The world confronts unsustainable population growth. Some researchers suggest that a population based on two people per arable hectare is sustainable, and with 1.6 million arable hectares, the planet can support 3.2 billion people, less than half the current population. The planet's population...
A good life: The world is on track for more than 10 billion people by the century’s end even as fertility slows – Iran halved fertility within 10 years, left, while Africa will represent half of the world’s population growth by 2050 (Source: Reuters...
The US president issued a proclamation expanding limits for foreign workers, including a suspension on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign scholars and employees for tech firms. The block will not extend to current visa holders, but that does not ease their uncertainty. “The Trump...
Chile has formed a Constituent Assembly, charged with proposing a new constitution. Bruce Ackerman, constitutional law professor of Yale University, offers guidance and maintains that the assembly should not include delegates who are members of the existing government. “If you allow the existing...
"One of the great ironies of the Chilean situation is that its Constitution was imposed by a military dictator and yet the country has conducted seven entirely fair presidential elections over the past thirty years.” – Bruce Ackerman, Sterling...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made fewer public appearances throughout 2020 than he did during the same period a year ago, and whether that is due to the Covid-19 pandemic or other reasons is unknown. “Although only 36, he could be a candidate for a health event,” writes Mike Chinoy, author...
Top secret: The Kim family has controlled North Korea since 1948 and when leaders go out of sight, global security analysts speculate on transition – Kim Jong Un met with US President Trump in 2019, left, and his sister Kim Yo Jong joined a meeting...
Crises tend to identify leaders while exposing the strengths and weaknesses of organizations. The Covid-19 pandemic should have been a straightforward apolitical challenge, with societies rallying around the world’s top public health recommendations. Yet masks and social distancing have polarized...
One threat, divided response: A close relationship between World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the reasons for deadlock at the UN Security Council (Source: Naohiko Hatta, AP...
A bloodless coup transformed Thailand’s absolute monarchy into a constitutional system in 1932, yet the country does not enjoy full democracy today. Thailand’s elite do not trust citizens with decision-making, and there is a “reinvention of modern-day authoritarianism in the form of a triumvirate...
The transition period for Britain’s relationship with the European Union and membership privileges end in December, and Brexit talks are at a stalemate. “Any future direct EU access after the transition period is over will be decided by whether Brussels feels the UK regulation is ‘equivalent’ to...
Rapid Arctic warming poses dire consequences for the planet. Record-breaking heat – 38 degrees Celsius, or 100 Fahrenheit – is reported from the Arctic, with dry peatlands and conifers that serve as tinder for wildfires. “That extreme heat is fanning the unusual extent of wildfires across the...
