The moratorium declared by a fiscally strained Seongnam City in June 2010 prompted the Board of Audit and Inspection to look into the books of 49 local administrations. Its findings, made public earlier this week, showed that Seongnam was not the only spendthrift municipality. Some of the municipalities, if no action were to be taken, would undoubtedly follow the footsteps of Seongnam in the near future. No less alarming is that officials cooked the books to produce non-existent surpluses. A cas

Like everybody else, National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae deserves to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. This basic right should hold even though a prosecutor raided the home of one of his erstwhile aides for search and seizure as part of a criminal investigation into an allegation that he bought votes for his 2008 election to the chairmanship of the ruling Grand National Party.But it does not mean that he should allow himself to retain the top post of the legislature. Instead, he shoul

Taiwan is holding presidential elections this week, and viewed from the United States it almost seems as if Ralph Nader has moved to the island.For Americans, the Taiwanese vote is not merely an interesting, distant piece of news. China remains fixated, even obsessed, with the island, determined to take it back one day. And while the United States is not obligated to fight on behalf of the Taiwanese, successive administrations for half a century have made it clear they would not tolerate a Chine

The conflict between Iran and the West just keeps heating up, with the Iranians announcing over the weekend that they have begun to enrich uranium at a second major facility, a well-defended site outside the city of Qom. Given the high stakes, it’s valuable to take another look at the main source of the tension: Iran’s nuclear-weapons program. That this enterprise is active is widely considered a given in the U.S. In fact, the evidence, contained in a November report of the International Atomic

Last week, Israelis had one more reason to be proud of themselves ― one of their cities was singled out for a rare honor. The Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail selected the “most creative cities” of the world.Leaning on the Global Creativity Index, devised at the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the newspaper looked at the three T’s (technology, talent and tolerance) that have made cities shine.The Globe and Mail even went a step further, in

Rights campaigners and politicians Wednesday condemned a video showing women from a protected and primitive tribe dancing for tourists reportedly in exchange for food on India’s Andaman Islands.British newspaper The Observer released the undated video showing Jarawa tribal women ― some of them naked ― being lured to dance and sing after a bribe was allegedly paid to a policeman to produce them.Under Indian laws designed to protect ancient tribal groups susceptible to outside influence and diseas

 

NEW YORK (AFP) ― British artist and self-marketing genius Damien Hirst looks to connect the dots in a big way with the opening Thursday of a global show for his body of colored spot paintings.The Gagosian Gallery network, with 11 locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong, has been turned over entirely to Hirst’s geometric blizzard of round spots.At a media preview Wednesday in one of the New York galleries, Damien Hirst posed for photographs and spent

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. President Barack Obama took a break from the affairs of state to rub shoulders with Hollywood royalty Wednesday, meeting Angelina Jolie and her beau Brad Pitt at the White House.Jolie was in Washington for the launch of her new movie “In the Land of Blood and Honey” and the couple were seen through the paneled windows of the Oval Office by reporters and photographers.“President Obama spoke with Ms Jolie about her work to raise the profile of preventing mass atrocities and

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Katy Perry is in the popular clique now.The singer-actress won the most People’s Choice Awards at Wednesday’s 38th annual fan-favorite extravaganza. Perry, who was absent from the ceremony, was honored in five categories, including favorite female artist, tour headliner, song of the year for “E.T.’’ with Kanye West, music video for “Last Friday Night,’’ and TV guest star for “How I Met Your Mother.’’Perry told fans on Twitter earlier this week that she wouldn’t attend the show

The government has decided to discount medical fees for people who designate neighborhood clinics as their primary care facilities, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday. The new system comes into effect starting in April.Currently, 70 percent of outpatient medical expenses are covered by the national health insurance program, but for those who register a nearby clinic as their primary care unit the coverage will be increased to 80 percent, leaving only 20 percent up to the patients,

WASHINGTON (AP) ― With Penguins captain Sidney Crosby watching from the press box, Washington’s Jason Chimera scored off a turnover in the first period and Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves, giving the Capitals a 1-0 victory on Wednesday night, Pittsburgh’s sixth consecutive loss.Vokoun handed Pittsburgh its first shutout this season. The Penguins have scored only six goals in the skid.Chimera gave Washington the only offense it needed at 15:25, finishing a 3-on-1 rush right in front of goalie Marc-And