In The News

Nepal Earthquake: Prelude to Bigger Disaster?

Alark Saxena June 2, 2015
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, killing 8,800, injuring thousands more and leaving many homeless. The quake and series of aftershocks also left property damage and devastated communities. International relief agencies rushed to the scene, but researchers warn that such disasters are inevitable for the entire Hindu Kush Himalayan region with the continuous sinking of the...

Nepal Steps Up Rescue Effort Amid Global Aid Rush

April 27, 2015
Foreign aid is streaming into Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that left thousands injured and dead and devastated property. Thousands more are without shelter. “The first nations to respond were Nepal's neighbours – India, China, and Pakistan, all of which have been jockeying for influence over the landlocked nation,” reports Al Jazeera. The political...

Mission Impossible

February 13, 2015
Cleanup of the Fukushima nuclear plant, after three of four reactors went into meltdown, following an earthquake, tsunami and flooding in March 2011 is posing unprecedented engineering challenges, reports the Economist. Decommissioning could take more than four decades as engineers scramble to invent new technology and methods for handling the massive cleanup: They constructed a frozen wall of...

Cuba’s Health Diplomacy in the Age of Ebola

Eduardo J. Gomez December 3, 2014
Cuba has provided the largest number of healthcare workers of any country in the global response to West Africa’s Ebola outbreak – more than 250. The country of 11 million has sent medical aid to foreign countries experiencing public health crises since the 1960s, including recent aid to Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami, Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake, and Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. The...

Conflicts Disrupt Schooling Across Region

Haytham Nuri October 15, 2014
The number of children who cannot attend school has reached 30 million worldwide, according to a report by UNICEF. Violent conflicts, terrorist organizations, and natural disasters have forced schools throughout the world to close, which curtails the social mobility of entire generations. Activist groups throughout the world have tried to garner international support, but continued violence and...

Global Warming Denial Rears Ugly Head Around the World, In English

Dana Nuccitelli August 21, 2014
Research overwhelmingly identifies global warming trends, pointing to humans as the leading cause. But a handful of corporations and politicians in advanced economies profit mightily from the status quo in energy. The US, UK, Australia, Russia, Poland, Japan and Canada have the highest percentages of climate skeptics, reports Dana Nuccitelli for the Guardian. The skeptics are small minorities in...

So Much for “China-Malaysia Friendship Year”

Bruce Einhorn March 27, 2014
China is in the position of having to rely on an investigation and initially less than forthright communications from a smaller neighboring state after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Most of the passengers on the flight were Chinese, and China is frustrated. The year “2014 was supposed to be a time to celebrate the strong ties between China and Malaysia,” reports Bruce...