kim seeks denuclearization by end of trump presidency as North-South write to un

8 September 2018: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told a South Korean delegation in Pyongyang that he wants denuclearization before the end of the Trump presidency.  The news is buried in a Kyodo News article about North and South Korea jointly asking the United Nations to circulate their leaders' accord on peace and security on the Korean Peninsula as an official document. Read story

south african writer fired for uighur article

7 September 2018: South African journalist Azad Essa posted the following on his Facebook page yesterday: 

"I have been writing a foreign affairs column for Independent Media for the past 2 years. I have focussed on neglected issues around the globe, zooming in on race, immigration, poverty, and prejudice.

This week I wrote about how Chinese authorities are holding more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims in internment camps in the Xinjiang province.

I was fully aware that China International Television Corporation (CITVC ) and China-Africa Development Fund (CADFUND) have a stake in Independent Media and that the column might ruffle feathers.

But the piece was published in print in newspapers around the country on Wednesday. When I enquired when the piece would go up online, I received a mail saying "a decision has been made not to publish it online".

When I asked for clarity from online editors, I received no response. This morning my weekly column was canceled. I was told the following: "With the redesign of our papers and the new system, there are changes regarding the columnists being used."

Is this the future of corporate censorship in South Africa? And is this where the continent's future relationship with China is headed?

uN Begins historic Talks to regulate high seas

Read the IPS story

reality Check on the New Yorker's bizarre view of kofi annan—and the revealing back-story   

31 August 2018: Hours after former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan died on 18 August, The New Yorker published a bizarre attack on him by staff writer Philip Gourevitch. As head of the UN’s peacekeeping department in the 1990s, said Gourevitch, Annan had “presided over the ignominious failures” of “missions in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia,” and right until his death “had steadfastly refused to acknowledge any meaningful sense of personal or institutional responsibility for these debacles.”  Annan also was a “figure of preternatural calm” who “appeared, even to those who worked most closely with him, to be a man devoid of anger, who would never take things personally.”  Read More

Was Kofi Annan poisoned because he was about to call for decriminalization of all drugs?

20 August 2018: The government of Ghana should investigate if Kofi Annan's sudden death was caused by poison, and if he was about to issue a call for the decriminalization of all drugs.  It is possible that he might have been angered by a UN report to the Security Council saying that the terrorist organization Boko Haram was financed by ransom money paid by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Signed by British diplomat Edmund Fitton-Brown, coordinator of a Security Council analytical team, the report is nonsense, meant to muddy understanding of the situation in Nigeria and globally.

Boko Haram is one of the terrorist organizations created to protect the routes along which heroin from Afghanistan (where it is grown under Taliban supervision) flows to consuming countries. Drug money is thus its main systemic sustenance. Everything else is freelance crime.

British Smokescreen

The report is part of the smokescreen the British generate through the UN to hide their role in managing the global money laundering system that processes the hundreds of billions of dollars generated annually by drug trafficking.

In doing that they have a powerful network of allies, for the laundered money enters the "legal economy" through the $3 trillion "Hedge Fund" industry that has made the freemarket capitalist system one vast casino catering to the world's super rich.

This means the British are catering to the billionaire class throughout the world. Traditional differentiations of capitalism and socialism, of "Russian, European and American oligarchs," no longer make sense.

Unless people around the world see what is happening and mount an effort to end drug trafficking and the money laundering that supports it, we're headed for a world ruled by billionaire oligarchs for their own benefit.

The Threat of Decriminalization

If all drugs were decriminalized, it would destroy the market that allows Britain to generate huge profits from substances that are cheap and easily produced.  Without  the prohibition on drugs, it would not be profitable for criminals to produce them or promote their use. Drug abuse would become a public health problem overnight, not the $500 billion business that it is now.

With that end in view, there has been a growing call for the legalization of all drugs. In 2019  the United Nations General Assembly is holding a Special Session that could call for legalization. A call from Annan would have had a strong impact on public opinion worldwide. 

I was a UN staffer and knew Kofi for many years: read my brief note about that here.

Kofi Annan 1938--2018

The Kofi Annan Foundation announced the death of its founder on the morning of 18 August.

It is with immense sadness that the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation announce that Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate, passed away peacefully on Saturday 18th August after a short illness. His wife Nane and their children Ama, Kojo and Nina were by his side during his last days.

Kofi Annan was a global statesman and a deeply committed internationalist who fought throughout his life for a fairer and more peaceful world. During his distinguished career and leadership of the United Nations he was an ardent champion of peace, sustainable development, human rights and the rule of law.

After stepping down from the United Nations, he continued to work tirelessly in the cause of peace through his chairmanship of the Kofi Annan Foundation and as chair of The Elders, the group founded by Nelson Mandela. He was an inspiration to young and old alike.

Kofi Annan was a son of Ghana and felt a special responsibility towards Africa. He was particularly committed to African development and deeply engaged in many initiatives, including his chairmanship of the Africa Progress Panel and his early leadership of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Wherever there was suffering or need, he reached out and touched many people with his deep compassion and empathy. He selflessly placed others first, radiating genuine kindness, warmth and brilliance in all he did. He will be greatly missed by so many around the world, as well as his staff at the Foundation and his many former colleagues in the United Nations system. He will remain in our hearts forever.

The family kindly requests privacy at this time of mourning. Arrangements to celebrate his remarkable life will be announced later.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​India, China and Israel moon shots in 2018

India, China and Israel will all launch lunar rovers in 2018. The first two will be official, the third by a private group. Details here.

China plans Russia war games, spies on US navy

Disinvited from the US Navy's RIMPAC exercises in the Pacific, China has sent a spy ship to keep tabs on what's happening. Meanwhile, it is planning war games with with Russia. 

​

China busts $1.5 bn crypto betting ring

Record Afghan civilian deaths in 2018

Kate Clark writing in Afghanistan Analysts Network of 15 July reports that according to a mid-year assessment by the United Nations more civilians have been killed in the first six months of 2018 than in any year since 2009 when systematic monitoring began. In all,  1,692 people were killed and 3,430 injured.

She writes: "Every day in the first six months of 2018, an average of nine civilians, including two children, were killed in the conflict in Afghanistan. An average of 19 civilians, including five children, were injured every day.

"UNAMA in its mid-year report for 2018  found that these civilians were killed and injured in ground engagements (29% of the total), suicide and complex attacks (28%), by IEDs (17%), in targeted and deliberate killings (9%), in air attacks (7%) and by leftover unexploded munitions (5%). (1)

"They were most likely to have been killed or injured by insurgents (67 per cent of the total), although a fifth (20 per cent) were killed and injured by pro-government forces and ten per cent in fighting between the two. (2)

"UNAMA attributed 42 per cent of total civilian casualties to the Taleban, 18 per cent to the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), 17 per cent to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), two per cent to the international military and one per cent to pro-government armed groups. The remainder were not attributable to any single party.

Civilians in the provinces of Kabul, Nangarhar, Faryab, Helmand and Kandahar were the most likely to be killed or injured in the war.

The Eid ul-Fitr ceasefire (15-17 June) evidently did not decrease the toll on civilians. Only ISKIP, which increasingly targeted schools, refused to observe the ceasefire. It carried out two brutal attacks in Nangrahar province. On the second day of Eid, an ISKP suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a crowd of Taleban, Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and civilians in Rodat district. The following day, a bomb planted near the governor’s office killed and wounded people waiting for the end of a meeting between officials and visiting Taleban. Just those two attacks killed 48 civilians and injured 133 others.  

____________________________________________________________________​​

2 February 2018

• African Union plans unified air market& approach to terrorism
  
• US oil output over 10 million bbls per day & new strikes in Mexico, North Sea 
  
• Gaza on verge of systemic collapse UN Mid-East envoy says
  
• UN refers Guyana-Venezuela border dispute to World Court
  
• Syrian lgroups write to UN & Sochi meeting agrees on constitutional step 
  
• UN-staff promote their success stories
  
• Tax Justice Network calls for abolition of “tax havens”
  
• Tax Justice Network site (with key links returning 404 error codes)
  

30 January 2018

• Asia’s difficult year ahead centers on China
  
• After 200 years of expansion the growth of democracy is stalled
  
• New Angolan president dismantles patronage networks
  
• Pope Francis: Fake news goes back to Garden of Eden
  
• ASEAN-India relations: 25 going on 2000
  
• Doomsday Clock now at two minutes to minutes to midnight
  
• Forbes: China’s status as emerging market is at risk as growth declines
  
• Japan a driver of the Indo-Pacific strategy
  
• Cambodia reasserts a neutral foreign policy
  
• At least 120,000 Uighurs in “re-education” camps
  
• China lawyer loses license for criticizing communist party
  
• Trump tariffs on China solar panels echoes in India
  
• Facing trade war, China stresses multilateralism
  
• Kissinger, Schultz, Armitage at US Senate Committee (Video)
  
• Chancellor Merkel at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Video)
  
• Prime Minister Modi speech (text) at WEF in Davos
  
• Five things you need to know about inequality
  
• China denies Russian story it is building Afghan military base
  
• India's Aamir Khan’s "Secret Superstar" tops China box office
  
• Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth’s pregnancy extends her list of firsts
  
• China's former richest man selling off global holdings to pay debt
  

22 January 2018

• US sees China, Russia as major strategic threats 
  
• Turkish airstrikes pound Afrin area of Syria, upsetting US and Russia
  
• South Korea expects talks with Pyongyang to lead to DPRK-US peace
  
• Pakistan getting closer to Iranand Russia   
  
• Test takes India’s Agni intercontinental missile closer to deployment
  
• North Korea propaganda posters show unified peninsula 
  
• Security Council meeting on Afghanistan-Central Asia partnership (video)
  
• Qatar calls for global meeting on preventive diplomacy
  
• UAE complains to UN of threat posed by Qatar aircraft
  
• Sunk Iran oil tanker will spread carcinogens to China seafood
  
• Indian tax authorities put Bitcoin traders on notice
  
• CNBC: With soaring US trade deficit, Trump likely to bite China
  
• India to host yoga sessions at Davos Summit
  
• India, Pakistan summon each other’s envoys over cease-fire violations
  
• When a therapist puts Buddhism into practice 
  
• Rani of Jhansi film stars Ramanujam's wife in Man Who knew Infinity

20 January 2018

• 2018 could worsen 2017 collapse of Press freedom  in S.E. Asia
  
• Twinge of Cold War at Security Council meet on non-proliferation (video)
  
• Indo-Japan Symposium 2017: video coverage
  
• Heritage Foundation’s global freedom map 2018
  
• Amazon captured 4 % of US retail sales in 2017
  
• Trump thumps the World Trade Organization
  
• HSBC fined $100 million for cheating its own clients
  
• How Alaska turned from a deep red state to a bluish purple
  
• New poll: another referendum would nix Brexit
  
• Library of Congress Magazine: 2018 Jan-Feb issue
  
• A deported American family finds its way in Mexico
  
• The humiliation of Aziz Ansari
  
• Publisher brings old tomes of India into print – but they’re pricey
  
• Scientists speed control of nanorobots that could be used to make molecules
  

15 January 2018

• Trump cancels London trip to open new Embassy
  
• Behind the scenes of French president Macron’s trip to China
  
• Putin ready to return Ukrainian ships taken in Crimea
  
• ISIS recruiter’s desire to come home poses quandary for France
  
• India’s 100th satellite will watch its borders
  
• China rocketry’s dangerous Cold War legacy
  
• 19 grisly crime scenes minutely reconstructed by heiress
  
• UN official hopes for Libya elections by year-end
  
• For 7th year Nigeria’s Dangote is richest African in Forbes  list
  
• 1967 Literature Nobel nominees included Auden, Borges (who never got it)
• Massive fire closes British train station
  
• Zuckerberg change of strategy drops Facebook share value $3 billion
  
• Legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens is bored with trading oil
  
• Accounting giant Price Water House banned from India for two years
  
• Microsoft is working on mind-controlled apps
• Ban Ki-moon nominated to chair Seoul-based Global Green Council
  
• $320 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon – from China
  
  

11 January 2018

• Secret US satellite goes missing after SpaceX launch
  
• Pentagon clarifies what US wants from Pakistan
  
• 3 month after hurricane nothing is normal on Barbuda
  
• Employers worry as US faces loss of half million Honduran, Haitian workers
  
• American Interest: top books of 2017
  
• NATO gets special representative for women, peace and security
  
• Iran minister: OPEC leery of oil above $60
  
• Morocco vies with South Africa in regional politics
  
• Ethiopian Airlines chief sees African loss in open sky policies
  
• Podcast: Indian scientist brings ancient tribal astronomy to light
  
• A US viewpoint of China: Pretender to the Throne
  
• Chunk of China’s new solar highway stolen
  

6 January 2018

• Why bomb cyclones are so unusual on US East Coast
  
• Can China really take over Taiwan?
  
