In The News

Xi-Obama Summit: Bridging the Trust Deficit in US-China Ties?

Robert A. Manning September 29, 2015
China and the United States disagree on many issues – including claims for the South China Sea, intellectual property protections, open access to the internet and free speech. Leaders of the world’s two largest economies also have reason to cooperate on global initiatives. Xi Jinping, China’s president and general secretary of the Communist Party, visited the United States, meeting US President...

VW's Emissions Cheating Found by Curious Clean-Air Group

Jeff Plungis and Dana Hull September 25, 2015
A university lab in West Virginia, a state known for coal-mining and rejecting clean-air regulations, conducted exhaust tests that have rattled Volkswagen and a marketing strategy on “clean” diesel. Volkswagen is based in Germany, a country that promotes policies to protect the environment and stem climate change. The International Council on Clean Transportation had wanted to show European...

The Future of Work: The Risks of Industrial Globalization

Evangelina Argueta September 23, 2015
Ongoing investments by multinational corporations in various industries standardize labor practices. With technology contributing to increased productivity and reducing the number of jobs, less priority is assigned to labor rights or training workers to adapt. “Commercial agreements and free trade treaties between developed countries and undeveloped countries are deficient in the protection of...

China’s Strategy in US Car Market: Make Parts First

Colum Murphy and Jeff Bennett September 21, 2015
Chinese automakers may eventually become a global force in the auto industry. Rather than follow the Japanese model of importing cars, Chinese firms are acquiring US and European auto parts plants. “By first learning to make and sell car parts in markets like the U.S., leaders in China’s auto industry say, companies can then use the lessons to move on to selling cars overseas,” reports the Wall...

Student's Creative Clock Draws Police – And White House Invitation

John Bacon and Jason Whitely September 16, 2015
Authorities urge citizens to speak up when they see possible terrorist threats and rightfully so. But over-reactions could send the wrong messages to children about how to get attention. A Texas student was arrested for bringing a homemade digital clock to his high school. He showed his engineering teacher without incident, but an English teacher expressed alarm about a possible bomb after the...

The King and ISIS

Daniel Benjamin September 15, 2015
The United States and Saudi Arabia disagree on many issues including a deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for an end to sanctions. “Papering over differences is one of diplomacy’s finer and more useful arts,” writes Daniel Benjamin for Foreign Policy, adding that Saudi Arabia may pose more challenges for the US than Iran does. “Saudi Arabia’s energetic propagation of Wahhabism –...

Should Governments Be Able to Look at Your Data When It’s Abroad?

September 9, 2015
Nation’s legal systems struggle to keep up with the internet’s borderless development – just how, where and when law enforcement agencies should access stored data. An article in the Economist explains that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation expects to access Microsoft messages stored in a data center based in Ireland with US warrants: “at the core of the case is one of the most knotty legal...