In The News

Obama Calls for International Tax Reform Amid Panama Papers Revelations

Rupert Neate and David Smith April 6, 2016
Governments struggle to provide basic services as wealthiest citizens find ways, legal and illegal, to evade taxes. The release of more than 11 million files, known as the Panama Papers, from the law firm Mossack Fonseca detail methods for reducing taxes: shell companies, minimal disclosure requirements, property investments, trust funds and outright fraud. Repercussions of the massive leak are...

Climate Catastrophe, Coming Even Sooner?

Elizabeth Kolbert April 4, 2016
Climate change could deliver devastating effects to coastal communities sooner than once thought. Researchers, since 1968, have pointed out that warming oceans could seep around and underneath polar ice sheets, undermining them and causing sea levels to rise. New research and a new model from Penn State confirm the worst fears, suggesting that “just a few more decades of ‘unabated’ carbon...

Panama Papers: Leaks Spur Global Investigations

April 4, 2016
Investing funds in offshore accounts is not necessarily illegal, but avoiding taxes is a violation of local and national laws. “Eleven million documents were leaked from the secretive Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca,” reports BBC News. “They show how the company has helped some clients launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax.” The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists...

At the Nuclear Security Summit, Real Action on the Sidelines

April 1, 2016
Global leaders attending a Nuclear Security Summit are determined to stop nuclear capabilities of North Korea and terrorist groups like the Islamic State. Analysis by Stratfor suggests that meetings on the summit’s sidelines could produce the most security gains. The United States pressed for reinforcing UN sanctions against North Korea – though the defiant country is reported to have test-fired...

When Will the West Care About Terrorism in Pakistan?

Aaron David Miller March 29, 2016
European and US media devoted far more coverage to the March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels than those in Lahore on Easter Sunday. Coverage of attacks anywhere is generally shallow, alarmist and more descriptive than analytical. Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, criticizes the media and government response in the West by comparing casualty numbers,...

Synthetic Microbe Lives With Less Than 500 Genes

Robert F. Service March 28, 2016
Researchers have engineered the smallest synthetic microbe with 473 genes known as Syn 3.0. “The microbe’s streamlined genetic structure excites evolutionary biologists and biotechnologists, who anticipate adding genes back to it one by one to study their effects,” reports Robert Services for Science. The microbe was developed through trial and error by inserting and extracting genes from a...

A Flat World Gets Bumpy With Globalization in Retreat

David Dapice March 24, 2016
Uncertainty and instability threaten the global economy, and monetary stimulus by the central banks, including negative rates, is not delivering growth or confidence. So far, the United States is alone in breaking away from the pack to engage in monetary tightening and gradually lifting interest rates. China employs strict controls to prevent businesses and savers from sending cash outside the...