• Bitcoin slides as crooks switch to Ripple
  
• India and Pakistan race to tap Himalayan water
  
• Why is China building a military base in Pakistan?
  
• IMF’s top ten charts of 2017
  
• China puts Tibetan language advocate on trial
  
• South Korean men getting fatter at “worrying” rate
  
• New crisis panel head urges full access to Myanmar’s Rakhine state
  
• Shaggy dog story on UN’s prospects for 2018
  
• Erdogan seeks to rent Red Sea island that was Ottoman outpost
  
• New India-Myanmar border pact step in Act East policy
  
• UN launches investigation of DRC attack that killed 15
  
• Ban Ki-moon’s nephew pleads guilty in bribe case
  
• Turkish banker found guilty in US of evading Iran sanctions
  
• And now: the endangered hyperlink!
  
• The China trade war has already begun
  
• India pushes for more strategic cooperation with ASEAN
  
• IMO launches Africa Maritime Cooperation Center
  
• China debt bomb keeps getting bigger
  

26 December 2017

• Global IPO activity hits post 2008 high
  

• EU Brexit negotiator says UK must be out by 31 December 2020
  

• UAE hosted 4th Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies
  

• North Korea says It's too early to prevent war
  

• King Hassan planned to attack Spain over Western Sahara dispute
  

• South Africa’s ruling party calls for downgrading embassy in Israel
  

• Taiwan’s pro-Beijing party suspected of spying
  

• US Federal Election Commission might lose quorum and shut down
  

• Britain’s last aircraft carrier makes final journey to Turkish scrapyard
  

• Library of Congress web site page views grew 90% in 2017;& coming in 2018 
• Great drought that ended Indus Valley civilization could recur
  
• 2017 was a record-setting year for US robotics 
  

19 December 2017

• Saudi Arabia lifts 35-year ban on movie theaters
  
• Snarky tweet from Netflix sets off privacy alarms
  
• Proposal for a new basis to measure poverty internationally
  
• Hong Kong worries as China sets changes in school history books
  
• Inaugural blog post by National Youth Poet Laureate
  
• How dorm room shenanigans almost wrecked the Internet
  
• Haitian mothers seek support from “UN peacekeeper fathers”
  
• An Indian reading of road to Security Council permanent seat
  
• Chinese view of Sri Lanka port under Beijing control
  
• UK Brexit negotiator: EU divorce agreement is only statement of intent
  
• Fearing worst, China builds refugee camps on DPRK border
  
• $3.2 trillion Hedge Fund industry changing basic patterns
  
• Business Insider: Linkedin is most trusted social medium, YouTube least
  
• BBC reveals China’s “virtue schools” for women
  
• Carbon pricing to make planet great again
  
• Buzzfeed: Bannon and Breitbart tried to take down Twitter
  
• Britain’s Investigative Journalists look into corporate spying
  
• Megyn Kelly talks of sexual harassment at Fox
  

14 December 2017

• Are Alexa and your smart phone spying on you?
• Global weapons sales rose in 2016, first time since 2010

• 7 tech leaps, likes and trends of 2017

• Sinn Fein issues statement on Irish border and Brexit

• German intelligence says China uses fake Linkedin profiles to spy

• Mistrust and differing objectives in Syria mar Iran-Russia relations

• Moves towards integrated South Asian power grid

• South Korea protests EU listing it as a tax haven

• China now making some of the most powerful guns in the world

• Philippines-Taiwan investment agreement “grave concern” to China

• Yoga overcomes its Indian origins in Pakistan

• Researchers say depression is of at least five different varieties

• What plants cowboys ate in the Old West

11 December 2017

• Rebels kill 15 UN peacekeepers in Congo, worst attack in recent history
  
• Hezbollah converging with South American organized crime groups
  
• North Korea, UN agree to communicate regularly
  
• International Criminal Court moving ahead with Afghanistan investigation
  
• 1000 people own 40% of Bitcoin market, could rock it with a shrug
  
• Trump administration acts against Cambodia’s Hun Sen regime
  
• Facebook’s Zuckerberg on Building a Global Community
  
• China not happy with Australian leader’s talk of foreign interference
  
• Chinese private fund assets hit staggering $1.63 trillion
  
• Experts push for single African market for air transport
  
• Gulf Arab trade bloc at risk as rifts among members grow
  
• West African Court to promote regional human rights
  
• Indian start-ups lobbying government against international biggies
  
• What American corporations really think of China
  
• Ghana president: “What has Africa done with independence?”
  
• Little known Saudi prince paid $450.3 million for da Vinci’s Salvatore Mundi
  
• World facing Ocean “Armageddon” UNEP Chief tells interviewer
  
•  China launches all electric, zero omissions ship – but it’s hauling coal
  

8 December 2017

• IMF warns China’s ballooning debt is threat to world financial system
  
• Palestinians see US move on Jerusalem precluding two-State outcome
  
• China hosts conference to push its own version of "human rights"
• Three ad giants will spend $800  million on Amazon 
  
• As Bitcoin surges, there are warning signs of a disaster
  
• China says Indian drone entered its airspace and crashed
  
• General Electric to cut 12,000 jobs to adjust to changing energy scene
• Australia Foreign Policy "White Paper" critiqued
• Skilled migrants say Japan is last place they want to live
  
• Unpacking the politics of Rohingya repatriation
• 2nd Africa Business Forum meets in Sharm El Sheikh
  
•  Researchers print 3D things that connect to wifi without electronics
  
• UN backs anti-jihadist regional force in Sahel
  
• Anti-Corruption Day; Human Rights Day; Mountains Day; Neutrality Day
  
• 16 May to be International Day of Living Together in Peace (download)
  

• Mumbai museum exhibit tells of India's millennial past -- with UK help 
• Record demand for paid models to circulate at Silicon Valley parties
  
• Cleaning quandary: how to scale Taj Mahal’s delicate dome
  

5 December 2017

• Scotland, Wales and London want special deals if N. Ireland gets one
  

• Brexit deal gets increasingly messy to negotiate as P.M. May faces challengers
• South Korea to launch dronebat combat force next year 
• China air force drills seen as warning to S. Korea, US 

• Volunteers Day; Soil Day; Civil Aviation Day; Genocide Prevention Day
• UN appeals for record $22.5 billion humanitarian aid for 2018
• WIRED: Plan to gut net neutrality is in the works
• US says China's embrace of free markets is reversing
• A couple in India harvests solar energy from umbrella
• India planning moon landing in 2018
• China sends its top actors, directors to Socialism School
• Robots to mine resources beyond reach of humans
• A Buddhist tourist circuit in South Asia
  

30 November 2017

• Bitcoin rises to record $11K then falls 20% in an afternoon 
• Saudi prince released after billion dollar deal
• Understanding the quantum gap China
• South Asia Economic Summit talks progress 
• South China Sea: the latest developments 
  
• FT: Xi’s China will only showcase illiberalism and dogma
  
• IOM: family members traffick over half of children (download)
• Big drop in Chinese outward investment is only a blip in long term trend
• NATO S-G announces new Special Representatives
  
• UN, UNICEF most followed international organizations on social media 
• Trump takes rare trade action against China
• 23-year old college dropout gets billionaire backing for video game league 
• Former top Chinese general target of corruption probe kills himself
• Opioid crisis began in US with prescriptions for chronic pain  
• South America's top leaders have been the most corrupt
• Reuters: Brexit-EU divorce will cost $59 billion
• Forbes: Ten ways India has changed in the last decade
• World conference of human rights educators now meeting

19 November 2017

• Inside the Silicon Valley race to hack the human brain
  
• Days this week on: Toilets; Traffic Victims; Children;Africa industrialization;TV

• China minister warns against seductive Western values
  

• Astana hosts global symposium on South-South cooperation
  

• WaPo Opinion: NYT “laughingstock” in India for sari article
  

• China’s decision to cut imports of recycled junk will hit environment
  

• Did Zimbabwe Army chief get China green light for coup?
  

• China and India more than offset impact of US retreat on climate change
  

• China got military concessions from South Korea for normalizing trade
  

• India's Indie game developers impress at conference
  

• NATO official sees risk of war in power shift to Russia-China
  

• 6.3 earthquake strikes Tibet near Indian border
  

• Panama leader in China 5 months after dropping links to Taiwan
  
• Splinter group of SETI is METI: Messaging Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
  

16 November 2017

• Lebanon President: Saudi Arabia is detaining Prime Minister Saad Hariri
  

• Bill Gates wants to build an $80 million 'smart city" in Arizona
• Report on the UN-African Union force in Darfur (download)
  

• Airbus in deal to sell 431 aircraft to US buyer for nearly $50 billion
• British banker to head UN fund fighting AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria
• Russian spokesman dismisses media talk of UN force in the Ukraine
  

• Colombians cheesed off at narco tourism to Pablo Escobar's haunts 
  
• Trump shifts Asia strategy towards Indo-Pacific
• How Mugabe lost his grip on power
• China urged to stop electroshock therapy to "cure" LGBT folk 
• Comic: How many coders does it take to turn on a lightbulb?

14 November 2017​

• African jurists greenlight African Court of Justice
• Australia, India, Japan, US hold first meeting of the Quad in Manila  
  
• Saudi coalition won't end Yemen port blockade without ending arms flow 
  
• Implications of including Belt and Road Initiative in Chinese constitution
  
• Analysis of $250 billion in deals signed during Trump China visit
• With 20 Nov. deadline for nominating UNICEF head, the likely pick is ...
• Despite 2016 losses, el Shabaab returning in force to Somalia
  
• China cartoon seeks to enroll kids in counterespionage 
  
• Vodafone sells its telephone tower business in India to US firm
  
• Horn of Africa feels geopolitical impact of Qatar crisis 
  
• Iran stresses importance of India in managing North-South corridor 
  
• China’s Belt and Road initiative faces heavy going on the ground 
  
• Yangon Declaration on India-Myanmar cooperation 
  
• Why Xi Jinping's airbrushed face is plastered all over China
  
• China opens financial sector to firms under foreign control
  
• London Science Museum on 5000 years of Indian innovation  
  
• NPR interview of ex-CIA station chief in China
  
• Daily Beast: When it comes to US Presidents, Trump is China’s Dream
• India Inc is deleveraging: who is cutting debt
• 14 African women scientists honored by l'Oreal Unesco program 
  
• Canada hosts Largest ever meeting of Defense Ministers on UN Peacekeeping
  
• Three US carriers make for "worst ever situation" for North Korea
• Carbon emissions rose in 2017 after levelling off for 3 years 
• Non-governmental voices oppose Morocco membership of ECOWAS  
  
• ​Ireland demands Britain agree on open border before Brexit talks begin
  
• Ex-Brit PM Gordon Brown launches G-20 appeal to end Tax Havens 
• Britain and India face off in election of a judge of the World Court
  
• The Sex robot wars heat up as price of harassing women goes up 
• Bitcoin's wild volatile week points to fatal problem of scalability 
• UN human rights watchdog body slams Australia survey on same sex marriage
  
• World Diabetes Day:International Tolerance Day; World Philosophy Day
• Agenda for a "People's Internet" 
  

​

6 November 2017

• Pope Francis warns of world war
• 31 UN peacekeepers and staff accused of sexual abuse
  
• UN appointed expert reports on right to privacy (download) 
• WHO meeting could decriminalize marijuana
  
• US government says climate change is real and humans are to blame
  
• China takes a bow for new Malawi railway line
  
• What does Fatah-Hamas peace mean for Palestinian unity?
  
