Last month, “Salvator Mundi,” Leonardo da Vinci’s portrayal of Jesus as Savior of the World, sold at auction for $400 million, more than twice the previous record for a work of art sold at auction. The buyer also had to pay an additional $50.3 million in commissions and fees.The painting has been heavily retouched, and some experts have even questioned whether it really is by Leonardo. Jason Farago, a New York Times art critic, described it as “a proficient but not especially distinguished relig

President Donald Trump’s announcement that he, unlike other recent presidents, really is going to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel accomplished several goals, many of them beneficial, all of them revealing about the unorthodox 45th chief executive.　It showed Trump fulfilling a major campaign promise, for once unfettered by congressional GOP laggards. It earned him a burst of positive publicity among supporters of that major ally, a rare bastion of diverse democracy in a region chroni

Social media has created a world of its own, not just in the social realm but also in commerce.Scrolling through the Instagram app, for instance, at least one out of 10 Instagrammers are so-called “star Instagrammers,” having gained popularity by sharing everything from their food and clothes to basically their lives via carefully composed photos with captions bordering on bravado. Their followers indulge in vicarious satisfaction, even forging comradery among themselves for their shared interes

Given massive social divisions and the disruptions from technology, what is the new development model?　As the Commission for Global Economic Transformation, co-chaired by Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Michael Spence, formed early last month, gets down to work, we should reflect whether emerging markets are able to formulate such a new development model.　The World Bank is the world’s premier development funding agency and its flagship World Development Report is an opinion shaper about the

A petition was filed with the Blue House with the support of more than 200,000 people, prompting a high ranking Blue House official to appear publicly and issue an official response. This rare national debate relates to courts’ discretionary consideration of intoxication as a mitigating factor in issuing sentences for criminals. The petition aims to amend the Korean Criminal Code to eliminate the intoxication defense from the code entirely and/or amend other special legislations on sex crimes so

The title is a riff on Tennessee Williams’ prizewinning play “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the internationally-acclaimed British movie “A Street Cat Named Bob.” The former brilliantly portrays the conflict between fantasy and reality represented by Blanche and Stanley. The latter movingly depicts the beautiful friendship between a street musician and a street cat he accidentally picks up and takes care of. Both the play and the film have touched the hearts of many international readers and movi