In The News

Exotic Pets: Why Do Americans Keep Dangerous Animals?

Louis Theroux November 2, 2011
Keepers of exotic pets may imagine they’re protecting species. Yet too often owners do not reflect on the long-term needs or behaviors of wild animals. Manageable, adorable chimp, tiger and bear cubs quickly become aggressive adults, disposable and dangerous. Exotic animal ownership is rampant in the US, writes Louis Theroux in an essay for BBC News. Trade is booming in unregulated jurisdictions...

Colliding Forces

James Crabtree October 25, 2011
Widening inequality, easy proximity between poor nations and rich, exacerbate the many temptations of undocumented immigration. Angst is building in immigration hotspots – the Italian island of Lampedusa or along Mexican borders, both north and south – because citizens recognize that immigration pressures will only expand, explains James Crabtree for the Financial Times. He explains that citizens...

Chinese Scientist Admits Stealing Trade Secrets in US

October 20, 2011
A Chinese scientist, a permanent resident in the US who worked in the agro industry, has pled guilty to stealing trade secrets on pesticide and food products from two US employers, reports the BBC News. He was charged under the US 1996 Economic Espionage Act. The article suggests that greed or career ambitions can prompt such exchanges as much as patriotism. In the case of biotechnologist Kexue...

Illegal Logging: From the Rainforest to Your Dining Room

Patrick Winn October 12, 2011
The non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency reports far-reaching corruption in Vietnam’s logging industry: Much of the lumber is illegally smuggled into Vietnam from protected jungles in Laos and later exported as furniture to the United States. Though illegal imports to Vietnam amount to about 15 to 20 percent of total Vietnamese timber imports, the United Nations estimates that within...

World Needs New Paradigm on Drugs After Failing War

Santiago Sosa September 21, 2011
A war on drugs has failed, concludes the UN Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. While heroin and cocaine use is on the decline in aging Europe and the US, it’s on the rise elsewhere. In particular, Europe and the US go easy on domestic users, emphasizing supply that ignores the problem’s roots, explains Santiago Sosa for Colombia Reports. Communities that depend on illegal crops...

Cycle of “Compulsive Consumerism” Leaves British Family Life in Crisis, Unicef Study Finds

John Bingham September 20, 2011
Pointless accumulation of material goods, as compensation for widening inequality, was an underlying cause of the widespread UK riots in August, contends Unicef UK. Work-weary parents who replace playtime and conversations with “stuff” are raising unhappy, difficult children. In a follow-up to a 2007 Unicef study showing that the well-being of British children was the lowest among OECD nations,...

Taking It to the Streets

Nayan Chanda September 14, 2011
Inspired by protests in the Arab world, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in August to support one man’s fast. India is already the world’s largest democracy, and the goal of these protesters is reforming democracy to expose and end pervasive corruption. Government employees at every level routinely demand extra fees, small and large, simply to do their job. Favoritism, bribes and...