3 new lessons of euro crisis WASHINGTON - While some observers argue that the key lesson of the eurozones baptism by fire is that greater fiscal and banking integration are needed to sustain the currency union, many economists pointed this out even before the euros introdu..
April is a hot time for arsonists Although arson specialists have long known about the "Devil's Night" fires that plague the Detroit area each October, most are surprised to learn that other days in the calendar have spikes in suspicious fires. Also troublesome are blazes set on ho..
'Accidental Racist' deliberately stirs things up America's culture wars took a detour last week with the arrival of "Accidental Racist," a duet single by country singer Brad Paisley and rapper LL Cool J. - a sort of "Ebony and Ivory" for the 21st century that's generated a lot more vitriol than i..
Genetic engineering: golden rice Fourteen years ago, scientists developed a genetically engineered version of rice that would promote the production of vitamin A to counter blindness and other diseases in children in developing countries. In a few months, the Philippines will beco..
Hope springs for laws on guns, immigration WASHINGTON - This is the best time of the year in your nation's capital.
Peace talks lead Taliban to rethink spring offensive The coming of spring, with the snow melting in the steep mountain passes, is traditionally when the Taliban leave their havens in tribal Pakistan to return to Afghanistan and resume the battle against the government in Kabul and its NATO allies, pr..
Europe's political stress tests PRINCETON - In recent years, the European Union - or, more accurately, the powerful countries of northern Europe - has been subjecting its weaker members to social and political stress tests in the name of fiscal rectitude. As a result, souther..
Maybe they should go back to flying carpets Our first thought on reading that an Iranian inventor had devised a time machine that could project the user five to eight years into the future was that the inventor had got it backward and come up with something that projected his country, at lea..
Exile and banishment through the ages Claudius, in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," declares: "And where the offense is, let the great axe fall." Not all crimes, however, deserve such an irreversible penalty. Society, in its infinite wisdom, has devised a tapestry of punishments, their intensit..
'Jindallae Kkot' (Azalea flowers) I grew up in a small town in North Korea. It was nestled snugly amid hills, mountains, and a nice river. In the spring, those hills and mountains would come alive with pink colonies of azalea flowers or "jindallae kkot" in Korean. In South Korea, a..
For US food aid, healthful reform proposed President Barack Obama's new budget contains a sensible and long-overdue reform in how the United States distributes food aid to impoverished nations dependent on foreign help.
Would condom mandate become porn-industry barrier? It's a familiar refrain in the California Capitol: legislation to regulate a major industry surfaces, and industry emissaries warn that it could drive production and its jobs to another state.
North Korea is erratic on military matters "A real and clear danger" is how Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on April 3 described North Korea. Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held a joint press conference in Washington to emphasize a military and se..
Passing of Thatcher Margaret Thatcher was the woman who began the shift to the right that has affected almost all the countries of the West in the past three decades. She died in London at the age of 87 on Monday, 34 years after she became Britains first female prim..
With tax reform a little secrecy is not all bad Major tax reform is brought forward as a desirable goal in every Congress, but it's so difficult it has been accomplished only twice, in 1954 and 1986.
N. Korea needs to be reined in by China The whole world is watching.
Prime Minister Thatcher and Asian century LOS ANGELES - Margaret Thatcher, who died earlier this week, may not have been one for turning, as she dubbed her putative inability to never alter a chosen course of action. But when the first woman ever to become British prime minister first ..
