In The News

Autumn of the Patriarchs

June 14, 2013
Shifting population patterns are expected in emerging developing countries. In Latin America the population is quickly moving from high birth rates and early mortality to low birth rates and longer life expectancies. “In Latin America the changes have happened in half that time and all at once, resulting in faster, less predictable social change,” reports the Economist. Brazil and Chile’s...

World’s Biggest Coal Company Turns to Solar Energy to Lower Utility Bill

Ryan Koronowski June 7, 2013
In a triumph for alternative energy, the world’s largest coal company, Coal India, is installing solar photovoltaic panels at its facilities to reduce energy bills, reports Ryan Koronowski for Climate Progress. “Coal India produces 90 percent of India’s coal, and not only is it turning to solar as an efficient business practice, it understands India cannot power itself by coal,” he writes. “In...

Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn

Seyla Benhabib June 6, 2013
Parks are civic gathering places. Plans to turn Istanbul’s Gezi Park and Taksim Square into a shopping mall were weighted with symbolism – galvanizing protests and representing what “seems an effort to erase the face of the old, majestic Istanbul, which has largely disappeared in recent years in favor of shallow, gaudy, stupefied consumerism,” writes Yale professor Seyla Benhabib in an opinion...

Japan's Shinzo Abe Hails Africa as “Growth Center”

June 4, 2013
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe views Africa as a “growth centre over the next couple of decades” and advised immediate investment at a conference on African development in Japan, co-hosted with the African Union, the World Bank and the United Nations, reports BBC News. The prime minister stressed the need for industrialization in Africa, moving beyond the export of natural resources. Japan...

China Property Developers Seek US Growth

Pan Kwan Yuk May 8, 2013
Chinese property developers are taking a lead from wealthy Chinese investors and state-owned Chinese banks by investing in US properties. Xinyuan Real Estate is planning a condominium development in a trendy Brooklyn neighborhood. “With Beijing redoubling its efforts to rein in housing prices – most recently unveiling plans for a tougher real estate capital gains tax in March – the pressure is...

Myanmar Morphs to US-China Battlefield

Bertil Lintner May 3, 2013
The international community is encouraged about fledgling democracy in Burma, or Myanmar as renamed by its leaders. Once isolated, denounced for human rights violations, the Myanmar government depended heavily on China. Hoping to reduce dependence on China, the Myanmar government eased repression, and the US responded swiftly. But this development adds to new US-Chinese tensions. “Rather than...

China's Xi Jinping Visits; Africa Asks, What Are We Getting Out of This?

Peter Ford March 27, 2013
Chinese trade with Africa has grown fourfold in six years, up to 2 million. Chinese are based there, and China’s African investments are worth near $200 billion. Still, Africans are questioning if trade is tilted too much in China’s favor, with leaders and pundits suggesting that selling off minerals and natural resources and failing to develop a manufacturing base repeats the legacy of...