As many as 2.5 billion people worldwide need but do not have eyeglasses. The Vision Council of America suggests that 75 percent of adults need eyeglasses to read, drive and work. Glasses, often taken for granted in developed nations, support worker productivity and safety. Yet millions worldwide...
North Korea tested another missile – its most successful yet, traveling more than 750 kilometers and landing near Russia, though the US and Russia disagree over just how that close. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin condemned the launch as dangerous but warned against “intimidating” North Korea....
Both China and Vietnam have filed appeals with the United Nations over territorial claims to the Paracel Islands after China placed huge drilling rig in the area. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives countries exclusive economic use 200 miles offshore and the Chinese rig is 120 nautical...
UNITED NATIONS (TRNS) – China and Vietnam took their escalating territorial dispute in the South China Sea to the U.N. last week, as both countries filed appeals to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over China’s move to place an oil rig near the Paracel...
One group of separatists announced that eastern Ukraine is a new country, one that will be close with Russia. A map displayed during the announcement described all of Ukraine, except Crimea, as Malorossiya, or Little Russia. “The move seems to undermine the faltering Minsk peace agreement, a 2015...
Lingering drought in India is prompting a wave of migrations from rural areas to cities like Mumbai. “The upcoming monsoon is expected to bring some relief, but a longer term challenge looms from competition for scarce groundwater and surface supplies among farmers, industries and cities,” writes...
Read the article from Bloomberg.
In foreign policy initiatives, China’s leaders promote an idyllic version of the Silk Road network of land and maritime routes stretching from Europe to Asia’s eastern coast, linking diverse cultures in trade. The goal is to link China’s historic and modern roles in promoting peace and prosperity...
NEW YORK: The romantic concept of a historic Silk Road by which camel caravans wend among the mountains and deserts of Central Asia is back in the news. So is talk on reestablishing the maritime networks by which the Chinese Admiral Zheng He...
Malaysia, a nation of 24.5 million inhabitants, has over 1.3 million legal foreign workers and another 700,000 who are undocumented. Though these migrants generally have jobs that are low paying and unattractive to native Malaysians, public sentiment has turned against them, says this article in...
KUALA LUMPUR - Walk into a bar here and chances are the waitress is a Filipina and the hostess a China national.
At the hawkers' centre, food like fried kway teow and wantan mee are being dished out by...
Pressure of globalization has led to child trafficking and forced labor. Similar global pressure from public opinion can also put an end to the practice. Five years ago, reports emerged about small groups of children being trafficked and forced to pick cacao beans – the main ingredient for...
Bitter chocolate: An African child drying cacao beans. Image like this caused an uproar, but child labor continues. (c) Project Hope and Fairness
WASHINGTON: Many chocolate lovers still have a bitter taste in their...