• LA Times notes Japanese family’s pain at North Korea abductions
  
• Jail time for disrespecting Chinese anthem jumps from 15 days to 3 years
  
• Japanese researchers say AI can detect bowel cancer in less than a second
  
• China's new naval base in Djibouti opens for business
  
• Big bankers bash Bitcoin as it zooms over $7000
  

• Day for preventing use of environment for war;Science for peace Day
• UNESCO shelves S. Korea bid to include Comfort Women in World Memory
  
• US Treasury severs ties with Chinese bank over North Korea 
  
• China consolidates anticorruption effort; says dispute with Vietnam resolved
  
• Asia Foundation: Four takeaways about next Asian generation
  
• How Paraguay became a hub of illicit trade
  
• Decentralization cheapest way to increase energy access in India
  
• Indian consumers cut China products in political backlash to border dispute 
  
• Indian government is tightening screws on China trade 
  
• How mindful meditation can save America from tribal abyss​​

3 November 2017

• New Zealand tops ease of doing business ranking; US at 6; China 78; India 100
• WMO says concentration of atmospheric carbon at record high
  
• Smuggling Libyan oil into Italy earns ISIS groups $1 million a day
  
• Indian start-up markets sanitary pads made of biodegradable banana fiber
  
• MacDonalds in China is now known as Golden Arches
  
• China plans 600 mile water tunnel diverting Brahmaputra waters into desert
  
• 16 million Indian farmers led by communists join Israel boycott
  
• Declassified docs show China sold weapons to apartheid South Africa
  
• Sikh group says Britain hides its role in 1984 assault on Golden Temple
  
• Manafort used Airbnb to launder money
  
• Jewish News Service: UN commits $1.3 billion to legal anti-Israel campaign
  
• What is the Jewish News Service?
  
• At least in Amazon earnings call mentions India overtakes China
  
• Ghana set to host first African youth meeting on sustainable development
  
• World’s largest academic publisher helps Chinese censors
  
• With shipment of wheat India initiates trade with Afghanistan through Iran
  
• CNBC: China practiced bombing Guam
  
• Ahead of Trump visit Beijing official warns against attempts to “contain” China
  
• Seoul-Beijing relations back to normal after spat over THAAD deployment

31 October 2017

• Experts: Syrian govt behind Sarin attack; Syria chemical weapons timeline  
• Warlord city: the business of fear in booming Mogadishu
• Burundi is first nation to quit the International Criminal Court

• Washington Post on Kennedy files: strippers, surveillance, plots

• China eyeballing major strategic investment in Saudi Arabia

• India a possible US-North Korea diplomatic conduit?

• World Cities Day; End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
• ICAO event on traveler Identification highlights key role in fighting terrorism
• IATA expects volume of African air travel to double in less than 20 years

• Lessons from the success of human development by Robert Berg

• Forbes: Why China doesn’t care that most of its foreign investments are “junk”

• “Life with no limits:” slogan for Saudi Arabia’s planned Red Sea mega-city

• The latest in scarecrows: automated, solar-powered lasers

• UN Advisory Committee on Admin and Budget: elections(upload)
• Eighteen Zeros: an Atlantic Video explains the world of super-computing
  

27 October 2017

• Thousands of Kennedy assassination files declassified (download)

• NYT: researchers find “obscure clues” and “shiny objects” in Kennedy files
  
• Report: UN should keep Hammarskjold investigation open (download)

• Support for legalizing marijuana hits all-time high in the United States

• Saudi prince promises to crush extremists, transform economy, and society

• UNIDO workshop in Ghana teaches of neem-derived pesticide

• NY Review of Books: China’s Silk Road illusions

• Kurdish leadership in Iraq backs off bid for independence

• India sets $32 billion recapitalization of banks struggling with bad debt

• Linkedin CEO says original video content under consideration

• Report on the joint Sahel force of the Group of 5 (download)
• UNU Rector David Malone pitches positive message in Japan Times
• ACLU blog notes 70th anniversary of W.E.B. Dubois petition to the UN

• In UN ranks: pederasts, sexual harassment, racist insults

• New report documents North Korean prison camps

• India plans moon landing in 2018

• 238 US cities have bid to be Amazon’s second headquarters

• Chinese academic sees Indian ties with Taiwan as “dangerous”

• In major push into Asia, Legend 3D opens studio in India

24 October 2017

• China fears its new envoy in Pakistan might be assassinated
  
• World Bank: Over one billion people have no proof of identity
  
• Chinese official: Xi’s anti-corruption drive prevented a coup
  
• China’s military base in Djibouti gets going with live-fire drill
  
• Politico: Young subscribers flocking to old media, breaking the mold
• Despite diplomatic immunity Turkish court sends UN judge to prison
  
• Rhino attacks Kenyan poacher tracking it, sends him to prison
  
• Bangladesh, Myanmar begin talks on repatriating Rohingya
• Intel chip allows rapid progress in quantum computing(What is that?)
• Record 13.2% of Indian electricity now comes from renewable sources
• CNBC: China’s red hot property market might be in for sustained cooling
• Reuters says WHO  rewrote Glyphosphate findings, making it worse
• Robot-run 3D printing farm points to future of light manufacturing
• NPR: China shuts tens of thousands of factories in pollution crackdown
• Groping in the Ivy League by star physicist led to first harassment suit
• Gaming a third world war precipitated by China’s lack of checks and balances
• Cities that make New York housing prices seem cheap
•  Boeing invests in company leading in autonomous flight tech
  
• 27 October: World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
  

​

22 October 2017

• Xi Jinping lays out China’s path to global dominance 
  
• Foreign Policy: Is India starting to flex its military muscles?
  
• Forget taxes! The US Congress should switch to crowdfunding
  
• UN has warned for years of threat to Rohingya
  
• S.C Morning Post: Why China and India support Myanmar in Rohingya crisis
  
• Saudi Gazette sees UN in “dubious role in Muslim world”
  
• Tibet Govt in exile leader sees Doklam as part of expansionist China policy
  
• Oil counters the global Euphoria-meter: it could be headed for $10​
  

• Barrons: Hedge China stocks as regulators seek equity in tech companies
  
• Indians shunning foreign jobs as domestic opportunities grow
  
• Brexit without a deal?
  
• African court declines Congo NGO appeal for ruling on model mining law
  
• Discomfited by tweet but India-Afghan security officials welcome US strategy
  
• China at new historic starting point says CPC Congress
  
• To inspire young communists the CPC turns to propaganda schools
  
• The surprising rise of Xi Jinping, who is probably here to stay
  
• India’s role in neutron star mashup and its gravity waves
  
• The New Yorker welcomes our new robot overlords
  
• J.P Morgan’s island haven near New York on the market for $125 million 
  

18 October 2017

• Sri Lanka balances Chinese port with Indian airport right next door
  
• ​NYT: World no longer laughs at North Korea as a cyberpower
  
• Senator John McCain's powerful speech at the 2017 Liberty Medal ceremony
  
• Chinese space station set to crash back to earth within months
• $5.4 billion United Nations budget proposed for 2018-2019 
• Report from a journalist censored and mistreated by the United Nations
• Violence, controversy at Frankfurt Book Fair over far Right presence
• Racism charges end museum exhibit in China comparing Africans and animals

• India-Japan agree on complementary programs balancing needs, strengths
  

• Another human rights activist in failing health in Chinese prison

• Chinese trade with North Korea falls sharply as sanctions bite
• How the Guggenheim Bilbao transformed a city in 20 years
• Al Jazeera: De Klerk sees looming ANC split as healthy for South Africa
• Indian regional priorities shift east in response to Pakistan blocking of SAARC
• China Communist Party to amend constitution to reflect Xi Jinping’s theories
• Fraud hinders China’s reach for science stardom
  
• BAE to cut 2000 UK jobs as Typhoon fighter disappoints, 3D printing saves big
  
• Vintage ads that are now comical for their sexist and racist content 
  

15 October 2017

• Disasters make 14 million homeless annually says UN expert
  
• Fatah Hamas deal offers hopes for Palestinians, respite for Gaza
• Internationalization of China’s currency has stalled
• UN recalls top official from Myanmar amidst criticism of Rohingya inaction
• Aung San Suu Kyi calls for unity, creates new aid committee for Rohingya

• New rape claims against UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic
• Report of International Court of Justice August 2016-July 2017 (download)
• Resolutions and Decisions of ECOSOC in 2017 (download)
• First report of the rapporteur on human rights and terrorism (download)
  

• How the damaged destroyer John McCain got a hitch home
  

• Pakistan building tunnels for its nuclear weapons 750 miles from Delhi
  
• UNESCO: US withdrawal, Bokova statement, election of next D-G
• UN Observances: Africa Week: Rural Women;  Food; Erasing Poverty;  Statistics
• Genomic evidence: both dark and light skin have ancient African origins
  
• With $1.3 trillion deposits Chase replaces Bank of America as largest US bank 
  

• Researchers uncover 450,000 financial scams on social media
  
• Nine innovative robots that will creep you out
  
• The most powerful magnets in the universe
  

12 October 2017

• International Criminal Court leaks darken former prosecutor Ocampo record 
• Kenya election re-run will be held even though opposition has dropped out
  
• UN Envoy to Security Council:Yemen leaders don’t care about cruel war
  
• UN Central Emergency Response Fund reaches 2017 goal of $450 million
  
• Central African Republic not in “pre-genocide situation” says UN expert
• OPEC price projection foresee make or break level for shale producers
  
•  UN bans four ships from all world ports for carrying coal from North Korea
  
• Growing squeeze on public expression punishes Chinese scholars
  
• ​With deserts covering a quarter of it land, China builds great green wall 
  
• ​Bloomberg: Q & A about dangers to China's financial system
  
• ​UN Days: World Post; World Mental Health; Girl Child; Disaster reduction 
• ​Court revelation: Australian political donor has secret Beijing ties

8 October 2017

• Kim Jong Un promotes sister to Politburo power-center
  
• India-China tensions ratchet up a bit since end of Doklam face-off
  
• Solar power a clear leader as renewables dominate energy growth
  
• Trump told UN Chief Netanyahu greater problem than Abbas in making peace
  
• Top ten nations drawing tourists to Africa
  
• China’s Arctic Road and Belt gambit
  
• What Panama’s recognition of China means for America’s backyard
  
• Concern in Japan as South Korean is elected president of UN Sea Law Tribunal
  
• Stratfor’s Fourth Quarter worldview
  
• ISIS supporting cleric from India  troubles Malaysia as resident
  
• China to compete with CNN and BBC for global television audience
  
• China bids to head UNESCO – where the US now has no Ambassador
  
• 1.34 million punished for graft since 2013 Chinese official says
  
• Washington Examiner Op-ed: Either China helps on North Korea or it’s war
  
• Guggenheim’s new exhibit on Chinese art also reveals American realities
  

3 October 2017

• The World Wealth Report shows where millionaires are being minted fastest
  
• State of Palestine admitted to Interpol as newest member
  

• SCMP: China must prepare for war on Korean Peninsula if DPRK is not resolved
  
• NYT: Did Mao Zedong really make women’s lives better in China?
  
