In The News

The Telegraph: Victory for Eurosceptic, Populist Parties in Italy Election

Nick Squires and Peter Foster March 5, 2018
Italian voters supported anti-establishment, populist and Euroskeptic parties in Sunday’s election, but no party received the required 40 percent for running the government and a coalition will be necessary. Europe’s fourth largest economy is flailing and concern runs high about unrestrained migration. Unofficial results suggest that Five Star Movement lead by capturing about one-third of all...

Newsweek: NY Bank Regulator Scrutinizes Kushner

Jessica Kwong March 2, 2018
Jared Kushner, senior adviser and son-in-law to the US president, confronts charges of conflict of interest on numerous fronts. New York’s banking regulator is requesting details on loans to Kushner, his real estate company and family members from three banker including Deutsche Bank, reports Newsweek. This follows a New York Times report that Kushner received loans after meeting with top...

Quartz: Teacher in Ghana Teaches Windows on Blackboard

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu March 2, 2018
A teacher in Ghana posted photographs of himself on Facebook teaching his students about the Windows computer operating system. The students lack computers, so Richard Appiah Akoto makes detailed drawings on the chalkboard and they copy the diagrams in their notebooks. His posts went viral: “His photo was seen as both a bit of ironic fun about life in Africa but also as a source of inspiration...

Bloomberg: Trump on Trade Wars – “Easy to Win”

Joe Deaux, Andrew Mayeda, Toluse Olorunnipa and Jeff Black March 2, 2018
US President Donald Trump roiled US and global stock markets, sparking fears of trade retaliation in one day, with a plan for adding tariffs on steel and aluminum that was postponed and scheduled for later announcement. The plan would add 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum for an indefinite period with no details on exempted countries. Steel and aluminum are an intricate part...

Korea Herald: #MeToo Movement Rejects South Korea’s Defamation Law

Claire Lee March 1, 2018
Uncivil behavior flourishes when governments impose defamation laws that protect reputations over public declarations of truth. The global “MeToo movement underscores the problems with South Korea’s defamation law, reports Claire Lee for the Korea Herald. “Women’s activists and some lawmakers criticized the defamation law as one of the biggest challenges that sexual violence victims here face,”...

The Atlantic: “CNN Effect” Dies in Syria

Uri Friedman March 1, 2018
Broadcasts of atrocities can prompt government action. While research has not confirmed a positive link, analysts suggest that 1990s reporting from Iraq, Somalia and Bosnia contributed to public expectations for US intervention. Despite an abundance of real-time reporting, the CNN effect may be a mirage for Syria: “the Syrian government’s relentless bombardment of the besieged rebel enclave of...

Financial Times: Pro-EU Tory Faction to Join Labour on Brexit

Jim Pickard, George Parker and Laura Hughes February 28, 2018
Britain remains divided about whether the nation should part ways with the European Union, and some members of parliament mull crossing party lines to salvage a trade relationship. Voters in June 2016 narrowly approved exiting the EU, but concerns emerged since about misinformation and foreign interference during the campaign. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, shifted his party’s positon...