In The News

Crippling Aramco Attack: Bloomberg

Nayla Razzouk and Javier Blas September 15, 2019
A drone strike on a Saudi Aramco in Abqaiq slashed production by half, representing about 5 percent of the world’s oil supply. The company expects to restore production within days, but other analysts suggest months. Saudi Arabia supplies about 10 percent of the world’s crude oil and suppliers will fill the gap with reserves. OPEC tried to slow production in recent years to lift oil prices. The...

Nursing Brain Drain: Inquirer

Michael L. Tan September 14, 2019
The Philippines educates and trains nurses for work overseas, but the number available for workplaces at home is sinking. Fewer people enter nursing or pass the board exams. Turnover rates are high with dissatisfaction over wages. “Between 2012 and 2017, 92,277 nurses left to work overseas,” explains Michael Tan for the Inquirer. “That’s more than the total number of nurses who passed the board...

Iran’s Strategy Is Working: Stratfor

Reva Goujon September 13, 2019
After the United States abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – an international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program – and reinstated sanctions, Iran remained defiant, this despite economic hardship accompanyng reduced oil exports and high inflation. The United States expresses a willingness to talk, but Iran refuses without some sanctions relief. “Over the past three...

Myth of Unified World Populism: Financial Times

Janan Ganesh September 12, 2019
The world has many populists in power in prominent nations – the US, India, the UK, Brazil, Turkey and the Philippines, to name a few – raising fears of global movement as envisioned by Steve Bannon, a former advisor to Donald Trump. Janan Ganesh expresses doubt that the populists have such capability. Populists thrive on enemies. Once in power, they struggle to take responsibility. Most simply...

Singapore-Style UK: Guardian

Daniel Boffey and Jon Henley September 12, 2019
The economic warnings for a post-Brexit United Kingdom are dire: shortages, traffic and chaos. That could make the country desperate and ruthless, eliminating social and environmental regulations to compete. The country could become a Singapore-on-Thames, she suggested. The UK prime minister’s negotiator advised that the UK seeks a “clean break” from the EU. “Merkel also warned of the economic...

Cooperation on Fukushima Water? Business Korea

Choi Moon-hee September 11, 2019
Consequences of the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan linger today. Fuel rods require ongoing cooling with freshwater. More than 1 million tons of contaminated water is stored in tanks including underground ones secured by walls of ice, 30 meters deep and 1.6 kilometers long. Treatment technologies remove 62 of 63 radioactive elements, reports Roger Cheng...

Netanyahu Annexation Pledge: Al Jazeera

September 11, 2019
In a quest for votes prior to the September 17 election, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, applying Israeli sovereignty, if he wins reelection. Sections include the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea, making up 30 percent of the West Bank, as well as Jewish-only settlements in the territory, reports Al Jazeera: The report goes on to...