In The News

Come One, Come All

Edward Glaeser July 12, 2007
Globalization has contributed to a decline in manufacturing cities like Detroit, forcing firms to confront foreign competitors. Other cities, like New York, reap benefits from globalization, argues Harvard professor Edward Glaeser. New York City thrives on producing ideas, and globalization spurs innovation. Innovation emerges in communities where people thrive on education, exchanging ideas and...

Canada Heats Up Rhetoric Over Claims to North Pole

Ed Pilkington July 11, 2007
Canada means business when it comes to claiming, protecting and using the Arctic. With climate change gradually melting arctic ice, potentially exposing oil and minerals, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has warned other nations to stay away from the region. Canada is investing in a deepwater port to support eight military ships that will patrol Arctic waters. Canada, Denmark, Russia, the US,...

Russia Puts Energy Importers Over a Barrel

Michael Richardson July 10, 2007
Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter and leading exporter of natural gas, has traditionally targeted most of its sales to Europe. But demand for energy products is rising fast in India and China. Hoping to gain both economically and politically, Russia is poised to sell more energy products to Asia. China is the largest potential market, but Russia also targets Japan, South Korea and...

European Wine Wars: EU Vintners Turn Up Noses at Wine Reform

July 10, 2007
Europe is the world’s largest producer of wines. But in the EU, wine consumption is decreasing, even as inexpensive imports enter the market. About 15 percent of wine produced in the EU goes unconsumed, and the EU invests hundreds of millions of euros to turn unwanted wine into cheap cleaning products. The European Farm Commissioner proposes saving the EU money by paying farmers to destroy vines...

Text Messages Giving Voice to Chinese

Edward Cody July 10, 2007
Zhao Yufen, a scientist at Xiamen University, organized a petition protesting the construction of a chemical factory and expressing concern about potential accidents, health risks and environmental damage. Local officials supported the factory, which could potentially double the city's gross domestic product, so national officials ignored the petition. Then a blog published Zhao's...

For Chinese Filmmakers, Success Can Sting

David Barboza July 9, 2007
The world is curious about Chinese culture, and so China's film industry and the government hope to produce blockbuster movies that can be exported around the world. Low-budget Chinese films have long attracted praise from critics, but only small audiences. Instead, foreign films from Hollywood and Hong Kong saturated the domestic movie market. In 2000, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,...

The Arctic, the Tropics and Ottawa

James Allen July 9, 2007
Despite their distance, the circumpolar North and the countries in the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Oceans, known collectively as the Small Developing States, have much in common. Both regions feel threatened by increasing evidence of global warming – melting ice and changing species in the north, hurricanes and rising sea levels in regions closer to the equator. Both express concern about...