It was the kind of reassurance many people in Japan had wanted to hear: tough, but not bellicose. When the North Koreans hurled another missile over Japan a month later, Prime Minister Abe issued another strong rebuke. Meanwhile, his approval rating rose to 50 percent, rebounding from a record low in July after a series of domestic scandals. Recommended: Think you know Japan?

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 13:52:30 -0400

“Around the world, people are aghast at the latest atrocity in the US...,” writes Mark Kenny. “The Las Vegas mass shooting is ‘the worst in US history’.... If ... Sandy Hook ... didn’t shake the polity free from ... the National Rifle Association, then this ... won’t.... To the Western world, ‘the great republic’ is the apex of economic and strategic power. “In the wake of the Las Vegas massacre, there’s a lot of talk in Washington about not politicizing this horror...,” writes Lawrence Martin.

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 06:00:04 -0400

“Have you ever wondered why intelligent men (and women) in African governments will stay put in their positions even when ... their bosses abuse them?...” writes Jenerali Ulimwengu. “The thing in Africa is that a Cabinet post ... is an opportunity to ‘chop’ as my West African friends would put it.... But you do not expect the same thing to apply to wealthy Western[ers].... Rex Tillerson, [President] Trump’s secretary of state ... says he will not quit.... Come on, Rex! This is the same man who recently called his president ‘a moron’.... But what is it that makes Rex want to continue to serve...? “For the last 10 years, the split in the Palestinian leadership structure has been primarily blamed for the extended stagnation of ... the Palestinian performance...,” writes Hasan Abu Nimah.

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 06:00:03 -0400

Having experienced the pleasure of book ownership at a much younger age than Mr. Klose, my introduction to reading was on a far less sophisticated plane than “The Cask of Amontillado.” My first love was Robert Louis Stevenson’s “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” followed by the Beatrix Potter animal stories, Nancy Drew mysteries, and eventually the English classics of Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, and the Brontë sisters.

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 06:00:02 -0400