[Newsmaker] Unlikely next act for ' America's Mayor'?

Rudy Giuliani guided New York through its darkest days after 9/11 as the Big Apple’s mayor with his signature tough-guy style, but he has not held office in 15 years. Now, the man once known as “America’s Mayor” is reportedly atop the list of hopefuls to be the country’s next secretary of state, in what would be a stunning political comeback to reward his loyalty to Donald Trump during a brutal presidential campaign.The 72-year-old Giuliani’s resolve during the aftermath of the worst terror stri

World NewsNov. 16, 2016

[Newsmaker] Samsung's Lee bets big on smart cars

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong surprised the market by acquiring Harman International Industries for $8 billion in cash Monday, pushing forward the tech giant’s ambitions in the connected car business.The deal, which came less than a month after his boardroom debut, appears to be carried out under Lee’s vision of turning Samsung’s focus from the declining smartphone business to high-value added future businesses such as auto components and biopharmaceuticals. Lee Jae-yongThe acqu

TechnologyNov. 15, 2016

[Newsmaker] Pribus: A man with many friends

In the year of the outsider, Reince Priebus was the face of the Republican establishment.Yet the Republican National Committee chairman would come to earn the trust and confidence of President-elect Donald Trump, who on Sunday named Priebus as his chief of staff, along with flame-throwing media executive Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist.The position puts Priebus at the power center of the new Trump administration. The 44-year-old Wisconsin political operative will help guard access to the

World NewsNov. 14, 2016

[Newsmaker] Thousands rally, march in anti-Trump protest

Tens of thousands of people marched in streets across the United States on Saturday, staging the fourth day of protests of Donald Trump‘s surprise victory as president. The protests -- held in big cities like New York and Chicago as well as smaller ones, such as Indianapolis, Indiana, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Iowa City, Iowa -- were largely peaceful Saturday.Protesters rallied at New York’s Union Square before taking their cause up Fifth Avenue toward Trump Tower, where they were held back

World NewsNov. 13, 2016

[Newsmaker] Clinton’s concession speech

It was meant to be a day of celebration. Instead, Hillary Clinton brought down the curtain on her historic run for the White House -- the likely coda to a decadeslong career in the public eye.The former first lady, senator and secretary of state had hoped Tuesday would catapult her to the Oval Office, capping a lifetime of public service. Instead, Republican rival Donald Trump pulled off a political upset for the ages.The 69-year-old Clinton -- so close to breaking through the glass ceiling and

World NewsNov. 10, 2016

[Newsmaker] Donald Trump: the unpredictable populist

Impulsive, immoderate and politically untested, Donald Trump did not exactly seem to fit the profile of a candidate for the most powerful job in the world. But with his boundless energy and outsized ego, the 70-year-old billionaire Republican defied all predictions, defeating the far more experienced Hillary Clinton to win the White House.  (AP-Yonhap)On Tuesday, Trump had promised a "Brexit plus plus plus" and voters gave it to him, denying Clinton her place in history as the first woman presid

World NewsNov. 9, 2016

[Newsmaker] Fall from grace for ‘crown prince’

At the center of the spiraling influence-peddling scandal engulfing South Korea is Cha Eun-taek, who has been dubbed “crown prince” in the local culture scene for wielding great influence over various state-led cultural projects.Cha, who was arrested upon his return to Korea from China late Tuesday night, is believed to be a core member of the Choi Soon-sil’s clique attending a secretive meeting to discuss state affairs. His professor and uncle served President Park Geun-hye as culture minister

Social AffairsNov. 9, 2016

[Newsmaker] Prosecutors raid Samsung over Choi scandal

South Korea prosecutors raided the headquarters of Samsung Group on Tuesday to investigate the extent to which the conglomerate was implicated in a political scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.  Around 20 investigators searched the office of Park Sang-jin, who is chief of Samsung Electronics and chairman of the Korea Equestrian Federation, and the offices of other executives located in the company’s Seocho office building that is the group’s headquart

IndustryNov. 8, 2016

[Newsmaker] Park's 'personal' secretariat key in scandal

While the prosecution’s investigation is still in progress over the Choi Soon-sil scandal, the general perception is that President Park Geun-hye’s confidante would never have retained a grip on state affairs, if not for active assistance from inside Cheong Wa Dae.At the very heart of such suspicions is the president’s personal secretary office, a now-defunct branch which allegedly functioned as an undercover task force for the “shadow broker” Choi.When President Park announced a partial reshuff

PoliticsNov. 7, 2016

[Newsmaker] Family, youth take center stage at anti-Park rally

Families and youths took center stage at the massive anti-President Park Geun-hye rally at the heart of Seoul on Saturday, signaling continuing public anger over a scandal involving Park’s confidante Choi Soon-sil. Middle school, high school and university students -- some of them in school uniform -- took to the streets, vowing to “save” democracy. “I am mad that an unelected individual ruled the country behind the scenes. It is a regression of the democracy that we have learned,” said Cho Ji-h

