam on the Nile is angering Sudan, while Egypt has threatened war.What’

Robots are evoking some deep economic anxiety these days. They’re routinely mastering human tasks ― driving cars, trading securities, diagnosing diseases - - that not long ago appeared permanently beyond their capabilities. And as automated technology advances at an exponential rate, more and more jobs, in more and more fields, will be done by intelligent machines in the very near future. This transition will involve some scary trade-offs. Growth and productivity will probably accelerate, and lo

For the first time in history, the strategic objectives of the four major powers surrounding the Korean Peninsula, namely the United States, China, Russia and Japan, have converged on one concept ― domestic reform and external opening of the North Korean polity and economy. The reform agenda includes denuclearization of the North, reducing military tensions on the peninsula and improving the human rights conditions in the North, and her opening up would entail economic growth and rising internat

MOSCOW ― During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and, in a milder way, the United States imposed external limits on the activities of states and societies, causing longstanding conflicts among smaller countries to be “frozen.” Following the Soviet Union’s collapse in the 1990s, those conflicts began to “unfreeze.”With interethnic tensions already on the rise, Yugoslavia was the first country to dissolve into conflict. Soon after, war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, followed by fighting i

Where is most cosmetic surgery performed? If you answered the USA, you are correct. When it comes to sheer numbers, more cosmetic surgery procedures are carried out in America than anywhere else, with over 3 million performed in 2011. However, according to new figures, when population is accounted for, Korea leads the world, followed by Greece and Italy. The figures, from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, show that Korea has the highest proportion of its population undergoi

It is too soon to predict how the U.S. Supreme Court will deal with the issue of same-sex marriage, but history has already been made. The Department of Justice argued last week that in the context of marriage (and everywhere else), courts should treat discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation with essentially the same hostility they apply to discrimination on the basis of race and sex. To understand the importance of that argument, detailed in a brief opposing a 2008 California law bann