Palm oil is Indonesia’s most valuable agricultural export and the industry employs nearly 2 million people. Indonesia has laws prohibiting the slash-and-burn method of clearing fields for large plantations, explains Pavin Chachavalpongpun, of Kyoto University’s Centre for Southeast Asian Studies....
Oil and smoke : Indonesian drive to export more palm oil (top) led to burning to clear land for plants and sent plumes of haze affecting the region. Singapore residents don masks to protect themselves.KYOTO: Palm oil plantations and processing have...
Postsecondary education, regarded as essential in a competitive global job market, is credited for increasing prosperity for individuals and their communities. Greater numbers of students pursue higher education, but rising costs of college force many to rely on loans. Tuition for attending a...
Debt relief? Tuition rates vary around the globe; payment is the responsibility of students and families in countries like the United States, where the average debt for 2016 graduates is $37,000, while students have fewer worries in Finland, one of...
Out-of-wedlock childbirths have become more common worldwide since the 1960s, but with wide variations among and within countries. Inreasing economic independence and education combined with modern birth control methods have given women more control over family planning. In about 25 countries,...
Shifting culture: Women's increasing economic independence contributes to more children born outside of marriage, though acceptance varies widely among countries; throughout much of Latin America, out-of-wedlock births are the norm, left, but some...
对贸易保护主义的忧虑当中，奥巴马对中国轮胎征收的关税，在规模上几乎微不足道。此外，它得到了WTO协定的支持，因为该协定允许各国从中国进口产品对地方产业的侵害中寻求哪怕是暂时的补偿。大多数批评家对于此项关税似乎没有注意到的是，即使此项关税额度小，也无法改善失业问题，但它的确向美国工会做了妥协――工会是医疗辩论中一支关键的政治力量。因此，这一微不足道的动作能够产生重大的后果：成功改革美国医疗状况，反过来能促进美国经济。让医疗状况原封不动，会使美国背上更大的赤字，使美元价值下跌，并使消费和贸易严重紧缩。关税额度虽小，但有着巨大的影响。这就是奥巴马的主要战略目标。――耶鲁全球
在美国经济持续不景气的迷雾中以及对开始抬头的贸易保护主义的全球忧虑中，G20的元首齐聚美国钢铁之都“匹兹堡”。不过，他们一定还记得“全球思维，地方行动”这句老话。
尽管巴拉克·奥巴马总统肯定会听到人们对美国向中国轮胎征收关税的计划做出种种批评， 但是他的批评者们应当首先照照镜子。虽然许多国家很难对最大的经济猩猩（economic gorilla）（即使在它生病时）心怀怜悯，但是它们应该认识到奥巴马此项颇具争议的贸易决策是受美国国内斗争影响的。此项不幸的轮胎关税案可能是对地...
Women have made great strides in education, employment, politics and equality in general worldwide, but participation in the labor force remains stubbornly below those of men. “By and large, a substantial proportion of mothers withdraw from employment after childbirth,” explains demography expert...
Homebound: Women’s participation in the workplace is growing around the world, but in both advanced and developing nations, some mothers feel pressure to stay at home
NEW YORK: Despite noteworthy progress achieved in gender equality, especially in...
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made the decision to present terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and Iraq as a linked triple threat. Susan Moeller, professor of media and international affairs at the University of...
White House press room: The US media listened too much to the White House and ignored independent experts.
WASHINGTON: Although Americans were already shivering from frissons of fear provoked by the post -...
Democracies are deeply polarized over worries about migration and loss of culture versus the mass appeal of bigoted leaders who pursue policies by any means necessary including intimidation, insults and lies. “Citizens in democracies repeatedly elect leaders who show scant respect for the law,...
Bigotry and violence: Right-wing leaders from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte resort to populism and violence to consolidate control
GOA, INDIA: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it,...
While many are aware of the "triangular" slave trade among Europe, Africa and the Americas in the 18th century, few people realize that Asian-European trade was also instrumental in sustaining the exchange of human slaves. For example, French ships carrying European goods to Asia returned...
19th-century lithograph of a French ship transporting slaves to the colonies in the Caribbean (Source: Digital Media Lab, University of Virginia Library)
NEW HAVEN: The role that international trade has played in developing a globally integrated...
