Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
World Aug 18, 2013
For Obama, racial progress tied to economic woes
by Zachary A. Goldfarb
President Barack Obama has only occasionally used his bully pulpit to confront racial inequality in the U.S., even if race inherently has been a backdrop of his tenure as the nation’s first black leader. He has, however, made fighting economic inequality a central goal ...
World | Focus Aug 13, 2013
Bloodbath still haunts South Africa's platinum belt
by Johannes Myburgh
In the year since South Africa’s Marikana bloodbath, death has not strayed far from the country’s platinum mining belt, with bodies piling up amid union rivalry and violence against witnesses. On Aug. 16 last year, what started as just another labor dispute became, for ...
Social Issues Aug 5, 2013
Pakistan TV preacher defends Ramadan baby giveaway to childless couples
A charismatic Muslim preacher criticized for giving out babies to childless couples live on prime-time Pakistani TV denies he is crudely seeking top ratings and insists he is spreading charity. Aamir Liaqat Hussain, one of the biggest stars on Pakistani TV, spoke as a ...
National Jul 24, 2013
Abe seen set to squeeze the poor
by Tomohiro Osaki
Mammoth cuts in welfare benefits starting next month point to the government’s desire to skimp on social security and instead boost military capabilities in hopes of fighting alongside the United States, according to veteran lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya. Noting the government of Prime Minister Shinzo ...
Asia Pacific | Focus Jul 21, 2013
Indians fight to exercise new rights
by Rama Lakshmi
Three years ago, a group of parents in a remote tribal hamlet in India handed local officials a petition demanding a new school. Their children had to walk nearly 3 km through farmland, forest and creeks to reach the closest public school, although, they ...
Editorial Jul 9, 2013
Supporting less fortunate children
A law passed unanimously by the Upper House will test the central government's will to support education for poor children and to help low-income parents find jobs.
Business Jul 2, 2013
Gourmet food dished out in crisis-hit Italy's soup kitchens
In a gritty Rome neighborhood, a soup kitchen is serving up lip-smacking gourmet food donated from a famous delicatessen — part of a new initiative to combat food waste and feed a growing need in recession-hit Italy. “Of course it’s good! This is a ...
Business Jul 1, 2013
No country safe from social upheaval: Kim
by Jeremy Tordjman
No country in the world is immune from unrest arising from poverty and inequality, according to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. The protests in Brazil, Turkey, and elsewhere show that even governments that have made significant efforts already cannot let up in programs ...
Business Jul 1, 2013
Will taking on climate change, systemic hypocrisy prove counterproductive?
In his first year as president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim has tried to refocus the institution on fighting poverty and climate change — but challenges lie ahead. The pick of the Korean-American, an academic and doctor by training, marked a radical ...
Science & Health Jun 17, 2013
Open-source software aids NPOs
The Grameen Foundation was providing health care to pregnant women in Ghana in 2010 when it came up with a new idea: As cellphones become more widely available in developing nations, health information can be more quickly disseminated to poor patients in remote locations ...
Social Issues | Focus Apr 2, 2013
In China, anger grows over abuse of street vendors
In a country infamous for heavy-handed officials, the government employees who harass and sometimes beat and extort money from street vendors are among the most despised. Their official name is “chengguan” — literally, “city management” — but the word has become slang for someone ...
Social Issues Mar 24, 2013
American building schools in North Korea
Amid mounting military and nuclear tensions with North Korea, an American retiree has gained rare access to the pariah state to build schools in the usually off-limits countryside. Christopher Carpenter, 73, who used to head the U.N. refugee agency in Vietnam, began building schools ...