In The News

Asia Times: China’s Monkey Business Starts Cloning Controversy

Gordon Waits January 25, 2018
Chinese researchers have cloned two macaque monkeys, using the technique that created Dolly the sheep in 1996 – somatic cell nuclear transfer. The research follows the 1999 cloning of a rhesus money in Oregon, using embryo splitting. Such studies could pave the way for human cloning. Monkeys and humans are primates which both form strong family and social bonds. A goal of the research in China is...

The Diplomat: Central Asian States Step Up Afghan Diplomacy

Catherine Putz January 24, 2018
Challenges in any of the landlocked Central Asian nations impact overall regional security. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are taking steps for regional diplomacy and reduced isolation for Afghanistan. Regional discussions on water management, energy cooperation, transportation links and trade are underway; representatives express concern about terrorism and women’s rights. “Kazakhstan, the first...

Deutsche Welle: Indian Prime Minister Modi Identifies Three Global Threats

January 24, 2018
The world is not preparing for its most pressing challenges, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized global institutions for failing to recognize widespread aspirations or to confront reality. He addressed the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of corporate, government and other leaders to review global priorities. Modi “urged sweeping reforms to modernize and restructure current...

Bloomberg Businessweek: Climate Change Could Make Borrowing More Expensive

Emily Chasan January 23, 2018
The value of bond holdings for locales or companies struck by disaster can plunge: “bond rating agencies such as Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings are looking at whether they should be including more disaster forecasting in calculating the grades they give to government debt and to companies in industries ranging from insurance to construction,” writes Emily Chasen for...

The Economist: America’s Federal Government Shuts Down Over Immigration

January 22, 2018
Immigration policy is the point of contention for US Congress struggling to pass a spending bill: specifically, ending temporary status for young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and invested in education, careers, homes and community based on a shield us provided by the Obama administration. That status ends in March. That quarrel led to a shutdown of the US federal...

Reuters: Turkey Expects Swift Campaign Against US-Backed Kurds in Syria

Mert Ozkan January 22, 2018
Turkey is attacking US-backed Kurdish fighters in the Afrin region of Syria. Reports suggest that Turkey notified the US and Russia. The Kurdish YPG fighters have been influential in containing the Islamic State extremists in Syria. “The three-day-old campaign has opened a new front in Syria’s multi-sided civil war, realigning a battlefield where outside powers are supporting local combatants,”...

McClatchy: FBI Checks If Russian Money Went to NRA

Peter Stone and Greg Gordon January 19, 2018
A counterintelligence investigation is underway by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation on whether a banker – Alexander Torshin, deputy governor for the Russian central bank – secretly transferred funds to the National Rifle Association to help the Donald Trump presidential election campaign. “It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections,” reports Peter Stone and Gregg...