Students “might tend to think that conservatism is not an intellectual tradition because they don’t see any professors who hold to it,” Carson Holloway, a professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha, said. (Photo: David Trotman-Wilkins/KRT/Newscom)
Professors in higher education have become notably more liberal during the past 25 years, according to a recent study, and academics predict that the trend isn’t likely to slow any time soon.
eastasiaforum_ The scale of the disaster was massive: a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful to hit Japan in recorded history, which triggered a 40-metre-high tsunami that took out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Over 20,000 perished, an evacuation zone carved out around Fukushima Daiichi will remain uninhabitable for tens of thousands of years, and 100,000 people from the evacuation zone and surrounding areas are still living as nuclear refugees.
Co-authored by Sarah Zoen, Senior Advisor, Private Sector Department at Oxfam America.
Photo by Rene Schwietzke (CC BY 2.0)
huffingtonpost – Numerous companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights practitioners have conducted human rights impact assessments in recent years. For instance, in 2012 Kuoni partnered with TwentyFifty Limited and Tourism Concern to assess its human rights impacts in Kenya. More recently, NomoGaia piloted a tool for evaluating the human rights implications of the Disi Water Conveyance Project in Jordan.
Research reports and studies
ODI – The world is facing a hidden crisis in childcare. That crisis is leaving millions of children without the support they need, with damaging consequences for their future. It is also having severe impacts on three generations of women – on mothers, grandmothers and daughters.There is an urgent need to solve the global care crisis to improve the lives of both women and children and to grow economies.
FEB 25, 2016
On February 24, a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) left the Sabine Pass LNG terminal off the coast of Louisiana. The first LNG cargo from Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass LNG Project is a significant milestone for the U.S. energy industry, marking the dawn of shale-based LNG exports by the United States. What other implications does the Sabine Pass export have for the United States? Does the shipment foretell the economic viability of U.S. LNG projects or the competitiveness of U.S. LNG exports? This Critical Question illustrates the significance of the Sabine Pass LNG shipment and considers the opportunities and challenges for the U.S LNG export business in the period of low energy prices.
Editor’s note: It was 1954, and the surrounded French garrison was facing defeat in what would become known as the First Indochina War. What happened next has been a source of controversy for decades. The author of a 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning book on Vietnam gives his view, drawing on the array of materials that have slowly emerged.
thebulletin – It is one of the most tantalizing questions of the long and bloody struggle for Vietnam: Did US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in the spring of 1954 offer French foreign minister Georges Bidault two atomic bombs for use against Viet Minh positions near the beleaguered French garrison at Dien Bien Phu in remote northwestern Vietnam? For decades historians have investigated the matter, with no consensus emerging. But what does the evidence actually say? The time is right for a fresh look.
HANOI – Saturday, March 05, 2016 13:11
thanhniennews – Air pollution in Hanoi is worsening and has reached dangerous levels this week, according to official data.
Many locals are worried that the capital city is becoming another Beijing while environment officials said the situation is bad, but not that bad.
The Real-time Air Quality Index on aqicn.org on recent days ranked the pollution in Hanoi as “unhealthy” and “very unhealthy,” which means outdoor exertion should be limited for everyone.
The events of this month have reminded Americans that Asia is a region of both great opportunity and significant risk. In just the first two weeks of the year, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, China began flying aircraft to airfields constructed on disputed features in the South China Sea, and Taiwan’s opposition candidate surged towards a victory in elections that will likely draw fire from Beijing.
Vietnamese deputies stand up and sing the national anthem at the opening of the summer session of the National Assembly in Hanoi, May 20, 2015.
RFA _ More self-nominated candidates, including those not associated with the Vietnamese Communist Party, are expected to run for seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections than in past elections, despite control of the candidate selection process by the ruling Communist Party.
Kathleen Buckingham –
This is the first installment of our Restoration Global Tour blog series. The series examines restoration success stories in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and North America. Tune in over the coming months for additional installments, or check out our Restoration Diagnostic for more information.
WRI – A history of deforestation has made Asian nations like Vietnam, China and South Korea especially vulnerable to coastal storms, floods and sandstorms. Yet just as these nations have experienced similar crises, they’re also all pursuing a solution—restoring degraded landscapes.
The country struggles to fight corruption as the public is kept in the dark about officials’ wealth.
By Dien Luong
February 29, 2016
The stony-faced corruption czar of Vietnam might not have expected that his political rhetoric aimed at defending the country’s anti-graft efforts would become the subject of such widespread ridicule and social satire over the past year.
In December 2014, Huynh Phong Tranh, chief of the Government Inspectorate, tried to put a positive spin on Vietnam’s poor ranking in an international standard gauge of government malfeasance by saying, “Corruption in Vietnam has reached a level of stability.”
Date:February 15, 2016
Source:University of TwenteSummary:There are four billion people worldwide who are affected by severe water scarcity for at least one month a year. That is the conclusion after many years’ extensive research. This alarming figure is much higher than was previously thought.
Sciencedaily – There are four billion people worldwide who are affected by severe water scarcity for at least one month a year. That is the conclusion of University of Twente Professor of Water Management, Arjen Hoekstra, after many years’ extensive research. This alarming figure is much higher than was previously thought. His ground-breaking research was published in Science Advances.
Field labourers stand in line at a gym turned shelter in Saltillo, Mexico, August 21, 2015. Some 200 people stayed at the gym after they were rescued, along with 63 minors, in an operation headed by the state attorney, from the farms of a livestock company where they were working under conditions of semi-slavery, according to local media. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
LONDON, Feb 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Businesses are coming under increased public scrutiny over the use of slavery in their supply chains, making forced labour one of the greatest risks to their brands’ reputation this year, a research firm said on Tuesday.
By Gregory Poling (@GregPoling), Fellow, Chair for Southeast Asia Studies (@SoutheastAsiaDC), CSIS
February 18, 2016
This promises to be a landmark year for the claimant countries and other interested parties in the South China Sea disputes. Developments that have been underway for several years, especially China’s island-building campaign in the Spratlys and Manila’s arbitration case against Beijing, will come to fruition. These and other developments will draw outside players, including the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, into greater involvement. Meanwhile a significant increase in Chinese forces and capabilities will lead to more frequent run-ins with its neighbors.
Globalriskinsights.com – A joint report issued earlier this month by the Vietnam General Statistics Office and the World Bank has drawn attention to a growing wealth gap in the Southeast Asian nation. The gap is both economic and geographical, with the majority of the rural community growing increasingly poor in contrast to a wealthier urban populace. If the government does not respond to this growing disparity, political instability could be on the horizon in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese economy has achieved impressive growth in the last two decades, undeniably benefitting large areas of the population with some 30 million people being lifted out of poverty. Today the poverty rate stands at 7.8 percent compared with nearly 58 percent in 1993. This growth, however, has to a certain extent masked the fact that a proportion of the population are being left behind – namely the rural poor and ethnic minorities.
Đọt Chuối Non 