In The News

Border Chaos: Europe Reacts to Syrian Refugee Crisis

Chris Miller September 15, 2015
Thousands of families flee Syria, a nation devastated since 2011 civil war, a dictator’s crackdown with chemical weapons and infiltration by brutal extremists. Millions more people wait in barren refugee camps, lacking work and schools, near Syria’s borders. In just a week, more than 100,000 people fled to Europe, resisted by poor, conservative nations like Hungary and welcomed by others like...

What Will Jeremy Corbyn's Impact Be on Key Issues the UK Faces?

September 14, 2015
Jeremy Corbyn will lead the United Kingdom’s Labour Party with near 60 percent on the first vote. Conservatives remain in power and anticipate confronting a divided opposition. Corbyn is on the record for opposing inequality, austerity programs and war in the Middle East – and described as “passionate about foreign affairs.” Writers for the Guardian assess the Labour leader’s position on issues,...

How the Piano Became Chinese

Sheila Melvin September 14, 2015
In planning a trip to China in 1601, Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci gathered gifts including a clavichord. At that time, China had many musical instruments and traditions but nothing like the clavichord, explains journalist Sheila Melvin for Caixin: “That's why Ricci chose it, hoping that the unusual instrument would so excite the emperor's curiosity that he would agree to receive Ricci...

Why Aren’t the Gulf States Taking More Syrian Refugees?

Marc Owen Jones September 11, 2015
Alarm over the Syrian refugee crisis prompts questions about why Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other wealthy Gulf states that share cultural characteristics do not do more to assist. Amnesty International reports that 3.8 million of the Syrian refugees live in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. Analysts, criticizing Saudi funding the export of radical programs like Wahhabism, suggest that the...

The Bitter Story Behind the UK's National Drink

Justin Rowlatt and Jane Deith September 11, 2015
Tea is marketed as a symbol of relaxation and civilized culture, but reports emerge of poor conditions for workers on tea estates. “The joint investigation by Radio 4's File on Four and BBC News in Assam, north-east India, found workers living in broken houses with terrible sanitation,” reports BBC News. “Living and working conditions are so bad, and wages so low, that tea workers and their...

Seeking Safety Abroad: Hidden Story in China’s FDI Statistics

Farok J. Contractor September 10, 2015
Despite a recent slowdown, China’s economy is still growing. Its citizens are much wealthier than they were just a few decades ago and like investors around the world, they seek secure places to store assets. “However, the fact is that enormous amounts of liquid money held by Chinese individuals and companies have, for many years, been anxiously trying to leave China and leave the renminbi as an...

China Stock Turbulence Will Boost Our Real Estate: Australia's Treasurer

David Uren September 10, 2015
The newspaper headline is repeated in New York, Sydney, Vancouver, Seattle and London – turbulent Chinese markets could boost real estate prices in foreign markets. China investors buy homes in major cities and also take advantage of immigration programs, including the EB-5 program in the United States which provides green cards to foreigners who invest in job-creating businesses, including real...