• Pakistan under Zia ul Haq pressed China for joint nuclear test
  
• IBM now has more staff in India than the United States
  
• CNBC: New Delhi wants to buy US drones to monitor Chinese in Indian Ocean  
  
• BBC expands India service to four new languagues to combat decolonization

• Manila Bulletin: the Chinese solution to the world’s challenges  
  
• The Hindu: Where the Indian economy is headed and why
  
• Elon Musk wants to build a rocket to get you anywhere on earth in an hour
  
• New DARPA radar captures video through clouds
  
• Bannon lays groundwork for economic war in China
  
• Day of Older Persons;of Nonviolence (Gandhi’s birthday);  Teacher’s Day
  
• 3D printer makes untraceable metal Ghost Guns
  
• Technology innovation is about knowledge, not gadgets
  

1 October 2017

• UN Security Council split on Myanmar Rohingya issue 
  
• CFR Blog: Five years into Rakhine crisis UN toughens stance 
  
• Human Rights Council adopts text on Myanmar 
  
• UK and US Intelligence hold key to the mystery of Hammarskjold air crash
  
• France Diplomatie: overview of French presidency of UN Security Council
  
• West African journalists form network to advance regional issues
  
• Final report of the Secretary-General on UN Mission in Colombia(download)
  
• Prime Minister Abe in surprise appearance at China National Day celebration 
  
• Forbes: China tries to turn the page on Doklam climbdown
  
• Uyghur Muslims report Chinese orders to hand over Qurans
  
• $61 billion UN Pension Fund begins search for new management
  
• For CPC meet China ups security on India, Myanmar, North Korea borders 
  
• India’s President’s Cup golfer explains Vipassana meditation
  
• Inside Shuka Vana, the world’s largest parrot aviary
  
• Xi Jinping to Politburo: study Capitalism but stick to Marxist basics
  
• The complete guide to the science of fasting
  
• Disappointed with CERN collider findings, physicists theorize hidden Higgs 
  

27 September 2017

• US sees four or five ways of resolving North Korean crisis
• Amnesty Int. says UK gov. allows illicit $46 million S. Sudan arms deal
  
• WIPO AI translation tool for patent documents now trained in 10 languages 
  
• UN says Dissent, criticism stifled in Russian-occupied Crimea 
  
• Spoiler Alert: What a US-China war might look like
  
• Top US General: China top threat to US by 2025
  
• French, German rail companies merge to compete with Chinese gov company
  
• China’s biggest taboo in discussing North Korea futures: regime collapse
  
• World Economic Forum warns debt in China, India threatens financial crisis 
  
• US opens door to planet-hacking geoengineering experiments
  
• UN Secretary-General says quotas necessary to achieve gender parity 
  
• Pakistan UN envoy holds up photo of wounded Gazan woman to flag Kashmir
  
• UN envoy on Afghanistan sees renewed possibility of peace deal 

24 September 2017

• Women leaders call for UN Special Envoy to defuse North Korean crisis
  
• How can Western Europe contribute to N.E. Asian security?
  
• Transcript: South Africa president Jacob Zuma speech to General Assembly
  
• Transcript of Iranian president Rouhani to General Assembly
  
• Chinese crime boss planning to use AI to get the drop on criminals 
  
• Google launches crowd-sourced television show and movie reviews in India 
  
• Chinese robot dentist conducts first ever fully automated implants 
  
• Google's new doodle memorializes India's first woman PhD chemist
  
• UN Days: Eliminate Nukes;World Tourism;Rabies Awareness;World Maritime
  
• Washington Post: Opinion on Five myths about the United Nations
• Russian initiative on UN mission to Donbass
• India picks political satire for Foreign Language Oscar submission
• World road safety situation: World Health Organization report (download)
  
• Declaration on UN Global Plan to combat trafficking in persons(Download) 
  
• 2017 report of the International Civil Service Commission (Download)
  
• S. China Morning Post Opinion: Why India will balance China and Japan 
  
• ​North Korean Minister says Trump is on "suicide mission"
  
• ​African Union creates film commission to promote sector
  
• ​Why India had 10 million fewer child deaths than predicted
  
• A China super-computer just doubled its power 
  

21 September 2017

• ​Cassini's final look at Saturn as it crashed onto the ringed planet
  
• China wields its laws abroad to silence critics
  
• India top Facebook country, could also be tops in crowdfunding
  
• The week in Days: Ozone layer; International Peace,Alliance of Civilizations 
• Full text of President Trump's speech
• Where are prosecutions for UN's 311 sexually exploited staff in 2016?​
• Amidst the bustle of the Assembly the UN recalls corporate standards 
  
• Russia and China navies drill off North Korea
  
• ​Afghanistan: Report of the Secretary-General September 2017 (download)
  
• Safety of journalists: Report of the Secretary-General (download)
  
• HRC Rapporteur on UN's lack of clarity on access to information (download)
  
• China reins in travel of Bitcoin Executives as it deals with frenzied field 
  
• Deloitte sees Indian super-power surge pass aging China
  
• A 72-year old chess teacher teaches strategy to Wall Street moguls
• ​Audio:  recap of the US probe of Russian hacking of its elections
  
• How China's expanding deserts are choking the country
• ​Geneva police can't figure out €500 notes clogging toilets
  
• Bakshali Manuscript is 500 years older than thought, so is Zero
  

14 September 2017

• Saudi Crown Prince in wide crackdown on rivals
  
• Under Guterres controversial advocates  excluded from UN 
  
• First Israel-Africa summit cancelled after boycott threats
• Kim Jong-un’s wife makes rare appearance at gala event 
  
• Don’t single out Ang San Suu Kyi for blame in Rohingya crisis 
  
• After Trump speech, moves by Afghanistan, India, Iran, Pakistan 
  
• Arab League to block Israel bid for Security Council seat in 1919-2020
  
• Taiwan to renew bid for greater participation in UN
  
• India makes world’s most expensive coffee – from civet cat poop
  
• New Zealand film follows Helen Clark’s bid to be UN Secretary-General 
  
• Internet of Things makes significant advances in Indian farming 
  
• Decades after banning alcohol Iran admits it has a problem 
  
• China high-wire balancing act on Yuan hits exports 
  
• South-South Cooperation Day focuses on remarkable advances 
  
• North Korea dodges sanctions with secret Bitcoin stash   
  
• Coming soon: Japan and South Korea armed to the teeth
  
• India working on light tank for Himalayan use
• Rolls Royce planning fully autonomous long range naval vessel

9 September 2017

• Equifax faces multibillion suit over hack of of 143 million accounts
  
• 24 years after terrorist bombs killed 257 in Mumbai 5 are sentenced 
  
• 3D printing: a speculative look head at the future
  
• UN and African Union Security Councils hold annual meeting
  
• BP and Reliance eye gas field close to Indian missile test site
  
• How to protect yourself after that massive security break at Equifax
  
• Artificial Intelligence fuels new arms race 
  
• Chinese president wants to put relations with India on “right track”
  
• Latin America aquaculture workshop to accelerate South-South cooperation
  
• Outspoken Chinese billionaire seeks US asylum
  
• EU publishes guidelines for talks on Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland
  
• Liberia chairs post-Ebola conference in Guinea
  
• The digital transformation of learning
  
• African wild dogs sneeze to vote where to hunt
  
• Did a camera capture footage of the extinct Tasmanian Tiger? 

6 September 2017

• Bitcoin bubble in 10th year has crossed $4K mark, awaits pin
• Fox’s Star India beats out Facebook for IPL rights with $2.6 billion bid 
  
• South Korea mobilizing thousands of police at THAAD sites 
  
• NYT: Old allies US & South Korea split over North Korea 
  
• Bangkok Post: Thailand China ties in doubt
  
• Has flood of exiting Chinese hot money dried up? 
  
• Indonesia, US draw new red lines in South China Sea
  
• ​Facebook: thousands of 2016 political ads sourced to fake Russian accounts
  

4 September 2017

• World's richest mines slipping from the grip of multinational corporations
• Alarmed Russians see Trump UN reform initiative as targeting veto 
  
• BRICS declaration might strain China-Pakistan ties: Chinese scholar
• Economic Times: Did India force China to dump all-weather friend Pakistan?
  
• Why Palestinian Authority’s Abbas skipped meeting with UN chief Guterres 
  
• Iran regime’s 29-year old massacre of opposition figures gets UN airing
  
• Calls for free movement of persons in ECLAC debate on migration
  
• ​BRICS to broaden relations with non-members 
  
• ​Modi v Moody: India pushes to end dominance of credit rating agencies
  
• ​Could video games help your ageing brain?
  
• National Geographic: a British snowboarder's video of North Korean resort
  
• ​Countdown to referendum on independent Kurdistan 
  
• Recycling 3D printer is NASA's green "Refabricator"

3 September 2017

• Trump to host meeting on UN Reform on 18 September 
  
• Macron declares Islamist terrorism top priority for France
• Sri Lanka PM opens Indian Ocean Conference by noting importance of region 
  
• Zika seems to be gone for good from United States 
  
• East African central bank chiefs see progress towards monetary union 
  
• China Pakistan Economic Corridor grows Chinese presence in Islamabad
  
• Strength of protocols in place kept China-India border dispute under control
  
• Facebook and Google dominate app ecosystem 
  
• Shared bikes bring out bad manners and questions about the state of China   
  
• Ozone exposure linked to one million premature deaths annually 
  

1 September 2017

• Kenya supreme court declares President Kenyatta re-election invalid 
  
• US State Dept says new sonic attacks in Cuba inflicted traumatic brain injury
  
• The Smartphone’s future: it’s all about the camera 
  
• East Asia-Latin America Forum opens in Busan 
  
• Pakistani officers guilty in Bhutto assassination; alleged militants go free 
  
• Washington Post: Who blinked in India-China faceoff? 
  
• Japan just shot down Theresa May’s hopes for a quick trade deal 
  
• As Xi Jinping completes his first term, China’s institutions are decaying 
  
• Saudi Prince Turki says UN, stuck in 1945, is no longer fit for purpose 
  
• Chinese group: India could blow past China in innovation 
  
• Vietnam’s growing commerce with India gives it counterweight to China 
  
• China names new heads of Army and air force in reshuffle 
  
• Xi Jinping a “whirlwind of charisma” says adoring Chinese propaganda film 

29 August 2017

• Tillerson: US to have “toe-print” at 2017 UN General Assembly 
  
• Pakistan premier predicts Trump will fail in Afghanistan 
  
• Cyberwar: the frightening future of online conflict 
  
• Tehran Times: Opinion on the "Post-hegemonic Age"  
  
• Africa: Third Industrial Development Decade (download report) 
  
• Agricultural development, food security and nutrition(download report) 
  
• Forget Bitcoin: sniffer dogs are the next big thing 
  
• Kenya makes sale of plastic bags a criminal offense 
  
• Wagner, incest and Game of Thrones 
  
• YouTube’s iconic logo gets a makeover 
  
• World’s first diamond futures exchange starts up in India 
  
• NY Metropolitan Opera opens its 2017-2018 season on 25 September
  
  

28 August 2017

• Rohingya insurgents clash with Myanmar state forces, toll 96 dead
  
• Former African leaders blame egotism for endless conflicts of their continent
  
• 8 African countries to cooperate on developing radio-astronomy capacity 
  
• Nikki Haley says UN Lebanon command blind to illegal arms flow, stocks
  
• Trade drives China’s delicate dance around North Korean problem
  
• Nanotube yarn produces electricity at a pull
  
• Complexities of Korean security situation  
  
• As India moved toward economic measures Border standoff ends  
  
• Guatemala president seeks to expel UN anti-corruption panel’s chief
  
• New wave of multinational corporations invest in India innovation centers 
  
• WIRED: social media highlights of the week 
• 30 must see art exhibitions around the world
• The story of the humble @

26 August 2017

• “Nothing can be ruled out” says one diplomat of India-China border standoff
  
• China is trying to give the Internet a death-blow
  
• No Terminators: world tech leaders ask United Nations to ban killer robots
  
• South Africa likely to stay away from Israel-Africa summit
  
• Hambantota: China has seaport in Sri Lanka; India may get airport
  
• After criticism, Cambridge University Press reverses China censor cuts
  
• Ecuador arrests Chinese ship with 300 tons of protected Galapagos fish
  
• Peru recalls ambassador after Ecuador builds wall along border river
  
• Myanmar’s depleted mangroves find unlikely savior: tree-planting drones
  
• Google’s “Instant App” hits new milestone: use on 500 million devices 
  
• Roku leads Amazon, Google, Apple in streaming device market
  
• Best back to school laptops of 2017 
  
• Who Owns the Internet? 
  
