In The News

James Fallows September 12, 2016
Eastport, Maine – an aging town once known for its canned sardines – is a small-scale example of the globalization uniting all corners of the world. Eastport with its deepwater port reshapes its economy to remain relevant, but still confronts challenges that a generation ago may have mattered little to its residents. Three examples highlight Eastport’s global connections: EU regulations on...
Paul Barrett and Matthew Philips September 7, 2016
A handful of climate-change skeptics have convinced legislators in the United States and other nations to dismiss ample findings by climate researchers that the planet is warming. The Union of Concerned Scientists in 2007 compared fossil-fuel industry tactics “to manufacture uncertainty” on scientific findings with those of the cigarette industry. Investigative journalists in 2015 suggested that...
Justin Gillis September 6, 2016
Rising waters threaten communities along the eastern and southern coasts of the United States even without storms as warned by climate researchers. “The inundation of the coast has begun,” reports Justin Gillis for the New York Times. “The sea has crept up to the point that a high tide and a brisk wind are all it takes to send water pouring into streets and homes. Federal scientists have...
Natalie Kitroeff September 2, 2016
Automation is transforming manufacturing, reducing jobs and need for skills. A Los Angeles Time article describes apprenticeships for young Mexicans working alongside robots in a BMW plant in Mexico. US presidential candidates question the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but many companies – including those from outside the US – are shifting operations from China to Mexico....
Satu Limaye September 1, 2016
The United States and China are among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' dialogue partners. Under President Barack Obama, the United States has forged closer ties with the regional group that will endure, explains Satu Limaye, director of the East-West Center in Washington and the Asia Matters for America initiative. The ASEAN summit in Vientiane, Laos, will be Obama’s last as US...
James Kanter and Mark Scott August 30, 2016
Countries go to great lengths to attract jobs to their shores, and companies do the same to avoid taxes. The European Commission has ordered Apple, the world’s largest company in terms of market value, to pay €13 billion in back taxes and argues that Ireland’s tax incentives extend an unfair advantage. Apple assigned profits of Irish subsidiaries to a “head office” to reduce taxes, report James...
Christopher Flavelle August 29, 2016
Governments preparing for climate change already assess which communities can be saved and which cannot. Christopher Flavelle compares Newtok and other remote communities in Alaska with Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, all trying to escape rising waters. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development ran a National Disaster Resilience Competition intended to raise awareness about climate...