In The News

The Opening of Libya

Stanley Reed March 9, 2007
As Libya gradually emerges from 20 years of economic isolation, international energy firms rush to grab a piece of the North African nation’s extensive untapped oil reserves. Libya has organized an intensely competitive bidding process for exploration rights, pitting companies from the US, Europe and Asia against one another in a race to secure new sources of energy. Such investment will have...

A Budget for Globalization

February 22, 2007
Singapore’s historic status as a thriving international port has long rested on its openness to international business and trade. The government’s efforts in enticing foreign businesses and tourists to Singapore have made it among the most business-friendly economies in the world. One key to that success has been a willingness to adapt to a rapidly changing global economy, and the government...

Globalization Forces a Health-Check of US Auto Industry

Susan Froetschel February 19, 2007
Of the top six automobile-manufacturing countries in the world, the US and China are the only ones that lack universal government-backed health care. US workers expect employers like Ford, General Motors and Chrysler to provide cradle-to-grave health coverage, a significant cost burden not shared by competitors. The problem is exacerbated by health plans for retired employees – every plant...

China’s Neo-Colonial Slavery in PNG

Rowan Callick February 15, 2007
China’s growing worldwide investment in natural resources is not a new story and just one of many results of a well-chronicled booming economy. What is new is the phenomenon of Chinese corporations dealing with the people and governments of countries supplying them with these mineral riches. A large-scale nickel extraction scheme in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one such endeavor, in which conflicts...

Watchdog Attacks US Swoop for Bank Secrets

Ian Traynor February 9, 2007
The transatlantic conflict over privacy rights and international security continues as the leading European authority on data protection announced that a US financial information-sharing program abuses privacy rights “on a massive scale,” reports “The Guardian.” For the past six years, the US has collected names, account numbers and sums from European banking transactions through the Belgian-...

Thai Move to Trim Drug Costs Highlights Growing Patent Rift

Nicholas Zamiska February 8, 2007
Thailand’s plan to lower the price of pharmaceuticals for its citizens by ignoring existing patents reignites the debate between health advocates and supporters of intellectual-property rights. At the center of the conflict is a dispute over what will save the most lives in the long term. By ignoring patents, the government can lower its drug costs and therefore provide twice as many people with...

America’s China Worries – Part II

Bruce Stokes February 8, 2007
China has emerged as both mammoth producer and consumer, and that means more countries, including key US allies, depend on China for their economic well-being. The second article in this three-part series on worries besetting China-US relations explores how one nation’s expanding influence over global trade policy diminishes the other’s influence and flexibility. As the US trade imbalance with...