In The News

Irredeemable?

January 8, 2016
By the end of 2016, Brazil’s economy may be 8 percent smaller than it was during the first quarter of 2014, reports the Economist. Commodity prices are slumping, and GDP could shrink by a fifth. Some call for the president’s impeachment; legislators are under investigation for accepting bribes related to contracts with the state-controlled oil-and-gas company, Petrobras. The Economist describes...

North Korea’s Nuclear Test Deepens Chinese Dilemma

Shim Jae Hoon January 7, 2016
China continues to gamble on regional security by placating the Kim dynasty in North Korea. The world’s most populous nation, the second largest economy, is the North’s leading benefactor and trade partner. The country of 25 million is isolated, impoverished and backward, its leaders intent on amassing a nuclear arsenal. The regime surprised the world with an underground blast, claiming a...

“Almost Too late”: Fears of Global Superbug Crisis in Wake of Antibiotic Misuse

January 7, 2016
Overuse of antibiotics, particularly in the agriculture industry, and a lack of new drugs to combat evolving superbugs could contribute to a global health crisis. An essay in the Guardian reports that “a gene was discovered which makes infectious bacteria resistant to the last line of antibiotic defence, colistin (polymyxins). The resistance to the colistin antibiotic is considered to be a ‘major...

Bringing US Presidential Debates to a Chinese Audience

Owen Guo January 6, 2016
The world’s second largest economy is understandably fascinated with the politics and foreign policy of the largest. A high school student in Beijing, Zhou Qianyu, organized the Guojiang Subtitle Group – 70 volunteers across China work as teams to translate and post subtitles for online videos of the US presidential debates. Chinese interest in the debates leading to the November election is...

North Korea Leader Touts “Thrilling Sound” of Hydrogen Bomb in Test Order

January 6, 2016
North Korea announced it has tested a “miniaturized hydrogen bomb,” reports the Times of India. North Korean state television showed a copy of Kim Jong Un’s signed order, anticipating “the thrilling sound” of the nation’s first hydrogen bomb. The test was in direct defiance to orders from the country’s ally, China. “While a fourth nuclear test had been long expected, the claim that it was a...

The World Wary as US Federal Reserve Declares End to Debt Crisis

Chris Miller January 5, 2016
Central banks around the globe responded to the 2007-2008 global debt crisis by reducing interest rates and loosening monetary policy to encourage consumer spending, investment, employment and price stability. After seven years the US Federal Reserve lifted interest rates in December and signaled the possibility of gradual rate hikes, a move described by Chairwoman Janet Yellen as a process of “...

Treasuries Extend Global-Debt Rally on China, US Growth Worry

Ari Altstedter and Allison McNeely January 5, 2016
Investors seek secure havens for their savings and governments continue to issue debt. Manufacturing continues to decline in both the United States and China, adding to a surplus in oil stocks, and analysts suggest the news from China followed by a halt in trading prompted a steep decline in global stock prices. “The Treasury rally goes against the consensus that yields will rise in 2016 with...