In The News

Balakrishnan Rajagopal March 23, 2006
The goal for the Doha Round of WTO talks is to ease trade for developing nations and eliminate poverty. But the 150 members of the WTO have failed to reach agreements that would lower barriers for small and developing nations. In the second of this two-part series about the WTO, MIT professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal describes the world as more divided than ever before, with relatively successful...
Derrick Z. Jackson March 22, 2006
Severe droughts and floods, fires and blizzards, batter properties worldwide along with the insurance industry. As a result, a task force for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners will assess the impacts of climate change on the American insurance industry. This follows up on discussions in Europe, where insurers have warned about “massive financial losses from storm patterns...
John Thornhill March 20, 2006
Western governments must stop blaming China and other developing Asian countries for trade woes and failing to tackle their own economic problems, suggests Chinese diplomat Long Yongtu, speaking at a conference in France. His comments, urging western politicians to tell the truth about the inevitable process of globalization, responded to EU and US criticisms of China’s trade practices,...
Daniel Altman March 15, 2006
Fledgling soft-drink companies who want to compete with the big three – Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury-Schwepps – face an uphill battle, even in their home markets. Developing countries embraced companies like Coca-Cola that made substantial contributions, such as building roads from distribution centers. Such infrastructure construction increased product distribution and improved government-...
Mohamed Hakki March 9, 2006
Neoconservatives support using the unrivaled power of the US to spread democratic values and prevent conflicts before they start. As the Iraq war drags on to its third year, such politicians have become less influential in the US. But one neoconservative disciple, Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank since 2005, has been arguing for greater accountability. As the former US deputy...
Dave Young March 8, 2006
Current debates on China focus on its growing economic strength as a threat to the West. But China, moving from a rural to an urban economy, can also offer opportunity for the West. Over the next five years China will build more than 300 new cities, requiring expertise on infrastructure, financing and environmental protection. With China’s growing influence, the author says, world financial...
Nicholas Zamiska February 27, 2006
A standoff has arisen between Chinese scientists and international health officials over bird flu. The Chinese have expressed reluctance to share avian-flu samples –needed to develop an effective antidote. Last spring, deaths of thousands of wild birds in a secluded region of western China, led officials from the WHO and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization to ask China’s Ministry of...