In The News

Boko Haram Beyond Nigeria: Girls' Education Under Threat

Bina Shah June 11, 2014
Many are quick to blame Islam in the aftermath of Boko Haram’s kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria.. The real danger is not the religion, but rather fundamentalists’ beliefs that girls should not be educated, argues Bina Shah in an article for Al Jazeera. Directing anger at all Muslims is another form of extremism, she suggests, and the more pressing and solvable issue is that...

Why There Is No Stopping Boko Haram

Gayatri Chandrasekaran May 12, 2014
Law-abiding citizens are frustrated about extremism and acts of terrorism – including Boko Haram’s kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria as well as their violent attacks on towns and markets. The group’s aim is to establish a religious state in Nigeria and impose archaic rules. “A world that had become accustomed to news of the usual manifestations of terror from groups...

Global Citizenship Catching Fancy of Super-Rich in India, China: Report

PTI May 6, 2014
The wealthiest in the world have the means and will to seek out new locations offering the most in comfort or tax relief. China and India together have more than 25,000 citizens with ultra high net worth, accounting for one of seven worldwide, according to an inaugural report on the super-wealthy from Wealth-X and UBS. “With each country already having large non-resident populations, the...

Women More Educated Than Men But Still Paid Less

Joseph Chamie March 6, 2014
Women now outnumber men in global university attendance and graduation rates. Most gains are in developed nations; in some countries, as many as two thirds of graduates are women, though discrimination still lingers. Globally, the ratio is 93 men to 100 women; men tend to concentrate in engineering and the sciences while women gravitate toward less lucrative degrees in humanities and arts. Women...

Desis Are Rising Up the Technology Ladder

Sujit John February 26, 2014
A high proportion of Indians are in top management of leading technology companies – including Google, Intel, Cisco and Microsoft. Indians are responsible for innovations like Google+, the Pentium chip, the USB and virtualization that made cloud-computing possible. The trend is to be expected: Many Indians obtained work visas and immigrated to the United States and other nations in anticipation...

Not Educating the Masses

January 6, 2014
The Chinese government has announced plans to reform its university entrance exam known as gaokao, allowing more tries for the English portion and accounting for extracurricular activities. Critics suggest such changes could decrease the numbers of university students from poor rural areas, according to the Economist. “China’s elite universities already resemble their Western counterparts in one...

Globalization Helps Preserve Endangered Languages

Mark Turin December 3, 2013
Tools of globalization like the internet, so often blamed for homogenizing the world, are also encouraging diverse lingual communities to connect and even revitalize their endangered languages. “Linguists estimate that of the world’s remaining 6,500 languages, up to half will no longer be in regular use by the end of this century,” notes Mark Turin, linguist and anthropologist who directs the...