• The case for a big breakfast and a small dinner
  

25 August 2017

• China’s Xi gives top military post to PLA’s only general with combat experience
• India’ Court: Privacy a fundamental right;No quickie divorce for Muslim men 
• Is President Xi angling to claim Mao’s long exclusive title of Chairman?
• China’s top companies being pulled into investing in zombie corporations
• Somalia opts out of dark ages, will share Djibouti’s undersea fiber-optic cable
  
• Kofi Annan submits report on Myanmar's Rakhine state
  
• UNICEF: Boko Haram has quadrupled use of child soldiers
  
• Consternation in Pakistan at Trump speech on Afghanistan
  
• DAWN analyst critical of both Trump and Pakistan policy 
  
• Top Chinese official urges US to respect Pakistan’s Afghan security concerns
  
• Concern grows as China seeks stronger Communist Party role in foreign firms
  
• Animated projections of China, India population growth
  
• Top five predictions about the future of digital
  
• Your brain has a delete button: here’s how to use it
  
• How Narwhals are helping NASA understand melting ice and rising seas
  
• Why have auction sales of contemporary art shrunk 20%?  ​
  
• Derek Jeter battling to get rid of sculpture in Miami Marlins Park
  
• Mozilla podcast on Surveillance through the Internet of things
  
  

 17 August 2017

• Netflix cofounder would fill empty theaters with monthly passes
  
• Britain’s new $3.86 billion aircraft carrier arrives at home port
  
• North Korea ICBM engine is Ukrainianwith Russian middleman   
  
• The incredible shrinking airline seat – and efforts to make it stop
  
• Why you should buy the world’s rarest Ford – even if it’s over $7 million
  
• Brief escalation into stone-throwing between India-China border forces
  
• Congolese militia probable killers of two UN human rights monitors
  
• Confidential UN report reportedly accuses Saudis of killing Yemeni children
  
• What’s behind the “acoustic assault” on American diplomats in Cuba?
  
•  Cautious audit report on UN Pension Fund notes $4.86 billion loss
  
• Grace Mugabe accused of assaulting 20-year model in South Africa hotel room
  
• Turkey opens military training center in Somalia, its first foreign base
  
• Steve Bannon says US at “economic war” with China
  
• Chinese investments soaring in countries part of its “Belt and Road” project
  
• China wage levels equal or surpass those in some parts of Europe
  
• China propaganda outlet says Modi might not attend BRICS summit
  
• CFR blog on India at 70 offers links to multiple assessments 
  

12 August 2017

• Hong Kong, the world’s priciest real estate market just got worse
  
• Parked electric cars can earn owners in Denmark $1530 by feeding the grid
• Law suits target middlemen who raise US pharma prices
  
• 12 August is International Youth Dayand 19 August is World Humanitarian Day
  
• FAO wants UN to declare 7 June World Food Safety Day
  
• IOM says people smugglers threw 280 African migrants into sea, killing 50
  
• NYT: The alt-Right finds a new enemy in Silicon Valley
  
• Kofi Annan’s advice to leaders: pick strong people who share your ideas
  
• Guide to watching the total solar eclipse traversing the US on 21 August
  
• "China's Rambo" Wold Warrior 2 pulls in record box office
  
• Gene edited piglets a step towards animal organs transplantable in humans
• Ivanka Trump to head US team to entrepreneur conf in India
  
• Economic Times: By needling 3 great Powers China has punctured itself
  
• Hanoi secures first visit by US carrier since end of Vietnam War
  
• Bloomberg: Indian highway to Thailand counters China’s OBOR
  
• CNN: At 70, India’s tryst with the future 
  

11 August 2017

• China to be neutral in US-DPRK war but will block regime change
• ECOSOC ministers to world: we're actually for drug dealers and criminals ...
• Facebook pushing new “Watch” and “Show” features with TV-like content
  
• Scientists dim sunlight, suck up carbon dioxide to cool planet
• The Internet Health Report from Mozilla
  
• Tanzanian judge submits report to UN on Dag Hammarskjold’s death
  
• Electric vehicles to cut oil demand by six million barrels
  
• Nikki Haley tweets departure of two senior members of her staff
  
• Everything you wanted to know about Cloud Computing
  
• Qatar fights Gulf bans with visa-free entry to nationals of 80 countries
  
• Euromoney sees silver linings in dismal African economic scene
  
• India seeks to boost trade with “Namaskar Africa” program in Ghana
  
• CFR blog: Is Duterte warming to the United States?
  

10 August 2017

• Could Saudi Arabia and Israel be on the verge of normalization?
• Inside the war games that prepare for cyberwar
  
• ​NYT Berlin Bureau Chief is new UN head of Public Information
  
• China reportedly endangering Tibet’s fragile environment
• Chairperson quits UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria
  
• China has built world’s largest telescope but has no one to run it
• How China got a 24-year old billionairess
• Very confused Reuters report on ASEAN S.C China statement
• US, Japan call for binding S.C. Sea code 
• US News: China’s coercive strategy alienates much of Asia   
  

5 August 2017

• America's "most hated" pharma price inflater nailed for securities fraud
  
• Exempt Nigeria, Liberia, make OPEC production cut balance wobble
  
• ​The seemingly innocuous overdraft fee could bring banks $40 billion  
  
• ​The Atlantic: What a transgender CIA officer wants President Trump to know
  
• ​FBI arrests Brit who stopped WannaCry ransomware for Kronos malware
  
• ​1.5 million rounds of AK-47 ammo for Canada points to shadowy Africa ops
  
• ​A-Times propagandist sees success in BRICS trade meeting
  
• ​US Justice Dept seen targeting Harvard for anti-White bias in diversity action
  
• ​ China sees India massing troops at disputed border and pulling back
  
• ​Netflix to give platform to strongly anti-Indian novelist Aravind Adiga
  
• TASS: China, Russia to sign agreement on Moon exploration this fall
• ​ASEAN at 50 is world's 7th largest economy
  
• ​CNBC: What China is thinking of Trump's signals he is about to lash out
  
• ​TIME: lawyer says China has enforced disappearance of Liu Xia
  
• China's OBOR could be OBOC: One Ball & One Chain or even worse
  
• ​A free film festival of indie shorts about the Internet from Mozilla
  
• Nielsen adds digital viewers to its audience count as cord cutters increase 
  

3 August 2017

• S.E. Asian nations intensifying cooperation against ISIS
• NYT: US preparing broad probe of Chinese trade practices
  
• US Teacher’s Union seeks stop to beheading of Saudi student headed for US
• Kenyan election expectations of easy Kenyatta win giving way to tight race
  
• 66% Brits want Theresa May to focus on remaining in EU; MPs plot a vote
  
• Vietnam strategies and last year’s arbitral award on Chinese claims to S.C Sea
  
•  The forgotten legacy of Harvard’s women astronomers being unearthed
  
• Growing clout of largest 7 Emerging Markets continues to outpace that of G-7
  
• The secret economic lives of animals
  
• ​US Congress heading for confrontation with Attorney General on marijuana

​

30 July 2017

• Thousands petition China to free liu-Xia, wife of late Nobel laureate 
  
• Trump to speak at September UN Assembly but US delegation will be cut
  
• New Russian envoy to UN speaks of "unprecedented threats" facing world
  
• Qatar accuses Saudi Arabia of politicizing Hajj with new restrictions
  
• BRICS agree to enhance transparency to fight international tax evasion
  

• Secretary-General Guterres on unadvertised holiday in Croatia
  
• 2009 computer predictions of the success of start-ups had astonishing results
  
• Ivanka Trump lunches with Antonio Guterres at the UN to talk about women
  

• $15 trillion industry prepares for disruption by autonomous cargo ships 
  
• Kenyans of Asian descent acknowledged as country’s 44th tribe
  
• Britain to start taking gas, diesel vehicles off its roads in 2040
  

27 July 2017

• Terrorists enforce OPEC production cuts on Nigeria, help raise oil price
  
• Bloomberg’s take on the China-India faceoff in the Himalayas
  
• Secretary-General holds global town-hall meeting with UN Staff
  
• Chinese jet in “unsafe intercept” of US Navy jet
  
• China “reinforcing’ North Korean border – or preparing to defend its ally?
  
• CNN reports rumors Tillerson is thinking of leaving State Department pos
  
• Syria accuses Turkey of aggression all along their border
  
• Japan leads the way globally in dealing with ageing society
  
• 529 rhino poached in South Africa during first half of 2017
  
• Vietnam formally asks Indian involvement in the South China Sea
  
• Civilian deaths in Afghanistan climbing says UN​
  

22 July 2017

• National Geographic $25,000 "Chasing Genius" Challenge Award
• Trump son-in-law failed to list over $1 billion debts in security clearance form
  
• A lawyer, a spy, a mob boss and a money launderer walk into a bar ... 
• Lebanon appoints first woman envoy to UNESCO: a Columbia J School alum 
  
• ​ The man who invented fiction: Cervantes and the modern world
• Tour the International Space Station using Google Street View
• North Korean economy growing at fastest rate since 1999
  
• ​Marijuana legalization in Colorado has brought in $500 million in revenues
  
• ​1984 through a Chinese lens: writing the history of the CPC
  
• ​Unanswered questions about Liu Xiaobo
  
• Geneva Art dealer sues WSJ for reporting involvement with ISIS pillaged art
  

21 July 2017

• Trump's NYT interview: The New Yorker's take, and a view as family plot
• Downloadable guns becoming a reality with the help of cheap 3D printers
  
• ​Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg richer by $20 billion each this year
  
• ​Breitbart takes note of a Clinton Foundation Amina Mohammed meeting
  
• ​China, Japan and the future of UN peacekeeping
  
• ​Smart coasters newest weapon in the beer wars
  
• ​North Korea pressured US during G-20 talks 
  
• ​Report: hackers using hotel wifi to steal data from guests
  
• ​Bernie Madoff's swindle caused  flight of $363 billion in investments    
  

19 July 2017

• ​Former US contractor in Afghanistan pleads guilty to $250K scam
  
• ​UNICEF's very peculiar "Ambassador" list in India
  
• ESCWA continues promoting "Apartheid Israel" line on social media 
  
• UN: children in Central African Republic increasing targets of rape, murder
  
• Carib English/Dutch heads of UNESCO NatComs gather in Kingston
  
• ​ Japan pledges $1 billion aid in next two years to help achieve youth SDGs
  
• ​UN building in New York briefly evacuated because of a fire (photos)
  
• ​Saudi coalition reps block UN aid aircraft carrying journalists to Yemen
  
• ​The Great American Cheese Glut and what scientists are doing about it 
  
• ​Zimbabwe candidate for WTO Head asks for discussion of tainted process
  
• ​Indian scientists drill deep in a bid to study origins of earthquakes
  
• ​Xinhua releases full text of blather about "Xi Jinping's diplomacy thought"  
  
• ​China Foreign Ministry on following Xi Jinping's diplomacy thought
  
• ​Chinese Internet censors crack down on a new enemy: Winnie the Pooh
  
• Two USC Seniors get $1.5 million for fishbowl with IPhone brain 
  

18 July 2017

• China brigade maneuvers in Tibet near India;jets show air muscle to Japan
• Citi picks post-Brexit European hub: Frankfurt
• ​Myanmar workers accuse China of discriminating against them
  
• ​Smithsonian's US-Asian Pacific Center hosting first literature festival 
  
• ​Theresa May could lose office over bid to repeal EU legislation by fiat
  
• ​Nigeria moves to stem $1.5 billion monthly loss to piracy 
  
• ​Indonesia renames part of disputed S.C. Sea to assert economic claim 
  
• ​Brexit could bring winter to Northern Irish film makers 
  
• South Korean Prez wants military talks with North
  
• ​
  

17 July 2017

• Mexico discovers a billion barrels of oil amidst global glut
• The first photograph to appear on the Worldwide Web 
• Scientists in Japan develop transparent mice to see cancer growing

27 June 2017

• US labels China "among worst" human trafficking offenders
• Can humble baking soda help fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs?
  
