If you believe the optimists, self-driving cars will dominate our roads within a couple decades. This will reduce or even eliminate such human-created ills as traffic jams and fatal accidents.I’m not so sure.Granted, the rise of autonomous vehicles does seem imminent, with companies such as Apple, Google, Ford and General Motors already testing small fleets in realistic conditions. Some think the US could have 10 million by 2020. Experts predict that the shift away from car ownership could save

North Korea reportedly exported at least $270 million worth of commodities to China and other countries including India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka over the six months to early August, in violation of UN sanctions.UN experts monitoring sanctions said in a report released Saturday that the North continues to flout sanctions on commodities as well as an arms embargo and restrictions on shipping and financial activities.Following China’s suspension of coal imports from the North in February, it has bee

Sure. It’s impressive. No wonder Australians like to boast about their 25 years of uninterrupted economic growth.But the achievement masks a deep complacency and risk aversion that could ultimately undo those gains.A large part of Australia’s economic success reflects a huge expansion in trade with Asia, particularly China. Corporate Australia is quite willing to sell to Asia, especially commodities. The nation’s direct investment tells a different story. It is focused instead in the US, the UK

President Donald Trump has caught a lot of heat for rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program with a six-month wind-down. Few people seem aware that he’s ending an administrative amnesty for illegal aliens that President Barack Obama lacked the constitutional and legal authority to implement.How do we know? Because even Obama admitted it -- repeatedly.Responding in October 2010 to demands that he implement immigration reforms unilaterally, Obama declared, “I am not king. I ca

We’ve all become bit players in Donald Trump’s bizarre reality show, but behind the bluster, he’s altering our lives through dramatic changes in regulations.We quake with anxiety that he might get us into a catastrophic war with North Korea. Then we gasp when he threatens to deport 800,000 of the best and brightest. We puzzle over his touting of a nonexistent tax plan. And he stuns by equating racists and neo-Nazis with opponents of hatred and discrimination.We nervously watch him try out differ

In resolving the Korean Peninsula issue, South Korea needs to take a leadership role and own the issue outright. The country’s leadership plays second fiddle to the US. Surprisingly, it does not seem to understand the concerns related to North Korea.South Korea is far stronger than North Korea militarily and should therefore not fear the North. South Korea should terminate for a year the annual military exercise with the US in return for the North’s cessation of missile and nuclear tests. After

Korea Inc. is under siege from all sides. A combination of internal and external risk factors are surrounding Korean businesses as Asia’s fourth-largest economy sails through rough waters like a low-growth trap. Among the external factors, the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats may be top of the list. The crisis has yet to have a direct impact on the Korean economy, but the level of crisis -- as seen by the UN’s move to impose the harshest sanctions against the North -- is dif