Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Foxconn's pep rally includes Spiderman costumes, Victorian dresses - by Brian Fung

In its latest effort to keep employees from leaping from their dorm room balconies, Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn held a pep rally yesterday at its industrial campus in Shenzhen, China. Employees received free T-shirts that read "I <3 Foxconn"...

Published Thu, Aug 19 2010 9:30 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: China

South Sudan's animal-shaped cities?

File this under white elephant (pun very much intended ...) Southern Sudan’s government revealed this week a multi-billion dollar plan to build new urban centers in all ten of its state capitals. The price tag may make some gasp, but the real surprise...

Published Fri, Aug 20 2010 7:03 AM by FP Passport

Indian lawmakers unhappy with 313 percent raise - by Brian Fung

Members of India's parliament will see their salary more than tripled in the coming weeks, bringing their annual income to a high of $12,854 a year. But for some lawmakers, evidently, that's still not enough : The Lok Sabha [the lower house of...

Published Fri, Aug 20 2010 9:42 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: India

China's Solyndra?

Money for clean energy is creating political messes all over. Of course, there are the Obama administration's ongoing troubles over loans to now-bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra. Now comes a report from Reuters saying that green energy loans to...

Published Mon, Nov 21 2011 11:11 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Energy

Newt in the Congo

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Current primary frontrunner Newt Gingrich is often referred to as one of the leading "intellectuals" of the Republican Party. Gingrich has encouraged this view, even suggesting...

Published Tue, Nov 22 2011 9:22 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Election 2012, Area studies, Newt Gingrich

Morning Brief: Egypt's first post-Mubarak election begins

Egypt's first post-Mubarak election begins Top news: Egyptians are voting this morning in the first election since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February. The initial phase of polling, which will stretch until January, encompasses elections to a 508...

Published Mon, Nov 28 2011 5:24 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Why is Greece cutting private-sector wages?

There's something puzzling about the austerity bill embraced by the Greek parliament overnight. The package includes measures such as government layoffs that seem logical for a country flirting with default. But news reports are also discussing private...

Published Mon, Feb 13 2012 3:30 PM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: Obama heads to Asia

Obama heads to Asia Top story: Still reeling from a bruising setback in the midterm elections, President Barack Obama leaves today on a 10-day trip to Asia aimed at promoting economic ties and security cooperation. The trip starts in India where Obama...

Published Fri, Nov 05 2010 5:56 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Massive Nollywood bust in Brooklyn

My hometown is cracking down on pirated Nigerian films, the New York Times reports : This week, officials seized more than 10,000 counterfeit DVDs from nine stores in Brooklyn in what prosecutors and representatives of the Nigerian film industry said...

Published Fri, Nov 05 2010 8:47 AM by FP Passport

Egypt's intelligence chief visits Israel - By Mohammad Sagha

The Egyptian Intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman , travelled to Israel on Thursday to officially discuss the Middle East peace process. Haaretz reports that Israeli President Shimon Peres met with Suleiman and "discussed different methods to jump start...

Published Fri, Nov 05 2010 3:38 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Middle East, Israel/Palestine, Intelligence, Iran, Egypt

Archbishop: Iraqi Christians face "premeditated ethnic cleansing"

Life in Iraq isn't easy (and hasn't been for a while), but it's still rare to find community leaders imploring Iraqis to leave their home country. But that's exactly what Archbishop Athanasios Dawood of the Syriac Orthodox Church is doing...

Published Mon, Nov 08 2010 1:28 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, Middle East, Iraq, Religion, Arab World

Is Haiti's government starting to function?

In a news analysis for the Miami Herald, Jacqueline Charles makes the case that decisive action by Haitian President Rene Preval, who was widely seen as a helpless figurehead after last year's earthquake, was responsible for the relatively low casualties...

Published Tue, Nov 09 2010 11:56 AM by FP Passport

Iran blocked, but Saudi Arabia accepted for U.N. Women board

This morning the U.N.'s new umbrella agency for women's rights issues elected its board members. The election had attracted controversy because two of the candidate countries were among the world's most notorious abusers of women's rights...

Published Wed, Nov 10 2010 10:30 AM by FP Passport

Does an ice pick in the back await the man who betrayed Anna Chapman?

An unnamed Russian official has told Russia's generally reputable Kommersant newspaper that an assassin has been dispatched to dispense some Soviet-style justice against a former SVR colonel identified only as Shcherbakov, who allegedly controlled...

Published Thu, Nov 11 2010 11:33 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia

Dear Congress: Your tax on Pakistani shirts and pants is hurting America

Of all the many foolish, self-defeating, and downright stupid U.S. policies -- from the Cuba embargo to agricultural subsidies to the prohibition on talking to Iranian diplomats -- tariffs on Pakistani textiles probably rank among the dumbest. That's...

Published Fri, Nov 12 2010 5:56 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Pakistan, Trade