In The News

Brazil Warns Against Pregnancy Due to Spreading Virus

Shasta Darlington January 4, 2016
Brazilian health officials have warned women to avoid pregnancy until more is known about the Zika virus. Researchers suggest the virus has led to “a surge in newborn microcephaly, a neurological disorder that can result in incomplete brain development,” reports Shasta Darlington for CNN. Zika symptoms include a mild fever, rash, aching joints and headaches. “More than 2,400 suspected cases of...

Middle East Tensions Boil as Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Iran

Sam Wilkin January 4, 2016
Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals for influence in the Middle East. The latest clash is driving up oil prices, deepening a sectarian divide and sparking new violence in the region, reports Sam Wilkin for Reuters: “Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday and fellow-Sunni Bahrain followed suit on Monday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh...

10 Big Technology Trends Likely to Emerge in 2016

Gadgets 360 Staff January 1, 2016
Technology revolutionizes the world, and predicting technology trends can be tricky. NDTV in India gives it a try by identifying 10 trends, warning “surprises can pop up out of anywhere, anytime.” Leading the list is major tech firms pushing online dependency on licensed services, updates, tracking with ongoing subscriptions and fees. Streaming adds bandwidth pressure and increased reliance on...

Microloans Don’t Solve Poverty

Ben Casselman December 31, 2015
Microloans for as low as $25 have long been praised for triggering innovative entrepreneurship and reducing poverty – by allowing the purchase of a few chickens or a cell phone. Ben Casselman takes a more critical look at microloans for FiveThirtyEight, writing, “A series of six independently conducted randomized controlled trials found that a variety of microlending programs had little to no...

Poor Harvest Could Spell Hard Winter for Rural North Koreans

Eric Talmadge December 30, 2015
North Korea has an average income of about $1500 and the unemployment rate is about 25 percent. The country’s rural poor is suffering. “The combination of the limited variety of foods that are available and the stresses on the body from the frigid weather creates major hardship for most North Koreans,” writes Eric Talmadge for the Japan Times. “But winter is generally not the toughest time of...

Is Australia Fully Aware of China's ChAFTA Aspirations?

Geoff Wade December 29, 2015
China and Australia have developed a free trade agreement, one of many as China forges new economic alliances through programs and investments like the Silk Maritime Route and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank. “The ‘Chinese Dream’ that modern China is pursuing under Xi Jinping involves the reassertion of the economic and political primacy which China claims to have enjoyed among neighbours...

The Spread of Wahhabism and the West’s Responsibility to the World

Karen Armstrong December 28, 2015
Colonial arrangements, business deals and support of authoritarian leaders have contributed to the instability of the Middle East, argues author Karen Armstrong for the NewStatesman. She is among the many analysts who key in on Saudi Arabia, using oil wealth to proselytize a fundamentalist form of Islam around the globe: “Wahhabism originated in the Arabian peninsula during the 18th century as an...