• ​With 2 billion Facebook users, Mark Zuckerberg sets sights on world peace
  
• Newsweek: A new India-China war?Or NYT: is China sending message to US?
• After Kathy Griffin, Reza Aslan, CNN loses 3 investigative journalists
• Exiled billionaire's tales of high-level Communist Party doings rivet China
  
•  Guterres and Haley both in Washington talking to Congress on UN funding
  
• ​ Syria: UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura briefing to Security Council (text)
  
• UN Mission in Colombia says FARQ forces are fully disarmed 
• 29th African Union Summit this week looks at waning Boko Haram
• Farming is new front line against Boko Haram
  
• Namibia to host 3-day meeting on African transport connectivity
• ​Girl Scouts prepare to train the next generation of cyber warriors
  
• ​Dark secret at heart of Artificial Intelligence: no one understands algorithms 
  
• ​Asia's oldest stock market aims for 1,000 new listings as India reforms taxes​​

26 June 2017

• Australia faces mortgage crisis as rising debt meets sickly wages
  
• ​Google will stop reading your emails to target its advertising
  
• ​China's jailed Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo in hospital with late stage liver cancer
  
• Five London residential buildings evacuated over fire-safety concerns
• ​China begins formal mediation to ease Afghanistan-Pakistan problems
  
• ​China faces Lehman moment & 18 of 20 state-owned corps inflated income 
  
• ​NYT: As Modi meets Trump many Indians are hopeful
  
• ​CNN: Under Trump, fate of American Asian rebalance is in doubt
  
• ESCAP abandons democracy as a necessary value for development 
• Banglemakers near Taj Mahal blame environmental concerns for losses
  
• ​Emerging role of BRICS in a changing world economy
  
• ​Under pressure from hardliners Saudi Religious Police emerge from eclipse
  
• ​Strategic Analysis: 25 years of India- Israel ties
  
• ​Pioneering Iraq-UNESCO program completes aerial survey of damaged sites
  
• ​Ultra-Orthodox Israeli fashionistas run invitation only sites under male radar 
  
• Italy sets aside €17 billion to close two ailing banks
  
• Facebook in talks with Hollywood studios on films for release by late summer
  
• ​Library of Congress in mock appeal for Shylock: 500 years after Venice Ghetto
  

25 June 2017

• CNN: UN not honoring its pledge to cholera-stricken Haitians
  
• China hails resolution on Development and Human Rights as a hit at West
• FOX News: Not a good idea to have a Russian as UN counter-terrorism chief
• Trump green light for $2 billion drone sale to India precedes Modi visit 
  
• ​Hong Kong youth have scant love for China two decades after end of Brit rule
  
• A Buddhist group in China: is it changing the country or changing itself? 
• Uncharacteristic T. S. Eliot "Song" is "Poem-a-Day" selection
• Under the sign of Sappho: review of Susan Sontag's journals and diaries
• Japan, US raise red flag at giving junior UN position to North Korean
• DW: Rising death and refugee flows as crisis in D. R. O Congo worsens 
• African Union precedes 4 July summit with talk of reducing donor role  
• NYT: When Trump zigs, Tillerson zags, putting him at odds with White House
• History Channel promises 4-part expose on US War on Drugs. The Truth Really.
• ​Formal complaint about ethics of BP ties to UK National Portrait Gallery
  

24 June 2017

• Best News: Millennials are the generation most likely to use a public library
• Qatar gets list of demands from its adversaries to end Gulf crisis
• As Syria situation evolves, Kurds evaluate how it will affect their US alliance
• INFOSYS Chair Sikka: Indian IT industry not dependent on US H-1-B visas
  
• ​Video: 8 centuries-old Mosul mosque exploded outwards; not hit by air-strike
  
• Video: Venezuelan activists shame pro-government figures living abroad
  
• Japan choses Aegis Ashore anti-missile system instead of THAAD 
• Afghan protests about horrific 31 May bombing transform into something else
• Worries rise as corporations cater to craze for Chinese "toothpick crossbow" 
• NASA award of contract eyes capacity to 3D print electronics in outer space 
• The Guardian: In China's far west, a perfect police state, a ticking timebomb
• Kenneth Juster, Trump Ambassador nominee to India is expert on country
• Indian minister in Russia ironing out obstacles to $10 billion arms deals
• France: draft resolution on strategic force for the Sahel region (download) 
• Canadian sniper kills Iraqi insurgent at a record 2.2 miles
• International remittances to India dip for second consecutive year
• Space-X falcon rocket set for second launch into Space on 23 June
• Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent of Wall Street Journal fired  
• ​Ivanka Trump must testify in suit alleging her company copied shoe design
  
• ​The right kind of motivation is not a response but an inner surge 
  
• ​Anonymous street artist Banksy's identity might just have been revealed
  
• ​Video: NASA launches world's smallest satellite, designed by teen, 3D printed
  

23 June 2017

• China stocks plunge after regulator speaks of examining systemic risks
• The New Yorker: the race to solar power Africa 
• BRICS: Indian assessment sees it inching towards complementarity
• ASEAN struggles to profit from liberalized aviation deal with China 
• WaPO Analysis: China is trying to make SCO a Middle East NATO
• What a "Solar Wall" on the Mexican border would look like
• Bear attacks don't happen often but if they do, you should ....
  
• ​Scientists speculate about Earth sized planet lurking unseen in the Kuiper belt
  
• ​Lord & Miller out, Ron Howard in, as director of 2018 Hans Solo film
  
• The World According to Jack Ma: 3rd World War coming, and short work week
  
• ​ Trump appointee on White House fellowships is a registered Saudi lobbyist
• Singapore's reigning political dynasty is having sibling problems 
• Forbes: China will do almost anything to get WTO Market Economy status
• New US Poet Laureate Tracy K Smith's first week on the job
• ​Understanding CNN's investment in Great Big Story, social media engagement
  
• International Yoga Day at UN: stamps, water puja and a class with masters 
  
• NYT: How to make an igloo; lesson from an Inuit master
• 70 years ago in Roswell, NM. a rancher reported "strange debris;" the rest is ...
  
•  China asked US to remove THAAD units deployed to South Korea
  
• ​ Video:the Computer History Museum has a talk show on the iPhone
  
• NYT Opinion: Democrats don't want to hear of Islamic women's mistreatment 

22 June 2017

• UN Middle East Envoy says Israel flouts Security Council on settlements
• Fox News: How France and US agreed on Sahel peace force
• Decoding the Saudi Arabian change in succession; + NYT on new Crown Prince
• ​Large stash of Nazi artifacts -- a "shrine" -- found hidden in Argentine house
  
• ​UN releases animated short on refugee swimmer at Rio Olympics
  
• ​Labor continues to surge in post-election UK polls, leads Tories 44 to 41%
  
• ​UN General Assembly to urge that US expedite Puerto Rico self-determination
  
• ​The complexities of THAAD for South Korea's president Moon
  
• ​Republic of Congo troops out of MINUSCO after review of sex abuse charges
  
• Russian to head new UN Counter-terrorism, Spaniard gets Kang's Policy role 
• Update: Search for Intelligent life in the universe continues
• The World Bank's very rickety "Social Progress Index" 2017;our comment 
• Russia says F-16 near Defense Minister's plane, was driven off by SU-27  
• NPR: Why is China snatching up Australian farmland?
• China's film industry looking for new model after market shakeup
• ​China can manipulate Bitcoin market at will, cause huge price swings 
  
• GE  developing large metal 3D printer with 1 square meter build volume 
• The case against eating meat is gaining unprecedented support from experts
  

21 June 2017

• Yemen's Houthi regime accuses UN of bias, says its forces remain potent 
  
• US-China tensions over S.C. Sea expected to ratchet up after lull 
• Foul-mothed critics of Putin on YouTube new factor in run up to elections
• UNICEF annual report says 2016 saw major challenges, 125 million in need
• Afghan president inaugurates "air corridor" to India bypassing Pakistan 
• Pakistan may become home to Chinese military base
• Barclays, former executives charged in Qatar fund-raising during 2008 crisis
  
• Violence of preacher in tolerant Burkina Faso shows growing W. Africa threat   
• OECD says Green progress is slow, pollution remains high globally
• Britain blinks on Brexit talks after the EU presents bill for the divorce 
• India nominates Justice Bhandari for second term on World Court
• It's so hot in Phoenix, planes can't take off
  
• 3D printing reduces antenna parts by 99%, shaves weight​
  
• GOP kept sensitive voter data on 198 million US voters on insecure server
• Rising price of butter threatens croissant shortage in France
• Lockheed signs with TATA to produce F-16s aircraft in India
• 57-year old Saudi Crown Prince replaced by King's 31-year old son
• A self-indulgent New Yorker piece typical of a magazine that has lost its way   ​
  
• Taxes on Londoners subsidize spending in most other parts of the UK
• In celebration of summer, a gorgeous diversity of kites around the world
• ​Netflix has released an interactive show that lets you decide what happens
  
• After Russian threat, Australia suspends its air operations in Syria
• US B-1 bombers train with South Korean jet fighters in warning to DPRK
• ​UN appoints 27-year old Sri Lankan its new Envoy on Youth 
  
• Josette Sheeran of the United States appointed UN Envoy to Haiti
  
• UN Peacekeeping missions in 2017 with latest SG reports (downloadable) 
• The 50 best good-bad movies of all time: you watch even though it hurts
  

20 June 2017

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: Press conference 12 Noon EST
• Media companies don't benefit in helping Facebook compete with Google
• If we live in a multiverse, where are the other worlds hiding?
  
