In The News

Beginning of the End for Washington

Ron Fournier October 1, 2013
Unable to agree on a spending bill, the US legislature has orchestrated a partial shutdown for US government operations. A minority group in the US House of Representatives is demanding a delay in implementing a health care law in exchange for its approval of the spending bill. The legislative impasse undermines US citizen confidence in government, and could be a defining moment for young voters...

Latin America: Anti-US in Words, Not Deeds

Luisa Parraguez, Francisco Garcia Gonzalez, Joskua Tadeo October 1, 2013
An avalanche of secrets exposed by a former National Security Agency contract worker is complicating US relations with southern neighbors. Reports allege that the United States spied on countries regardless of poor or good relations. Stopping the Bolivian president’s plane in Europe for a few hours to search for Edward Snowden may be a hiccup compared with allegations that the NSA compromised...

Default or Not, Asia Hostage to US Debt

Choonsik Yoo, Kevin Yao September 30, 2013
Asia is shaking its collective head over dysfunctional US politics. A minority group of US legislators is toying with procedures, presenting the possibility of a government shutdown and a default on the country’s debt while expecting the majority of legislators to meet their demands to delay a healthcare law and cut spending. Creditors in China, Japan and elsewhere in Asia hold about $5 trillion...

US Textile Plants Return, With Floors Largely Empty of People

Stephanie Clifford September 23, 2013
Low-cost labor, first in the southern region of the United States and later in developing nations, lured textile mills away from manufacturing centers of New England. Globalization makes the industry turn full circle. Textile mills are up and running once again in the United States, but with fewer jobs because of automation. Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times writes about the return of the...

Did Brazil's President Just Knock Down US Influence a Notch or Two?

James Norton September 18, 2013
Leaked data about secret US National Security Agency surveillance of foreign countries have claimed another casualty. Upset over alleged NSA spying of Brazilian government and institutions, President Dilma Rousseff has put off a late October visit to the United States, where she was to be honored with a state dinner. James Norton writes for the Christian Science Monitor that Rousseff describes...

Ecuador Approves Yasuni Park Oil Drilling in Amazon Rainforest

September 13, 2013
Ecuador is moving to open an Amazon national park, one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, for oil drilling. Developed nations balked at a UN-backed conservation plan that included international payments for not drilling in Yasuni National Park, reports BBC News. “Oil is Ecuador's main export,” reports the article, adding that drilling could start in weeks. President Rafael Correa...

Botanical Bandits: Rampant Poaching Threatens Ginseng’s Survival

Jake Frankel September 9, 2013
The delicate plant with tiny red berries has drawn thousands of scavengers to Appalachia forests, digging up roots of the ginseng plant, wiping out entire groves, for sale to Asian markets. “[W]ith wild ginseng root fetching upward of $800 a pound, untold numbers of poachers have taken to local forests, overwhelming meager law enforcement resources and leaving the plant’s survival in doubt,”...