In The News

Student's Creative Clock Draws Police – And White House Invitation

John Bacon and Jason Whitely September 16, 2015
Authorities urge citizens to speak up when they see possible terrorist threats and rightfully so. But over-reactions could send the wrong messages to children about how to get attention. A Texas student was arrested for bringing a homemade digital clock to his high school. He showed his engineering teacher without incident, but an English teacher expressed alarm about a possible bomb after the...

What Will Jeremy Corbyn's Impact Be on Key Issues the UK Faces?

September 14, 2015
Jeremy Corbyn will lead the United Kingdom’s Labour Party with near 60 percent on the first vote. Conservatives remain in power and anticipate confronting a divided opposition. Corbyn is on the record for opposing inequality, austerity programs and war in the Middle East – and described as “passionate about foreign affairs.” Writers for the Guardian assess the Labour leader’s position on issues,...

China Aims to Keep Some Ghosts of History Alive

Börje Ljunggren September 8, 2015
Asia’s two great power marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. In a speech, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe surprised by offering words of atonement for his country’s role while China celebrated with a grand military parade emphasizing victory against Japan. China has ample reasons to be proud of its role during World War II, resisting Japanese occupiers and expansionism even as...

Obama on Climate Change: Act Now or Condemn World to a Nightmare

Halimah Abdullah and M. Alex Johnson September 2, 2015
The effects of climate change – rising seas, depleted water supplies, burned landscapes and volatile weather patterns that contribute to mass migration, refugees and conflict – won’t be easy for future generations to repair. Foreign ministers of key Arctic and non-Arctic nations with an interest met in Alaska for a three-day conference intended to drive political will and momentum to stem...

Hacker Killed by Drone Was Islamic State’s “Secret Weapon”

Margaret Coker, Danny Yadron and Damian Paletta August 28, 2015
US and British military officials targeted a British citizen working as a hacker for the Islamic State, killing him with a drone: “That he was targeted directly shows the extent to which digital warfare has upset the balance of power on the modern battlefield,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Islamic State didn’t build a large cyber force like the U.S.’s National Security Agency or China’s...

China’s Delusions of Regional Hegemony

Philip Bowring August 26, 2015
Rivalries in Asia could prevent the continent’s rise. Governments are nervous that cooperation with a rival extends too much control. Concern runs high about China’s power, and many “wonder if President Xi Jinping’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ infrastructure plan is driven more by China’s strategic ambitions than commercial logic,” writes journalist Philip Bowring for the Financial Times. Asians may...

Tension Highlights North Korea’s Limitations

Shim Jae Hoon August 25, 2015
North Korea is among the world’s most isolated nations. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the regime lashes out at South Korea, thriving just across the border. The most recent provocation: a landmine attack that wounded two South Korean border guards. Seoul responded by switching on loudspeakers along the 255-kilometer demarcation line, after their silence for more than a decade. Despite...