Microsoft is launching a program, Planetary Computer, to aggregate environmental data – mapping trillions of data points to monitor the Earth’s biodiversity, water tables, forestry data, carbon and waste to provide a searchable dataset. “The move is the company’s latest major environmental push,...
The debate over sweatshops and corporate responsibility for factory working conditions has again made its way to American courts. When Nike issued misleading statements about its third-world labor policies, consumer groups took the company to court, charging Nike with false advertising. In May...
Click here for the original article on The New York Times website.
The US and the EU spoke optimistically about their new agreement on farm subsidies last night, but many developing countries doubt whether tangible change will result. Agricultural reform has been an extremely contentious issue in the WTO, often dividing the developed and the developing worlds....
A battle between the west and the developing world at next month's World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun was looming last night after India rejected a late deal on farm subsidies stitched together by Washington and...
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the head of Russia's largest oil and gas company, Yukos, was arrested over the weekend for corruption and tax evasion. In response, Russia's stock market, the MICEX, dove 12% on Monday, reflecting the jitters felt by Russia's business leaders. The development...
Vladimir Putin has appealed for calm after Russia's stock indices plummeted more than 12 per cent on Monday following doubts over the country's commitment to legal certainty after the weekend arrest of Mikhail...
This special report from a task force at the Council on Foreign Relations suggests that the nuclear crisis in North Korea can be resolved only if the US creates a coalition of partners to pressure Pyongyang. China, in particular, the report says, should be called upon to impose sanctions on North...
Click here for the full text of the report on The Council of Foreign Relations website (pdf file).
WASHINGTON : Il y a un souci croissant au sein du Congrès américain sur le dossier nucléaire conclu l’été dernier lors de la visite du Premier Ministre indien Manmohan Singh à Washington. Ce n’est pas tant que la...
1997-98的亚洲金融危机中，美国的金融专家劝说亚洲采取有效的政府监管，增加透明度，实现市场自由化，避免过分的政府干预。亚洲国家也确实收紧腰带，降低了投资，并为基金寻求安全保障，例如购买美国的短期国债。“由于减税和日益增长的开支，布什政府的财政预算赤字不断增加，而国外贷款的流入刚好填补了这个缺口。”密歇根大学的企业策略学教授琳达•利姆（Linda Lim）解释道。美国不断增加的赤字开支导致某些市场领域的过度膨胀，特别是房地产市场。随着房价的下跌和赤字的缓解，美国面临着80年来最严重的银行和信贷危机。利姆提醒说，商业靠向亚洲寻求解决之道是行不通的，...
角色对换：1997年金融危机，韩国抗议国际货币基金组织为挽救危机开出的药方；现在当美国银行被国有化的时候，亚洲人却身处顺境。
安阿伯(Ann Arbor)： 十年内的变化。在97年金融危机中批判亚洲管理落后，缺乏透明度的银行家和博学者们如今却因为神圣的“英美金融体系”的垮台而希望从亚洲寻求援助。
一些亚洲国家的货币和经济体系的崩溃，并不是它们自己货币或财政挥霍的结果。与今天的美国不同，它们的政府没有庞大的预算赤字，也没有印刷纸币而造成物价 暴涨。...
当美国与北大西洋公约组织（NATO）正准备渐渐撤出阿富汗战场的时候，阿富汗各邻国对该地区影响力的争夺却越来越激烈。从那些由巴基斯坦政府支持的团体所不断发出的恐怖威胁中，人们或许就能够感受到这股碰撞的力量。我们将分两部分来研究当下阿富汗战争的收局情况。在上篇中，作家阿哈玛•拉希德（Ahmed Rashid）分析了巴基斯坦应对东西两邻国的双管策略。由于阿富汗已经成为印度与巴基斯坦的代理战场，所以巴基斯坦就竭力争取在阿富汗问题的各个处置决定中获得更大的话语权；另一方面，它还放任各类组织在阿富汗和克什米尔（Kashmir）地区发动更多损害印度利益的恐怖袭击。...
拉合尔（LAHORE）：印度和巴基斯坦就彼此长期存在的分歧举行高层对话失败后，两 国现在都深陷于阿富汗代理战场上不断升级的战事中。如果不能在阿富汗找到调解巴基斯坦与印度双方利益的办法，那么在接下来的几个月里，身处喀布尔 （Kabul）的印度人将遭受到更多的恐怖袭击，同时，巴基斯坦军事团体也会重新潜入印度克什米尔地区。在最近的几周里，大批塔利班间谍在巴基斯坦被捕， 这正表明，左右阿富汗国家命运的较量仍然激烈，种种冲突远没有偃息的迹象。
阿富汗总统哈米德•卡尔扎伊希望能和塔利班开展谈判，...