In The News

The People’s Bank of China, in line with the US Federal Reserve’s March 15th decision, recently increased some interest rates while the Bank of Japan responded by maintaining its negative interest rate target. Divergence in monetary policy “adds a new element of market uncertainty into 2017,” writes William Pesek for Barron’s. The governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, instituted...

Proposed cuts to the US State Department and United Nations budgets coincide with severe famines underway. “Two years of drought and failed rains across much of Africa have affected 38 million people in 17 countries,” reports Robyn Dixon for the Los Angeles Times. “Without a massive donor injection of $4.4 billion, aid officials estimate, more than 20 million people face starvation and famine in...

For the most part Israel has been restrained about intervening in the Syrian civil war since 2011, other than attacking weapon transports to Hezbollah, a political party and militant group that along with Iran and Russia has sided with the Syrian government. “In a rare communique, in which Israel took responsibility for the usually clandestine airstrikes, the Israeli Air Force confirmed that its...