For PC and mobile gamers in South Korea, Twitch is more than a useful platform. It is a key tool to play games together with others, create a community and make money through donations and subscriptions. Taking advantage of Twitch’s intricate and convenient functions, top-notch gaming streamers, often affiliated with multichannel network firms, appear to make a living by playing their favorite games. No wonder, then, that a growing number of gaming enthusiasts are jumping onto the globa

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent annual address on the state of his country was so ostentatiously threatening as to sound reassuring. Not only did he forbid the West from crossing red lines; he announced that he himself would determine where those lines are. He seemingly played chicken with himself -- certainly not with the chronically listless West. Few will believe Putin when he suggests that Russia is threatened by the might of the European Union, which cannot even deal with

Hester Ford passed away peacefully at her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 17. She was recognized as the oldest living American before she died, though there is a disagreement about her age, 115 or 114. Her obituary said Ford was born in August 1905 (her family claims she was born in 1904) in Lancaster County, South Carolina, to Peter and Frances McCardell. That was the year Theodore Roosevelt began his first full term as US president; the Russo-Japanese war ended with Japan’s une

A president‘s first 100 days are an arbitrary benchmark, a point of measurement journalists are fond of because it allows us to draw comparisons between the current officeholder and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the last chief executive whose first three months were truly momentous. But in recent times, the 100-day trope has also been taken seriously by presidents -- including both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised that in his first 100 days he wo

Non-pandemic health care hasn‘t been much on the agenda during President Joe Biden’s first 100 days. But reducing health care costs remains a priority for the public -- ranking ahead of addressing racism, crime, immigration or climate change. Democrats‘ wariness of the issue is understandable. The public is passionate about health care, but also risk-averse. Three of the last four presidents (two of them Democrats) wrecked their poll numbers with efforts to enact sweeping cha

The critically acclaimed film “Minari” has enthralled international movie critics and viewers lately. This deeply touching film has won a number of prestigious awards already, including the Golden Globe Award for best foreign-language film, and the best supporting actress award at the 2021 British Academy Film Awards. At the 93rd annual Academy Awards in the US, Youn Yuh-jung won the best supporting actress award for “Minari.” “Minari” depicts the experienc

The journey to this moment has been painful and so very difficult. Derek Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was a shocking and disturbing experience for so many people. On video, Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as he took his last breaths. Many of those who joined in the sustained protests last summer did so for the first time because of what happened to George Floyd and were motivated by their newfound understanding of the pain Black people

COVID-19 is going to kill more people in 2021 than it did last year. If you want to see why, look at what’s happening in India. Cases have been surging in the country of 1.37 billion people. Case counts are rising quickly, too. Average infection numbers over the past seven days have run at nearly three times the level two weeks ago, a pace of growth that the US last saw in the early days of the outbreak a year ago. The real numbers may be yet higher. The city of Bhopal used COVID-19 pro

The original Earth Day on April 22 in 1970 drew Americans’ attention to their planet. This year’s is designed to draw the planet’s attention to Americans. President Joe Biden’s climate conference, kicking off Thursday, aims to demonstrate that the US is serious about tackling climate change, and showing it can outcompete China in the process. In doing so, though, Biden is also reaffirming his intent to transform the domestic scene with multitrillion dollar infrastructure

The blooming of yellow forsythias heralds the long awaited arrival of spring. The golden bells are everywhere, on the sides of Seoul’s numerous rocky mountains, by the Han River and along school fences. The golden yellows are soon joined by the creamy white elegance of magnolia blossoms that, at night, look like candle lights floating midair. All too soon, they fade, the large petals falling to the ground one by one. But don’t despair, there are delicate pale pink cherry blossoms

The by-elections for mayors in Seoul and Busan ended in landslide defeats for President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party. Winning 57.5 percent of the vote, former Mayor Oh Se-hoon returned to City Hall 10 years after resigning over opposition to free school lunches. In Busan, that Democratic Party candidate won only 34.4 percent of the vote, a huge drop from the 55.2 percent it won in June 2018. Two main currents running against the Democratic Party came together to produce the storm. The f

President Joe Biden‘s bid to retool the US economy has me thinking about the parallels with earlier transformational presidents: FDR and Reagan. One of the most interesting aspects of these previous administrations was that the big changes they implemented actually began under their predecessors of the opposite party. Just as Ronald Reagan expanded on Jimmy Carter’s accomplishments, and Franklin D. Roosevelt got a running start from Herbert Hoover, Biden is benefiting from a change i

For the reshuffle of Cabinet ministers and Blue House staff announced last week, President Moon Jae-in made more reasonable choices than at any other time in his entire tenure. Notable was the appointment of Lee Chul-hee as the senior presidential secretary for political affairs, a post responsible for taking care of the administration’s relations with the opposition. Lee, 56, had given up running for the National Assembly after serving one term on a proportional representation ticket, e

To judge by the headlines, you’d think the most critical immunization issue facing the world is the safety and hesitancy concerns over the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. That debate is genuinely important. Still, it shouldn’t distract from the biggest challenge the world will face over the coming months: the grossly unequal distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries. The development and ramp-up of preventive medicine for the coronavirus are a testamen

When we are born, we cannot choose our home and our country. Since these two things determine our destiny, they could be either the best gifts or the worst nightmares to us, depending on the situation. If your parents were destitute, you will know what it is to suffer poverty and will learn not to expect any financial support from them. Likewise, if you were born in a country plagued by war, you may end up being a refugee or a migrant worker wandering foreign lands. Unfortunately, we have no