Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

South Korea Lures Tourists With Nude Beaches, Nip-Tucks, and K-Pop Cops

The lure of K-pop and the easy availability of cosmetic surgery have nearly doubled the number of tourists to South Korea in the past few years. But soon discerning travelers may flock to the country's shores for a new reason: nude beaches. Officials...

Published Thu, Oct 24 2013 9:52 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, Culture, Economics

Team Putin Says They Don't Mind The Latest NSA Scandal One Bit

While the rest of the world is bubbling with (subdued) rage against the United States over reports that the NSA has been spying on their leaders, Russia is quietly rubbing its hands. On Thursday, The Guardian reported that the U.S. had been listening...

Published Fri, Oct 25 2013 10:13 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, Eastern Europe, NSA

Horrific Day for Tiananmen Tourists Is Banner Day for Chinese Censors

On Oct. 28, a Jeep drove into a crowd in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, killing five people and injuring 38. While the story is still breaking and details remain sparse, the response by both police and censors has been swift. On Sina Weibo, China's...

Published Mon, Oct 28 2013 9:09 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Internet

Peru's Air Force Opens a UFO Office, and It's Twitter-Friendly

Mulder and Scully never made it to South America during their decade-long search for extraterrestial life, but if they had, they would have certainly found an ally in Peru. Indeed, the Peruvian Air Force is reviving their own version of the X-files: an...

Published Tue, Oct 29 2013 10:27 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Culture, South America

Why Do Smugglers Keep Hiding Gold in Airplane Toilets?

A Bangladeshi cleaning crew found nearly $2 million in gold bars the other day in an airplane toilet. An unknown culprit, who fled the Dhaka airport, the flydubai plane, and the 65+ pounds in gold before he could be apprehended, tried to smuggle 280 bars...

Published Wed, Oct 30 2013 10:21 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Fun Stuff, South Asia, India

Morning Brief: Lone surviving Mumbai attacker convicted

Lone surviving Mumbai attacker convicted Top story: Pakistani citizen Amjal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was found guilty by an Indian court on Monday . Kasab was charged with waging war against India, murder, conspiracy...

Published Mon, May 03 2010 5:50 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Is the ash cloud coming back?

Some ominous news out of Ireland: Ireland's Aviation Authority says it may impose a no-fly zone over the country Tuesday because of concerns about the southward drift of volcanic ash from Iceland. The authority says northeasterly winds are causing...

Published Mon, May 03 2010 2:01 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Aviation Disaster / Problem / Issue

Dispatch from China: The Castle-Builder of Western China

What do China's new super-rich do with their money? In the case of Liu Congguang, an unlikely 56-year-old tycoon who's made his fortune building up the Huashengyuan processed-foods empire, his dream is this: to build the largest castle in the...

Published Tue, May 04 2010 9:56 AM by FP Passport

Dispatch from China: Debate rages after school attacks

Last week, a series of three horrifying attacks on children and teachers carried out by unemployed middle-age men rocked China. At least four children died last week, after eight children had died in an earlier school attack in March. Violent crime is...

Published Wed, May 05 2010 8:12 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: China

Quiz: If the U.S. deported its illegal immigrants at once, how long would the bus convoy be?

For those of you who don't subscribe to the bimonthly print edition of Foreign Policy , you're missing a great feature: the FP Quiz. It has eight intriguing questions about how the world works. The question I'd like to highlight this week...

Published Wed, May 05 2010 3:40 PM by FP Passport

Nigeria's government of ambiguity ends

I imagine my colleague and FP's resident Nigeria hand Beth Dickinson is in an airport somewhere kicking herself for taking a vacation the week of the year's biggest Nigerian story . Sad as Nigerians may be at the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua...

Published Thu, May 06 2010 12:05 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa

Morning Brief: White House: Pakistani Taliban behind Times Square bomb plot

White House: Pakistani Taliban behind Times Square bomb plot Top news: In its strongest language yet, the Obama administration blamed Pakistan's Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) for the attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square. Appearing on ABC's...

Published Mon, May 10 2010 6:02 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Pakistani with bomb residue arrested at U.S. embassy in Chile

This is still very much developing : The man, who had been in Chile since January, was applying for a visa to the United States, said Lt. Col. Fernando Vera of the Carabineros, Chile's uniformed national police.The suspect was arrested Monday at the...

Published Tue, May 11 2010 8:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Pakistan, Latin America

Goodbye Gordon Brown

It's official. Gordon Brown has stepped down as prime minister of Great Britain. Never having been elected and serving only three unpopular years as prime minister after many more in waiting, Brown won't be remembered as one of Britain's great...

Published Tue, May 11 2010 1:15 PM by FP Passport

Is the U.S. doomed to a Greek-style meltdown?

It seems like just yesterday that we were asking ourselves if the United States was Rome . In light of the financial collapse in the other great cradle of Mediterranean civilization, the New York Times' David Leonhardt poses the inevitable follow...

Published Wed, May 12 2010 3:47 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Financial crisis, Eastern Europe, Economics, Finance