• DPRK says its diplomats "mugged" at JFK;​American kidnapped in Kabul 
  
• Refugees and other "displaced" people hit a record 65.6 million last year
• ​Indian actor Anupam Kher threw the switch to illuminate UNHQ for Yoga Day
  
• ​Barclays Bank's Eurocentric view of globalization and dim guess at the future
  
• ​NPR (audio & text): price of Vanilla surges as global demand grows 
  
• Clenched Saudi optimism on oil;Norway finds little new;Russian Arctic field 
• ​Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram turns 100 to muted,uncomprehendingnotices 
  
• ​India's new bankruptcy law in use against major defaulters;background 
  
• Jet Airways gives baby born prematurely on it flight a free ticket for life
  
• NASA's Kepler space telescope finds 4,034 planets, one a near twin of Earth
• Japan zoo hatches Ptarmigan chicks, first time in 19 years of effort
• ​Elon Musk eyes network of tunnels under LA;his quite extraordinary story
  
• ​Video: Five months into Trump presidency Jared Kushner finally speaks
  
• ​A new approach to fighting superbugs; but what to do about biological war?
  
• Canada nearing 150th anniversary, seeks to tweak its national anthem
• US publishers caught between Greenpeace and paper company
  

19 June 2017

• Spiegel: "Brexit is Dead" as wave of anger crashes over Britain
  
• Iran, China hold naval maneuvers in Persian Gulf
  
• Video: Syrian refugee camp gets solar energy paid for by IKEA 
  
• Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary meets from 18-23 June in Valencia
  
• Ex-UN Kang Kyung-Wha is S. Korea's top diplomat without parliament nod 
• Washington-based Fund for Peace issues Fragile States Index 2017
• ​Huffpost India: The political fringe is creeping into the mainstream
  
• ​NYT: Katy Perry doesn't want to be a frothy pop star anymore 
  
• World Bank June 2017 World Economic Prospects (download summary)
• TOI: Punditry on Indian Prime Minister Modi's 26 June visit to Washington
• Two Pakistani diplomats in Afghanistan have not been seen since Friday
• Can animals sense impending earthquakes? A German scientist thinks so
• A new graphic novel gets a rave review
  
• ​US billionaire brings Dutch masters to a mass audience in China
  
• ​China's social media in uproar over ISIS killing of Chinese in Pakistan 
  
• 1 in 10 older people suffered abuse in the last month -- and its not all physical
  
• ​New York plans 10,000 art sector jobs, artist work spaces and housing 
  
• The ten best works at Art Basel 2017
  
• Video: Microsoft's pitch for itself and the Internet of Things
• Ghassan Salame is new UN Libya envoy; and the backstory
• ​William Jones translation of Shakuntala by Kalidas (not new, but newfound)
  
• Irrawaddy: Myanmar satirist released but his editor is denied bail 
• India's "Project Mausam" (a soft power answer to China's OBOR)

18 June 2017

• "Watershed" -- 1972 poem by Tracy K Smith, US poet laureate
• US Marines introduce the "Nibbler" small, cheap 3D printed drone 
  
• William Dalrymple on need to address "mixed" British record in India
  
• ​Thoreau's Journal: A life of listening. Linked to Morgan Library exhibit
  
• ​DiCaprio surrenders $3.2 million Picasso. $9 million Basquiat to US Govt 
• Good, old fashioned fun, reasonably priced from NYRB Reader's Catalog
• If you understand this World Bank blog post ... you have a special gene​
  
• ​Theresa May's choices: reverse Brexit or soften the process
  
• ​$14.2 billion flowed into Emerging Market stocks and bond in May
  
• Luxury fashion brands, heavy magazine ad spenders, shifting to digital
• How 5th Generation mobile (5G) will revolutionize the Internet of Things
• WIRED: How Yahoo blew it in 2002 while Google surged ahead
  
• ​Sex in Outer Space: the unexplored frontier
  
• ​Who will succeed Vladimir Putin? A field of likely prospects
  
• ​The texting suicide case is not about tech or free speech; it's about crime
  

17 June 2017

• Switzerland to exchange black money info automatically with 40 States
• ​Is Washington headed for Trump "Saturday Night massacre?"
  
• Amazon buys Whole Foods for $13.7 billion and the possible impact 
  
• Why Walmart bought high end men's clothes retailer Bonobos
  
• ​Norwegian starts non-stop transatlantic service from Hudson Valley 
  
• India, Russia set Far East military exercises, Australia to join Malabar 2017
• Audio & Video: Will Korean singer Youn Sun Noh revive French jazz?
• Could photosynthesizing algae treat heart disease?
• ​US #1 in biomed research but there's quite a bit of churn in the list
  
• Iraqi poets reclaim streets from political messages
• Chinese immigrants thrive Cairo Chinatown
• Washington State tries to keep marijuana business free of hidden owners
• KFC to send a chicken sandwich to the edge of space next week
• Gang rape victim in Pakistan attends US opera of her inspiring survival
  
• National Geographic video: A swimming owl and a Beluga whale rescue
• Scarlett Johansson narrates Jeff Koons mini documentary
• Infuriating Foreign Affairs article on terrorist financing: not a word on tax havens
• Tracy K Smith, new United States Poet Laureate 
  

16 June 2017

• Russian airstrike last month may have killed ISIS leader Al Baghdadi
• As terrorist attacks rise in Mali, UN pushes for regional force 
• Video: Putin compares Comey to Snowden, offers him asylum
• 6 Accused in 1993 Mumbai bombings found guilty (our 2008 perspective)
  
• UK political faultlines exposed as highrise fire toll looks to rise over 100
• UAE approves US mediatory role in Gulf crisis over Qatar
• Decade-old French Global Innovation Index offers changing picture 
• BP, Reliance to invest $6 billion in offshore Indian gasfields
• China satellite a quantum leap into hack-proof telecommunications
  
• BBC continues "Bollywood" type tags belittling Indian cultural products
• NYT editorial on "India's battered free Press"gets government response
• Coal dead and oil at peak demand says world's largest investor group
• Salman Khan's "Tubelight" with Chinese actress set for box office gold 
• Major fund manager sees China debt bubble problems metastasizing 
• Human Rights Watch faults security-related Internet shutdowns in India
• ​China reverses opposition to Indian tsunami alert system in S.C. Sea 
  
• Forbes: list of the world's 100 highest paid celebrities
• Renault, Qualcomm show off electric car that recharges at 60 mph
• Driverless car of the future might be a living room on wheels
• ​China students losing interest in working for international firms
  
• Low economic growth, falling oil prices raising Russian concerns
  
• ​ Nebraska rebuilding giant Chinese beef market
  
• ​A Chinese retail store with no checkout or staff augurs the future​
• UN economic and social meetings calendar for 2018-2019 (download)
• Evidence of black hole "Event horizon" awaited later this year 
  
• Korean 3D scanning drone captures Statue of Liberty model in minutes
  

15 June 2017

• Germany offers Britain "open door" to withdraw from Brexit
  
• UN General Assembly consensus on new counter-terrorism center
• The Atlantic podcast: When 3D printing grows up
• ​Questions multiply about CEO of China's insurance giant Anbang 
  
• Hong Kong parking spot sells for record $664,260
• ​TV ad sales expected to slide this year, first time since Great Depression
  
• ​Mystery proposer wants Ban Ki-Moon to head Olympics Ethics office
  
• UN chief Antonio Guterres makes surprise visit to Afghanistan
• World Health Org reports new polio clusters in D.R. Congo, Syria
• Foreign Affairs mag urges stronger American response to China in S.C Sea
• Future electric cars could be charged by the roads they drive on
• ​Amazon reportedly interested in buying Snap (born 2013) for $9 billion
  
• NYT Opinion: The UN's tragic inaction on the Congo​

14 June 2017

• ​Fermi Paradox: why haven't we found aliens when many should exist?
  
• Taiwan down to 19 allies and Vatican after Panama severs diplomatic ties
• 123 Trump trademarks in China among issues in DC, Maryland law suit 
• Reuters: Bangladesh diplomat in NY indicted for mistreating employee 
• Verizon closes $4.8 billion buy Yahoo; will make it part of AOL as "Oath" 
• Edward Alexander Bouchet, first African-American to get a doctorate
• Oakland CA gets a Museum of Capitalism with Marxist perspective 
• Akron, Ohio turns six-lane highway that cut through city into a park 
• Goa Doppler weather radar, already 7 years late, suffers a final delay  
• Indian govt. advise to the pregnant: no sex, no meat, spiritual thoughts
• Video: Apple steps back from self-driving car; to focus on AI for cars 
• ​China deploys new tank in Tibet near Indian border
  
• ​Television series beginning in June on America's longest war: on Drugs
  
• Sag Harbor Creative Non-fiction Writer's Conference 
• UN job posting lists "Jerusalem, State of Palestine" as location
• BBC: top UN official in Myanmar with "dysfunctional" team rotated out
• UN Rights chief faults Israel, Palestine Authority on violations (download)
• Blogger's melange of charges about UN Chief, UNDP
• ​Alan Dershowitz: Mahmoud Abbas won't accept Two-State formula
  
• CNN What the Qatar crisis means for Hamas(and a CAMERA fact check)
• ​Is Africa still "emerging" after the collapse of commodity prices?
  
• A Chinese app that wants to organize the world's information
  

13 June 2017

• Forbes: The hidden risks of South Korea stopping THAAD deployment 
• Strategic $10 billion Chinese project in Myanmar rouses local ire
• India flags factual errors in World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" report
  
• General Motors CEO of 16 years quits after long stock price slide 
• Scientist claims to have discovered cell triggering auto-immune diseases
• Spectacular pix of Milky Way computer simulated for millennial motion
  
• Web site of annual E3 video gaming expo  
• DC and Maryland sue Trump for violating constitution ban on income
• How Wonder Woman hid her pregnancy during filming
• Dassault and Reliance breaking ground on Rafaele production in India
  
• UN Secretary-General candidate Helen Clark urges change in process 
• Qatar hires former US Attorney-General to audit terror-funding charges
• ​Turkmenistan to host Central Asia anti-terrorism meeting
  
• How a 52-year old Indian actor became China's favorite movie star
• China builds world's largest floating solar farm on lake over coal mine
• A look inside James Baldwin's 1884-page FBI file
• More to come 
  

12 June 2017

• Israeli premier suggests to US it is time to shut down UNRWA
• China under scrutiny at UN Human Rights Council
• NYRB: When the false populism of Brexit meets the real thing 
• Xi declines to meet with Sharif on margins of Astana SCO summit
• Video: YouTube conversation with Indian parliamentarian 
• Earth faces greater risk of asteroid impact; and Milky Way will collide too 
  
• ​New Yorker: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, published 16 June 1962
  
• ​France trying to get US support for UN Sahel force
  
• ​India, UN launch fund to help Least Developed countries achieve SDGs
  
• ​China's alarming food problem -- and the only way to fix it
  
• ​China's plan to run the world: the One Belt One Road initiative
  
• Macron's "citizen candidates" set to remake French parliament
• ​South Korea's Sunwoo wins Van Cliburn competition
  
• ​​The latest from the Hubble telescope: ultra bright galaxies 
  

11 June 2017

• "Our Oceans, Our Future: Call to action" is outcome of NY conference 
• Who will take US place in Asia? It's not a slam dunk for China
• Foreign Affairs: How to end UN Peacekeepers sexual assault problem
• Four West African States begin work on sharing electricity
• UNRWA discovers Hamas tunnel under one of its schools
• Indian plans to develop key Iran port faces US headwinds
• ​Did Comey hint that infamous MI 6 "Trump dossier" is verifiable? 
  
