In The News

3D Printing Comes Of Age

Nayan Chanda June 5, 2015
The first 3D printers were introduced in the 1980s. Rapid development combined with dropping cost has put these printers into general circulation – accessible to small businesses and artists through special orders, available for ongoing use and study in university workshops, small-town libraries and high schools. Innovations abound as students apply their imaginations. “The potential of this...

India – A Silicon Valley for Emerging Markets?

Dinesh C. Sharma June 4, 2015
Emerging markets represent 80 percent of the globe’s population and more than 50 percent of its GDP. So many consumers living in the emerging economies are digitally deprived, yet eager to explore the internet. India is well positioned to become the next hub for internet development. “Capitalizing on early investments in science and engineering development, India showed the world a new way of...

Nepal Earthquake: Prelude to Bigger Disaster?

Alark Saxena June 2, 2015
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, killing 8,800, injuring thousands more and leaving many homeless. The quake and series of aftershocks also left property damage and devastated communities. International relief agencies rushed to the scene, but researchers warn that such disasters are inevitable for the entire Hindu Kush Himalayan region with the continuous sinking of the...

In Modi’s Mongolia Pivot, a Test of Indian Soft Power

P. Stobdan May 20, 2015
Mongolia is among Asia’s more vibrant democracies, long influenced by Indian culture. Such cultural ties are invaluable as countries compete for influence in Asia, suggests Phunchok Stobdan, a former Indian ambassador writing for the Wire. He details many reasons for forging strong ties with the landlocked country of 3 million including its central location in Asia, surrounded by Russia and China...

UN Credibility on Trial in Cambodia

John D. Ciorciari May 14, 2015
The Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, killing more than two million, displacing and ruining the lives of millions more. A hybrid tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, organized by the United Nations, was established for trying those most responsible for atrocities committed during the China-backed Pol Pot era. Cambodia's Hun Sen embraced the hybrid...

Islamic State Faces a Complex Web of Militant Groups and Violence in Pakistan

Samira Shackle May 4, 2015
The Islamic State terrorists have made no secret of plans to extend their so-called caliphate across Muslim nations beyond the Middle East, and their extreme ideology is attracting supporters throughout South Asia, including Pakistan. Pakistan has plenty of militant groups, including the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, with acts of violence taking place every day. The...

Vietnam and US Find Strategic Common Ground

Murray Hiebert April 30, 2015
North Vietnamese troops met little resistance in taking control of Saigon on April 30, 1975, after the United States rejected extending further military aid to the South Vietnamese after years of intervention. By 1979, Chinese troops invaded Vietnam from the north. All sides suffered tens of thousands of casualties in the two wars, and still, Vietnam tries to maintain good ties with the United...