In The News

How the One-Child Policy Changed China

Aileen Clarke November 30, 2015
Before China imposed its one-child policy, Mao Zedong banned contraception and encouraged reproduction. “China’s food supply was strained and the government reversed the campaign against contraceptives,” writes Aileen Clarke for National Geographic. “From 1959 to 1961, the Great Chinese Famine killed an estimated 15 to 30 million people.” The country backtracked. The one-child policy eventually...

ISIS Wives and Enforcers in Syria Recount Collaboration, Anguish and Escape

Azadeh Moaveni November 24, 2015
When terrorists storm a town and take control, some occupants resist, others collaborate, and most inevitably try to flee. Three young women describe life in Raqqa – a Syrian city of 220,000 – under the control of the Islamic State since early 2014. The three once wore casual clothes, worked or attended school, dated as they pleased and led independent lives, reports Azadeh Moaveni for the New...

China Abandons One-Child Policy

October 29, 2015
Human rights advocates have long blasted China for its strict one-child policy. Confronting an aging population and slowing growth, China’s Communist Party is scrapping a policy crafted to ease poverty and allowing two children per family. “China is trying and complete its transition from a[n] investment-and-export-dependent developing nation to a ‘moderately prosperous society’ with an economy...

Ashraf Ghani's Bold Move for Taliban Peace

David Loyn July 10, 2015
The Afghan government and Taliban, accompanied by representatives of the Haqqani network, met for peace talks. The Taliban demand closure of all foreign bases, a prisoner exchange and end to a United Nations blacklist on travel for individuals. The government expects the insurgents to respect women’s rights; all members of the Afghan delegation were male. “The presence of US and Chinese diplomats...

The Curse of Chávez’s Ghost

María Elena Candia March 27, 2015
In the wake of the abrupt drop in global oil prices, Venezuelans have experienced a shortage of food, paper goods and medicines. The Maduro administration makes no effort on economic reforms and instead blames the United States for its heavy dependence on oil revenues and other economic troubles. “There is still no commitment from the government to hike the cost of gasoline, which is heavily...

Why “India’s Daughter” Should Be Seen in India

Salil Tripathi March 6, 2015
Indian courts tried blocking “India’s Daughter,” the BBC film on the 2012 gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student on a city bus, from a global showing. “As Indian government officials drummed up publicity for the film in a way that was beyond the wildest imagination of any marketing executive – calling for its global ban, complaining about defaming India, worrying about impact on tourist...

There’s No Such Thing as Anonymous Data

Scott Berinato February 13, 2015
Analysis of huge datasets offers the potential for lifesaving health care, productive economies and workplaces, and smooth highway traffic. Yet consumers must assume that every electronic transaction could be compromised, suggests Scott Berinato for Harvard Business Review. Berinato reports on a paper published in Science by Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye showing how “anonymous credit card data can...