• Stocks-for-loans arrangements in China under stress as markets slide
• ​Europe dreams of "hyperloop" city to city travel at 680 mph by land  
  
• Nightmare snake discovered that hunts in packs
  
• ​New UN appointments:USG head of DESA, UNCTAD Deputy S-G
  
• Center for Public Integrity: US Supreme Court a millionaires club
• Al Jazeera: Wukan democracy quails before Chinese armed police
• Thousands of millennials straight out of high-school work for NSA
• Asian Development Bank at 50 and regional infrastructure investment
  
• ​World Bank blog: 5 charts on emerging/developing market debt, deficits 
  
• ​The latest on the Mexico "Wall" -- make it with solar panels  
• Mexico gets its first ever indigenous woman candidate for president
• ​UKIP leader quits as Nigel Farrage is Trump inquiry "person of interest"  
  
• In the background at SCO meeting: cross-cultural Indian films
• ​Salon: Historian says "pretty much inevitable" Trump will attempt coup
  
• Global Times: China won't use SCO to interfere in India-Pakistan matter
  
• ECOSOC High Level Political Forum: Major Group (download) 
• Synthesis: submissions of intergovernmental bodies to HLPF (download)​​

8 June 2017

• South Korea suspends deployment of THAAD missile defense system
  
• Former FBI chief James Comey’s statement to Senate (download text)
  
• LRB Podcast: The Corbyn Project (two days before the poll today)
  
• Understanding masculinity: study of male attitudes in the Middle East
• Nikki Haley: US reviewing membership in Human Rights Council
• Brookings: $110 billion arms deals on Trump's Saudi visit is fake news
  
• Duke study looks at using the capacity of cancer to mask pain 
  
• Video: the 22nd class of NASA astronaut trainees (5 women, 6 men)
  
• Pen International’s “Make Space” campaign aims to promote diversity
  
• Ai Weiwei transforms Park Ave Armory into Surveillance State Microcosm
  
• 300,000-year old fossil in Morocco pushes back Homo Sapiens history 
  
• Pentagon says China likely to build a military base in Pakistan
• BBC wonders if Al Jazeera will survive Qatar's break with neighbors
• ​The Atlantic on Canadian Foreign Minister's take on US world leadership 
  
• United States solar jobs now number more than coal jobs
• Philippines hopes for patriotic tourism to disputed island in the S. C. Sea
• Law and punctuation: the importance of the "Oxford comma"  
• Lessons learned from Breaking Bad help save sea turtles 
  

​

7 June 2017

• July 12 is global day of activism to save Net Neutrality 
• IEA says world energy system not on track to meet climate goals
• ​Horrifying NYT expose: tigers, bears farmed in China, S.E. Asia for meat 
• White House exaggerated increase in coal sector jobs by 5000%
• ​A hair surgeon explains what is happening with Trumps's hair
  
• ​Bloomberg: Privately, UK Labour Party preparing to lose dozens of seats
  
• ​Take On Wall Street: call from the Communications Workers of America
  
• ​Japan conducts drill for simulated North Korean attack
  
• WIRED: blaming the Internet for terrorist acts misses the point
  
• China defends its helicopters entry into Indian airspace
  
• India spurned Australia for naval exercises in mistrust, not for China 
• African perspective on climate change needed says opinion piece
• ​Bitcoin ponzi scheme hit with $12 million SEC fine
  
• India displaces China as top emerging retail market for first time 
  
• ​Cyprus reunification talks to resume in June; date to be set 
  
• Could Pittsburgh become the Silicon Valley of 3D printing?
  
• African vision for building regional infrastructure
  
• India rejects Trump assertion it got "billions" to sign Paris Agreement
  
• China's Twitter comes back from the dead
  
• ​WaPo: India launches its most muscular rocket yet
  
• Women sharpshooters emerge from Indian village set in sugarcane fields 
• ​Physicists against roulette wheels: a short history
  
• NYT Magazine goes all comics for its annual New York Stories issue
  

6 June 2017

• Space station to test out GPS based on pulsars (pulsing neutron stars)
  
• Backgrounder on the diplomatic crisis in the Gulf over Qatar
  
• Glow of China-Germany relationship hides problematic relationship
  
• China: questions arrest of 31 of its nationals for illegal mining in Zambia 
  
• Malaysia, Singapore renew Cold War pact with Britain, Australia, NZ 
  
• NYT: much touted hub of China "Silk Road" turns out to be tax haven
• Gaza dating site finds matches for widows, men seeking 2nd, 3rd wives
  
• Spacex launches used Dragon cargo ship in historic first
  
• Hottest planet ever discovered is a real scorcher
  
• US drug abuse deaths in highest ever annual increase
  
• Everything new announced at Apple gathering of developers 
• Tiananmen recalled in China with arrests and in Hong Kong with a vigil
  
• Taiwan recalls Tiananmen with offer to help China become a democracy
  
• China warns US, Japan against “irresponsible” talk on S.C. Sea 
  
• UTC announces plan for $75 million Center of 3D printing Excellence
  
• Interview: Deepak Unnikrishnan, first winner of New Immigrant Writing
  
• UNICEF gets €6 million in cash from anonymous donor, largest ever
  
• Finland police probe nets €100K cash, €7 million off the book salaries
  
• How hot were earth’s oceans when life first emerged?
  
• Wonder Woman $103 million opening box office tops in one category
  

​5 June 2017

• KPMG in Industry 4.0 report says small scale stage of 3D printing is over
• Malaysia offers prize for best video on "preventing" homosexuality
  
• ​How climate change came to be viewed as a hoax by the GOP
  
• ​China property firm Evergrande shares boom while debt is 800% equity
  
• ​Hope of peace as India, Pakistan join Shanghai Cooperation Org
  
• The "real story" behind Trump, Netanyahu, Abbas meetings
  
• Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE cut ties with Qatar citing terror threat
  
• ​The most significant losses ISIS inflicted on Middle East heritage 
  
• NYRB: The Paris Agreement was a lifeline for US Business
  
• ​US and Russia in quiet talks on safe zone in Syria 
  
• 3D printed suit with "smart bacteria" keeps athletes cool 
  
• ​Long-standing mystery about glass solved: it is new form of matter
• Indian tech major WIPRO gets demand for large ransom in Bitcoin
• ​Russia's Syria strategy might hinge on Jordan
  
• Why Bangladeshi migrant surge into Italy is second only to Nigerians
  
• ​Hamas and Iran Revolutionary Guard meet, reconcile, in Lebanon
  

4 June 2017

• Lessons from a misbegotten 70-year review of UN development policy
  
• ​ Web site of expert committee on Geospatial Information Management
• Cote d'Ivoire elected to Security Council as UN mission there ends 
• Breitbart reports UN adviser Jeffrey Sachs view that "Trump is an idiot"
• ​Pentagon chief critical of China and North Korea at Shangri la dialogue
  
• Horst Kohler, former German President, to be UN Western Sahara envoy
  
• ​Ex-UN biggie Susana Malcorra quits Argentine Foreign Minister post   
  
• ​Retail store closings in the US become a tsunami: over 2000 in six weeks
  
• ​NYT: India, once coal goliath, is fast turning green​
• Theories about why the Chinese Yuan suddenly appreciated in value
• Russia, India plan joint ventures to build aircraft, automobiles
• ​China insurer Anbang denies FT report its chairman banned from travel 
  
• ​Video Director views: from Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy
  
• US, Japanese, South Korean military discuss security cooperation
• ​Dangerous "Fireball" adware infects quarter billion PCs
  
• Japan passes a milestone: fewer than 1 million babies born in 2016
• ​World's oldest art studio used ochre paint in Ethiopia for over 4500 years 
  

3 June 2017

• North Korea warns of "big bag of gifts" for US after its exercises are over
• The scariest commencement speech of 2017 (Columbia Engineering)
  
• If you watch only one commencement speech in 2017: Bernie Sanders
• A commencement speech for all young people: Mark Zuckerberg 
• A political commencement speech (minus the first 8 minutes): Joe Biden 
• Exxon Mobil shareholders defeat Board in climate rebellion 
• NYT: CIA puts “Dark Prince” in charge of Iran, reflecting US hard line 
  
•  Exercises to help prevent injuries after 70  
• Audio book company creates $5 million fund for emerging playwrights
  
• Infographic: Things most likely to kill you (not true for all countries)​
• Oceans Conference program and list of side events (NY 5 to 9  June)
  
• ​Video/report: Putin shrugs off Megyn Kelly on US and Climate Change​​  
• Google will block a range of annoying ads starting next year 
  
• Turkey says it wants Cyprus talks with no preconditions
• ​Did Margaret Sanger of Planned Parenthood inspire Wonder Woman? 
  
• New S. Korean Prez. seeks advice from Ban Ki-Moon on Trump summit
  
• ​Benin moves to save part of West Africa's biggest wild life reserve
• France Diplomatie: 5 myths about the Paris Agreement on Climate
• ​Morocco attends summit of  Economic Community of West African States
  
• Scathing Forbes comment on NYT Op-Ed proposing China unify Koreas

2 June 2017

• From Western Plot to Party Line: How China embraced climate science 
• Antarctica's Larsen Ice Shelf on the verge of breaking off (photo)
• Controversy over ​UN rapporteur's letter on Japan "anti-conspiracy bill" 
  
• ​Resurrection is objective of stem cell study that is itself finding new life
  
• Podcast/transcript: Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti talks on all sorts of stuff​
  
• Credit Suisse says quarter of US shopping malls might close in 5 years
• 3D printing is making surgery safer and faster
  
• ​Aussie think tank says world slightly safer now than in 2008 (download)​
• Businesses gather at annual St. Petersburg Economic Forum 
• Trump may return Russian residential compounds Obama seized 
• EU planning to spend tens of billions on climate change action​
• Bloomberg: Is China heading for a recession? Not exactly, but ...
  
• Microsoft Edge is making the Mac look old and stale
  
• ​Apple is first company to top $800 billion in stock value (double Exxon) 
  
• China leads world in number of smokers and most do not mean to quit
  
• Devex: 8 Takeaways from the 70th World Health Assembly ​
• Okayafrica interviews the entrepreneurs who founded Afrobytes 
  
• ​China's growing blue water navy a concern at Asia's Shangri la dialogue
  
• Metropolitan Opera free concert program in NYC parks 12-24 June  

1 June 2017

• World's largest aircraft rolls out of hangar in California for first time
• India's ET cites 2009 prediction of Sensex tripling to 100K by 2024
• US envoy who negotiated Paris Agreement says withdrawal indefensible
  
• ​ AT&T making big moves to dominate the future of television
  
• ​NYT: The billionaire Chinese gadfly in exile who stared down Beijing
  
• ​What happens if US withdraws from Paris Agreement?
  
• ​This is what demise of oil looks like (don't miss the coal chart at end)
  
•  The web site of the Oceans Conference beginning next week
  
• ​Saudi Arabia rolls out $5.2 billion offshore support facility  
  
• ​Miroslav Lajčák (Slovakia) to preside over 72nd UN General Assembly
  
• ​Responsibility of International Organizations: S-G Report (download)
  
• ​China's astounding religious revival since Mao
  
• ​WIRED: Why electric airplanes are at least 30 years away
  
• NYT gets rid of Public Editor; a new Reader Center to provide outreach
  
• ​New Saudi-led Sunni "Arab NATO" is splintering already
  
• ​On the 1972 film version of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five​
• The key to understanding the new Twin Peaks is .... David Lynch's Art?
• ​India and Fiji sign MOU on Defense cooperation
  
• Video: Flashing red lights in White House windows becomes viral meme
• ​Total solar eclipse due in August in the US: check if you can see it
  

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  HISTORY PAST AND PRESENT​

• Mahatma Gandhi: first filmed interview Fox Movietone
• Nelson Mandela at the United Nations Video 
• Military-Industrial Complex Eisenhower speech Text  Video
  
• Mother Teresa's last public speech Video 
• Martin Luther King: "Beyond Vietnam" pdf download
  
• Antonio Guterres first speech as Secretary-General Video
• Colonialism Past and Present: Britain and Hinduism
  
• Big Data: 25 Eye-Opening Facts Everyone Should Know
• See also: Untold Stories of International Affairs