It is being called one of the most significant moves since Deng Xiaoping created the Shenzhen special economic zone in 1980s: on Friday, China unveiled its plans for a Shanghai free trade zone. A small sub-section of the metropolis, 28 square kilometers, has been marked off as an area where restrictions on foreign investment will […]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro decided to skip New York and forfeit his speaking slot at the United Nations last Wednesday because of unspecified threats to his personal safety. The Beeb: “When I got into Vancouver I evaluated the intelligence which we received from several sources.“I decided then and there to continue back to Caracas and […]

China dominated news out of Asia this week. It’s experiencing a perverse consequence of its one child policy: a sharp uptick in adoptions of “designer babies” from the United States. China’s demography has a more problematic effect on the horizon, as the country sees a pension disaster looming in its near future. But it’s the country’s polluted […]

TEHRAN, SEPTEMBER 28: Iranian newspapers show pictures depicting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, US President Barack Obama, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart John Kerry. Iranian newspapers hailed the first contact between presidents Rouhani and Obama but warned that opponents like arch-foe Israel would seek to torpedo the historic opening to Washington. […]

Rahul Gandhi attacked a position of his own Congress Party this week, joining the BJP in opposition to a bill allowing convicted lawmakers to run while their appeals are pending. The New York Times reports: The Congress Party’s vice president, Rahul Gandhi, in a brief and dramatic press conference in New Delhi spoke out strongly against the ordinance to […]

Will China live up to its promise of becoming the world’s pre-eminent economic superpower? To hear the financial press tell it recently, China’s rather spectacular growth to date is coming to an end for any number of reasons, from its dependence on exports to industrial overcapacity. It’s quite a change from the prevailing conventional wisdom […]

Here’s an idea whose time might be coming: think-tankers in Canada and Australia are looking at ways the two countries may cooperate as Canada increasingly turns its focus towards Asia and the Pacific. A joint report from Canada’s CIGI and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute lays out the rationale: For a long time, both countries’ […]

It sounds strange, but it’s true: marriage could be a important part of finding a cure for cancer. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology finds that married cancer patients are 20 percent more likely than unmarried cancer patients to beat the disease. NBC News has more: The study also found that guys seem […]

As Detroit went bankrupt, we asked whether Obama would do anything about the failure of the city whose main industry he bailed out five years ago. It’s taken a few months, but it looks like he has a plan: the Los Angeles Times reports that the Obama administration is moving to send $300 million in funds […]

China’s state-owned oil company, CNOOC, won a $2 billion contract to develop the Kingfisher oil field in Uganda on Wednesday. Due to its rapidly increasing demand for energy, China has been indiscriminately looking for ways to secure its oil needs, with a focus on resource-rich African nations. Reuters reports on the deal:  Uganda, which struck […]