Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
World Sep 29, 2013
U.N. secretary-general holds first meeting with Syrian opposition chief
U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon held his first meeting Saturday with the head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition in a bid to press for a Syria peace conference. The meeting is likely to infuriate President Bashar Assad’s government, which routinely calls the coalition and ...
National Sep 26, 2013
Abe, U.N. chief Ban vow cooperation over Syria, North Korea
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have agreed to cooperate on eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons and on tackling North Korea’s nuclear threat and humanitarian issues, a Japanese official said. During their talks Wednesday in New York, Abe said his administration supports ...
World | ANALYSIS Aug 29, 2013
West missed chances to cut arsenal
by Simeon Bennett
The United States and its allies may be headed for a war that they could have tried harder to prevent. The failure since the 1970s to put more pressure on Syria to relinquish its chemical weapons, plus American support for Iraq even after it ...
Politics & Diplomacy Aug 29, 2013
Japan misunderstood history comments, Ban says
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that Japan misunderstood the comments he made earlier this week about its need to have a “correct view of history.” Ban told reporters at The Hague he regretted the misunderstanding in Japan about remarks he made Monday ...
National Aug 28, 2013
China backs Ban's criticism of revisionist Japanese views on wartime history
China supports U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's recent remarks urging Japanese political leaders with revisionist views of the nation's wartime history to have a more appropriate understanding.
Politics & Diplomacy Aug 27, 2013
Ban shouldn't hit Abe's views: Suga
by Ayako Mie
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga rebuffs criticism by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over Japan's revisionist views of its wartime history.
Global-related Apr 2, 2013
Finding a way out of the Pyongyang imbroglio
by Tom Plate
It is probably a good idea to regard the latest bombast of threats from North Korea as as the antics of an angry child hurling the rattle out of the crib in hopes of getting parents to pay more attention.
Global-related Mar 11, 2013
Did Rodman lay up a net gain in North Korea?
by Tom Plate
Clown-job or not, former pro basketball star Dennis Rodman's fast break to North Korea did draw our attention to monstrous problems on the Peninsula.
Global-related Jan 23, 2013
Ban talks about Japan in the world in exclusive interview
by Tom Plate
In a series of seven two-hour sessions that included informal get-togethers with his wife Soon Taek, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the well-regarded former South Korean foreign minister, shares his insights exclusively with American journalist Tom Plate. The following excerpts from Plate’s ...