In The News

October 21, 2013
The nonstop movement of ocean wavers could make them an ideal source for energy. Zhong Lin Wang leads a team at Georgia Institute of Technology that developed “an inexpensive and simple prototype of a triboelectric nanogenerator that could be used to produce energy and as a chemical or temperature sensor,” reports Phys.org. The research was introduced in the journal Angewandte Chemie, and Phys....
Mike Dolan October 17, 2013
The US Congress ended its impasse over lifting its debt ceiling, proceeding to pay bills and end the partial government shutdown. The uproar over what should be routine business will have repercussions: “a new world financial order may be emerging – but one possibly more dependent than ever on the United States protecting the dollar's position as dominant reserve currency,” writes Mike Dolan...
Simon Rabinovitch October 14, 2013
The threat of US debt default is bolstering China’s desire to lessen the world’s reliance on the dollar, reports Simon Rabinovitch for the Financial Times. Chinese officials and analysts are angry and incredulous about US budget shenanigans, but so far are avoiding public comment or drastic moves. “With $1.3tn invested in US Treasuries, any sudden move to sell those holdings would by itself shake...
Thomas L. Friedman October 4, 2013
A Republican plan to approve parts of the US budget piecemeal, starting with the popular national parks, would allow a small minority to control spending and end health care, education or other programs favored by Democrats. Thomas Friedman, of the New York Times, argues that “the future of how we govern ourselves is at stake.” He points to structural changes in US politics, including political...
Harold Hongju Koh October 3, 2013
The world wrestles over what to do when nations and the UN Security Council fail in their responsibility to protect civilians from atrocities. A strike, as threatened by US President Barack Obama for a chemical weapons attack on Syrians, would have been legal, argues Harold Hongju Koh, former dean of Yale Law School. “I would argue that under certain highly constrained circumstances, a nation...
David Landes October 3, 2013
The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament continues to hold hearings on electronic mass surveillance of European citizens. During the hearing a journalist suggested that “Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets radioanstalt, FRA) provided the United States National Security Agency (NSA) access to the Baltic underwater cables,” reports...
Eamonn Fingleton October 2, 2013
China could step in to influence the latest political squabble in the United States by slowing down its purchases of US Treasury debt. A small group of conservative Republicans in US Congress want to slash spending and forced a shutdown of many government operations, while demanding a delay in a health care law, even though that has already slowed rising US health costs. Overseas creditors don’t...