Social AffairsNov. 6, 2016

[Newsmaker] Film fest shifts focus to North Korean defectors’ soul-searching

According to director Lee Min-yong, this was a watershed year for the North Korean Human Rights International Film Festival, with a record number of audiences and films offering diverse perspectives on the lives of both North Koreans and defectors. The sixth edition of the film festival, which took place at the Daehan Cinema in central Seoul from Oct. 21-23, was launched in 2011 to inform the world of the gross human rights violations occurring in the North.In the beginning, the films had a “cle

FilmNov. 4, 2016

[Newsmaker] The next US president's N. Korea dilemma

Among the many challenges facing the next occupant of the White House, few will be more pressing, or more complex, than that posed by North Korea‘s seemingly inexorable drive to nuclear statehood.As adamant as Washington is about never accepting the North as a nuclear weapons state, the ground reality is of a country rapidly closing in on its strategic goal of possessing a direct and credible nuclear strike threat against the US mainland.Pyongyang’s weapons program has accelerated sharply in thi

World NewsNov. 3, 2016

[Newsmaker] Will ex-Roh aide be Park’s savior?

At first glance, Kim Byong-joon appears to be a long-shot for becoming the prime minister tasked with pulling the Park Geun-hye presidency from its biggest crisis sparked by a scandal involving her longtime friend. Their checkered relationship began in 2004 when the 62-year-old nominee was policy chief for late President Roh Moo-hyun. Park was chair of the then-main opposition Grand National Party, the predecessor of the current ruling Saenuri Party. They clashed over real estate, welfare and ot

PoliticsNov. 2, 2016

[Newsmaker] Choi scandal explained

Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a scandal dominating South Korean politics, is now in custody and faces allegations of exerting undue influence over President Park Geun-hye in state policies and projects. The scandal is South Korea’s biggest political crisis in years, with citizens demanding Park’s removal from office. Here’s what we know so far. 　Q. Who is Choi Soon-sil?A. She is a 60-year-old woman who has never held a government post. She has been a close friend of President Park fo

Social AffairsNov. 1, 2016

[Newsmaker] Blue House agonizes over next move

Hard pressed by public anger over the so-called Choi Soon-sil scandal, Cheong Wa Dae had little choice but to dismiss top presidential confidants in a gesture of communication and reform.However, the move has created a fiasco for the already-struggling presidential office which has largely been losing its grip over state governance, with only 14 months of President Park Geun-hye’s single five-year term remaining. Skepticism also continues to linger on the efficacy of the measure, a decision whic

PoliticsOct. 31, 2016

[Newsmaker] Tesla surprises with quarterly profit

Electric car maker Tesla Motors posted its first quarterly profit in three years on Wednesday, giving investors reason to cheer after months of doubt.Tesla's shares have fallen since the summer as some investors questioned the company’s proposed merger with solar panel maker SolarCity Corp. Goldman Sachs recently downgraded Tesla's shares from "buy" to "neutral" and lowered its price target, saying the potential merger could delay the release of Tesla’s much-anticipated Model 3.But Tesla CEO Elo

World BusinessOct. 27, 2016

[Newsmaker] Time is against embattled President Park

South Korean President Park Geun-hye closes her eyes after making a public apology over the leak of some confidential documents, at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)President Park Geun-hye is running out of options -- and out of time, too.The long silence she has maintained amid the snowballing corruption allegation against Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Woo Byung-woo over the past several months did little to soothe the public’s anger.Her hurri

PoliticsOct. 26, 2016

[Newsmaker] The woman behind scandals plaguing Park

Throughout her nearly four years in office, President Park Geun-hye has been criticized on various fronts, ranging from her government’s slipshod response to a ferry sinking to faltering diplomacy and a lack of communication with her own aides and the general population. Park may take credit for one thing nonetheless. She has been largely free from scandals involving family members, which pestered the presidencies of many of her predecessors, especially in later years. (Park, who has never marri

PoliticsOct. 25, 2016

[Newsmaker] AT&T eyes new media future with deal for Time Warner

AT&T on Saturday unveiled a megadeal for Time Warner that would transform the telecom giant into a media-entertainment powerhouse positioned for a sector facing major technology changes.The stock-and-cash deal is valued at $108.7 billion including debt, and gives a value of $84.5 billion to Time Warner -- a major name in the sector that includes the Warner Bros. studios in Hollywood and an array of TV assets such as HBO and CNN.It would give the big US telecom firm “the world‘s best premium cont

World NewsOct. 23, 2016

[Newsmaker] Ex-governor Sohn returns to politics, leaves Minjoo Party

After a humiliating defeat in the 2014 by-election for a parliamentary seat, former Gyeonggi Province Gov. Sohn Hak-kyu did not just cut all ties with the world of politics, he retreated from urban life to live in a mud-walled hut in a remote village in South Jeolla Province, spending most of his time reading books and meeting with local residents. 　The 68-year-old centrist came out of the wilderness Thursday and declared a return to politics, where ideological schisms are still prevalent among

PoliticsOct. 20, 2016