Opinion

UAE taps transnational education market

Transnational education is becoming a game changer as young students leave their home countries to study abroad to acquire more new experiences and skills. They travel abroad in order to pursue higher education degrees, not bound by geographical borders. These students gain precious international exposure, and real-life international business experience. They become cosmopolitan citizens and could be outsourced anywhere for ...

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China’s enormous trash problem has a fiery solution

Shenzhen, China’s high-tech boomtown, sprung a surprise on its 12 million-plus residents this week. Construction has begun on three giant, state-of-the-art incinerators to handle the heaving tide of trash that the city tosses out daily. One of the mega-burners — resembling an American-style football dome — will be the world’s largest waste-to-energy plant when it opens in 2018. Far from ...

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Why the TPP bill will pass the Diet

Markus WINTER SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Not only opposition lawmakers, but also many members of the LDP, Japan’s ruling party, have been fuming over being shut out from much of the negotiations about the regional trade bloc known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The norin zoku (the LDP’s powerful agricultural grouping) in particular has rallied to attack the agreement, even ...

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The GOP’s blocking of court pick is indefensible

The Republican Party’s incoherent response to the Supreme Court vacancy is a partisan reflex in search of a justifying principle. The multiplicity of Republican rationalizations for their refusal to even consider Merrick Garland radiates insincerity. Republicans instantly responded to Antonin Scalia’s death by proclaiming that no nominee, however admirable in temperament, intellect and experience, would be accorded a hearing. They ...

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Time to boost cyber security in banking

The laundering of US$81 million from Bangladesh central bank demonstrates digitization — though necessary for enhancement of the banking transactions — comes with huge challenges that need to be addressed by boosting international cyber security and banking communication. The heist has prompted central banks around the world to examine cyber security measures, triggered the resignation of Bangladesh’s central bank governor ...

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Good times, not anger, led to Trump’s rise

A Catch of the Day to Kevin Drum at Mother Jones for pointing to polling showing that, no, Republicans in 2016 aren’t especially angry about the economy. And HuffPollster notes that Republicans aren’t really angry, period, at least compared with the 2012 cycle. Drum puts it this way: People aren’t more angry, or more bigoted, or more scared than usual. ...

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Should America fear China’s alternative to the TPP?

One of the key arguments used by the Obama administration to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is that if the United States doesn’t write the rules on trade, China will. There’s some truth here: China is, in fact, leading an effort to negotiate a massive trade agreement across the Asia-Pacific – one that excludes the United States and that will ...

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Why China is foot-dragging on economic reforms

In late February, hundreds of coal miners in Anyuan, where Mao Zedong first organized workers for the Great Strike of 1922, protested against their state employer over low wages and even poorer working conditions. On Wednesday, China wrapped up its most important legislative meeting of the year, announcing sweeping free market initiatives for economic recovery and long-term growth. Though clearly ...

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Boomtowns are where the recovery is happening

I spend a decent amount of time traveling around the U.S. speaking at conferences and visiting clients. Doing this is a visceral form of economic research — you can witness just how various regions are recovering and expanding with your own eyes. It doesn’t take much to realize that, to paraphrase science fiction writer William Gibson, the recovery is here, ...

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Why Canada is dumping its gold — and China isn’t

Canada, home to some of the world’s largest gold-mining companies, recently announced that it had effectively liquidated all of the country’s holdings of the shiny metal and is moving to what a government spokesperson described as “easily tradable” assets. It has been a long process. Canada held 1,088 tons of gold in 1955. By 2000, it was down to 46 ...

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