In The News

Muslim Pilgrims Begin Hajj Pilgrimage

October 8, 2014
Saudi Arabia has dispatched more security personnel and health workers for this year’s annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca – 85,000 security and civil defense officers and 18 aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters have been deployed, reports Agence France Presse. This security expansion is largely in response to the alarming spread of the Islamic State on the attack in Iraq and Syria and threatening...

Saving Languages Through Korean Soap Operas

Rose Eveleth October 6, 2014
About half of the world’s languages are at risk of falling into disuse in the near future. This rapid disappearance of languages is attributed to globalization, which has granted languages like English a special status of utility that rare languages do not share. Translators from entities like the Living Tongues Institute seeking to preserve endangered languages are working with “Viki,” a website...

Europe's Muslims Stand Up to ISIS With Public Protests, Twitter Campaign

September 26, 2014
The world has more than 1 billion Muslims and the vast majority reject that the Islamic State terrorists represent their faith. “From Norway in the far north to Germany and France, Muslims have taken to the streets to denounce the IS militants controlling large areas of Iraq and Syria who they say have hijacked their religion and terminology to spread hate and breed violence,” reports Agence...

China’s IPhone 6 Craving Leads to Fistfight in Connecticut

Doni Bloomfield September 25, 2014
Companies can drive global hype with a slow release of a new product. The iPhone 6 is assembled in China, but consumers in that nation may have to wait months for the device to appear on store shelves. Enterprising traders in the United States see an opportunity to snap up phones for resale in China at four times the price or more, but some stores limit sales per customer. Traders accrue a large...

Silk Road Diplomacy – Twists, Turns and Distorted History

Tansen Sen September 23, 2014
In foreign policy initiatives, China’s leaders promote an idyllic version of the Silk Road network of land and maritime routes stretching from Europe to Asia’s eastern coast, linking diverse cultures in trade. The goal is to link China’s historic and modern roles in promoting peace and prosperity for Asia. But the history of ancient expeditions is complicated, with goals and practices...

Europe's Deadly Borders: An Inside Look at EU's Shameful Immigration Policy

Maximilian Popp September 16, 2014
European nations fiercely protect their borders, and Frontex is the continent’s border agency. “But now the civil war in Syria is creating millions of new refugees, and the next exodus is beginning in Iraq, as the terrorist group Islamic State continues to make inroads into the country,” writes Maximilian Popp for Spiegel Online. Popp notes that EU policies have not changed since the tragic 2013...

Chinese Authorities Offer Money for Mixed Marriages

Jamil Anderlini September 4, 2014
Hoping for assimilation in multi-ethnic China and to curtail protests and unrest, Chinese officials have started paying cash bonuses for interracial marriages, reports Jamil Anderlini for Financial Times – an annual payment of $1600, or the 135 percent of average annual rural incomes, for up to five years. Uighurs, Mongolians and other minorities make up about 10 percent of the Chinese population...