Sixty-two percent of the victims of modern slavery and 40 percent of the child laborers around the world are in Asia and the Pacific. Unacceptable forms of work call for unprecedented measures to combat them, says Tomoko Nishimoto, ILO assistant director-general, as governments, employers’ and workers’ representatives from 193 countries discuss ways to accelerate the eradication of child labor worldwide at the IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labor.Out of the 40 million

In a country where politics has turned toxic, leading virtually everything -- from festival firecrackers to animal husbandry -- to take on a “communal” religious coloring, perhaps it should not be surprising that even one of the world’s the most famous monuments has become a target. But that doesn’t make it any less tragic -- or destructive.The Taj Mahal is India’s most magnificent architectural wonder. Built nearly four centuries ago by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his belov

A National Intelligence Service committee to reform the agency said it would push for a revision to the National Intelligence Service Act this year.The main points of the revision include the transfer of anticommunist investigations to the police, the clarification of the NIS’ role, the enhancement of transparency of its budget execution and the encouragement of the rejection of illegal orders. The task force vowed to work to restart the NIS with a clean slate as an agency devoted to national se

As he nears the end of a grueling tour of Asia, President Donald Trump is receiving praise for avoiding the sort of insulting and confrontational language that so often has exasperated his foreign policy advisers and alarmed US allies. That is admittedly setting a low bar for diplomatic success, but it’s something.In a speech to the South Korean parliament, Trump warned North Korea not to test the United States, but there was no repetition of his threat of “fire and fury.” In a meeting with Chin

Have you ever been around bullies?They like to talk big around their friends, boasting about how they are going to crush their victim once they are face to face. But when they get the opportunity, they cower in fear and run away.That’s because bullies are nothing more than egomaniacs who love to mouth off. Deep inside, they are scared, insecure little rabbits that like to pick on others because it makes them feel better about themselves.But most of all, they just want to be admired.Last week, du

President Moon Jae-in returned home Wednesday after an overseas trip that wrapped up his busiest weeks as the chief diplomat since he took office in May.Moon’s tour of three Southeast Asian countries -- Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines -- was preceded by receiving at home Donald Trump, who was on his maiden trip to Asia as the US president. Moon focused his talks with Trump in Seoul on North Korea. In Vietnam, Moon met China President Xi Jinping to discuss North Korea and the restoration o