In The News

New Scientist: People Across World Share Cancer Data

Andy Coghlan June 29, 2018
The Universal Cancer Databank allows people with cancer to donate their medical data to a global online database with the aim of finding treatments. “Unlike previous attempts to collect and share patient data, the UCD is a 100% philanthropic, 100% anonymised, and 100% global,” the database's site explains. “Its goal is to overcome rare and difficult cancers that have proven too difficult for...

Spiegel Online: Toughest Adversary in Europe

Walter Mayr June 29, 2018
Italy’s interior minister is a populist who opposes immigration, firing up crowds by suggesting the European Union has treated its third largest economy as “garbage.” His party, Lega Nord, is a junior partner in the coalition government, but he is the most outspoken leader with tough talk crafted perhaps to distract Italians from their debt challenge – standing at more than 134 percent per GDP,...

South China Morning Post: Weakened Yuan as Trade War Looms

Karen Yeung and Enoch Yiu June 28, 2018
The Chinese yuan is falling in value “because of expectations that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) was shifting to a policy allowing the Chinese currency to depreciate amid an escalation of China-US trade tensions,” report Karen Yeung and Enoch Yiu for the South China Morning Post. “Against a basket of currencies, however, the yuan was trading near a two-year high of 97.88 hit in May, according...

WSJ: US Retreats From Strict Limits on Chinese Investment

Bob Davis, Peter Nicholas and Lingling Wei June 28, 2018
The US president backed away from plans for new restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States and US technology exports to China. “Instead of creating new investment restrictions, the White House said it will continue to rely on an interagency group, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS, which screens foreign investments to see if they endanger national security,”...

Reuters: Iran and OPEC Agreement

Bozorgmehr Sharafedin June 27, 2018
OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, raised production output at its July meeting but did not specify targets. Some analysts mention a production rise of 800,000 barrels per day, but Iran’s oil minister disagreed. “The United States, China and India had urged oil producers to release more supply to prevent an oil deficit that could undermine global economic growth,” reports...

Los Angeles Times: California Judge Orders Immigrant Families Reunited

Elliot Spagat, Michael Balsamo and Will Weissert June 27, 2018
The United States, striving to limit migrants crossing the southern border, has separated children from parents since April, scattering them in more than 2,000 in shelters and foster homes around the country. A US district judge ruled that the government must reunite the families within 30 days – 14 days for children younger than 5. The government must arrange for contact between children and...

Financial Times: US Tariffs Threaten Global Economy

June 26, 2018
A trade war is underway, and the US president may next target German carmakers – even though his first round of trade tariffs has already provoked retaliation, increasing steel prices and making US products less competitive, prompting one US motorcycle company to announce plans for shifting some production overseas. “Cutting one’s own car manufacturers off from specialist imported components is a...