The oil market is undergoing a paradigm shift. Oil hit an historical low of $35 a barrel on the Brent Crude benchmark, the international measure of oil prices. Oil has consistently hit record lows for the past several weeks and does not promise to go up anytime soon. This is great for consumers: spending less […]
In August 2015, the Shanghai Stock Exchange experienced its worst crash in almost a decade. Trillions were eviscerated, which caused a massive drop in value for some of the richest investors and companies in China and sent shock waves around the world. In the final weeks of December 2015, the United States Federal Reserve (the […]
On November 24, a Russian fighter jet was shot down by Turkish forces. On November 13, a coordinated attack by ISIS agents in Paris killed over 130 people. On October 31, a Russian civilian airliner flying over the Sinai Peninsula to Moscow was downed, killing 224 passengers and crew. These events are disturbing symptoms of […]
The world average fertility rate has fallen to approximately 2.5 children per woman, while the world population is expected to increase to over 11 billion by 2100. These two facts tell a layered tale of global population trends that is split by economic development. The least developed countries will see the greatest population increase, while […]
President Xi Jinping of China made an historic announcement to introduce a cap-and-trade system at the United Nations General Assembly meeting this week. Cap-and-trade, an idea that President Obama failed to implement in the United States, is a market-based system designed to curb carbon emissions and fight climate change. It provides carbon-emitting corporations a number […]
The New Silk Road is China’s latest and most ambitious attempt to foster economic relations: two proposed trade routes, one sea-based and one land-based, that seek to integrate Central and South Asian economies with China and Europe. The Maritime Silk Road makes stops in South Asia before it circles over to Nairobi and then, throughout Europe. […]
The two main political parties of Bangladesh are in an open war with each other. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League leads a campaign of suppression against the opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), arresting several prominent BNP members and placing BNP leader Khaleda Zia under house arrest. (The Awami League won the […]
The United States is the one country on Earth that all of humanity looks towards. It’s a shining beacon of hope for the security, opportunity, and ability for greatness that everyone yearns for. It was the Founding Fathers’ vision—and a great unprecedented experiment—to create a country that could provide such things for everyone, but the […]
The rise of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) seems to be ripped out of a novel with far too many turns after its climax. The United States has ended its original war in Iraq and is now in the process of winding down its other war in Afghanistan. In 2011, President Obama […]
Israel recently waged a new offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. After three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped in Hebron, Israel accused Hamas of the incident, yet offered no evidence to back up its assertion. Israel had also been accusing Hamas of rearming itself and firing rockets into southern Israeli territory for some time now. […]
