Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Morning Brief: Massive Typhoon Ravages Philippines, 10,000 Feared Dead

Massive Typhoon Ravages Philippines, 10,000 Feared Dead Top News: As many as 10,000 are feared dead in the Philippines after a powerful typhoon slammed into the island nation, causing widespread devastation and flooding. Typhoon Haiyan struck the island...

Published Mon, Nov 11 2013 7:26 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Singles' Day is China's Cyber Monday, Only Lonelier

In the United States, the lonely have Reddit and cats . In China, they have Singles' Day, which falls on Nov. 11 -- 11.11, the four ones symbolizing "bare branches," Chinese slang for bachelors. Thought to have originated about 20 years...

Published Fri, Nov 08 2013 8:25 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Fun Stuff

New Face Guard Allows Japanese Women To Eat Burgers Without Shame

Here's your "quirky Japan" story of the day: Apparently, it's very impolite for women there to eat hamburgers in public -- or so says one Japanese fast food chain that hopes to free women from the unbearable shame of opening their mouths...

Published Fri, Nov 08 2013 7:13 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Japan, East Asia, Culture, Women, Food/Agriculture, Business

Morning Brief: Kerry Travels to Geneva for Nuclear Talks After Contentious Israel Trip

Kerry Travels to Geneva for Nuclear Talks After Contentious Israel Trip Top News: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is traveling to Geneva this morning to join the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security...

Published Fri, Nov 08 2013 5:18 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Why Isn't China Censoring Chatter About its Latest Bomb Attack?

Over the past 10 days, two horrific attacks have shaken China -- but Chinese Internet censors seem interested in only one. On Oct. 28, five people died and dozens were injured when an SUV plowed into a crowd right near Tiananmen, the massive public square...

Published Thu, Nov 07 2013 2:27 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Security, East Asia, China, Internet

British Spies Aren't James Bonds, And 7 Other Things We Learned From the UK's Landmark Intelligence Hearing

In an unprecedented parliamentary hearing resembling a scene from "Skyfall," three UK intelligence chiefs made the case for spying and secrecy in the modern world, while assuring the assembled that their agencies adhere to strict legal and ethical...

Published Thu, Nov 07 2013 12:32 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Britain, Intelligence, National Security

The Rise and Fall of the World's Most Brazen Twitter Clones

Twitter shares hit a high of $50 on Thursday in its first day of trading. It's a sizable opening-day pop, given that the initial public offering price was initially marked at somewhere near half of that. The opening generated a lot of buzz among investors...

Published Thu, Nov 07 2013 10:30 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Science & Technology, East Asia, Culture, Media, Caucasus

Morning Brief: Tests on Yasser Arafat’s Exhumed Body Find Evidence of Radiation Poisoning

Tests on Yasser Arafat’s Exhumed Body Find Evidence of Radiation Poisoning Top News: A Swiss team of forensic scientists claims that Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization who died in 2004, was assassinated after conducting...

Published Thu, Nov 07 2013 5:00 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

The World's Billionaires Have Doubled Their Wealth Since 2009. Just In Case You Didn't Hate Them Already.

Recession be damned: There are more billionaires today than there were during the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 -- and they're twice as rich, says a new report released Wednesday. The Billionaire Census , jointly compiled by Swiss financial...

Published Wed, Nov 06 2013 12:40 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China, Culture, Economics, Finance, Business

Meet the Jilted Wives, Indian Batsmen, and Russian Censors Taking On Twitter

As one of the planet's most largest and important social networks, Twitter is constantly bombarded with requests to take down content. Everyone from the Russian government to the Indian cricket league to American music business files the complaints...

Published Wed, Nov 06 2013 9:15 AM by FP Passport

Are Japan's Biggest Banks in Bed with the Yakuza?

The term "yakuza" may call to mind prostitution rings and low-brow thuggery, but Japan's modern day crime syndicates are all about white collar abuses -- investing in high finance and getting their hooks into the country's biggest banks...

Published Wed, Nov 06 2013 8:35 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Corruption, Japan, East Asia, Finance

Morning Brief: CIA Will Keep Control of Obama's Drone War

CIA Will Keep Control of Obama's Drone War Top News: Six months after the White House hinted it would shift reponsibility for America's deadly drone war from the CIA to the Pentagon, a move seen as a way to increase transparency in the program...

Published Wed, Nov 06 2013 5:58 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

Here's Why Greenpeace Is Now Battling Advocates for Blind Children

It's hard to imagine two less likely combatants. In one corner: Greenpeace. In the other: child health advocates and the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute. Welcome to the strange and heated debate over genetically modified organisms...

Published Wed, Nov 06 2013 4:26 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Food/Agriculture, Southeast Asia, Development, Health

Guess Who Opposes China’s New Olympic Bid

Beijing's latest bid for the Olympic Games is getting off to a rough start. On Nov. 5, China's Olympic Committee announced that the capital city had applied to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, with some events to be held in the nearby city of Zhangjiakou...

Published Tue, Nov 05 2013 3:35 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: East Asia, China

Does Burning the Thumb of Your Husband’s Lover Make You a WMD Monster?

The Supreme Court has doubts as to whether a domestic, if gruesome, argument is exactly like a full-blown civil war, and whether a scorned wife who burned the thumb of her husband's mistress is in the same category as Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad...

Published Tue, Nov 05 2013 2:10 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: North America, Security, Politics, Military, Nukes

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Morning Brief: Massive Typhoon Ravages Philippines, 10,000 Feared Dead

Singles' Day is China's Cyber Monday, Only Lonelier

New Face Guard Allows Japanese Women To Eat Burgers Without Shame

Morning Brief: Kerry Travels to Geneva for Nuclear Talks After Contentious Israel Trip

Why Isn't China Censoring Chatter About its Latest Bomb Attack?

British Spies Aren't James Bonds, And 7 Other Things We Learned From the UK's Landmark Intelligence Hearing

The Rise and Fall of the World's Most Brazen Twitter Clones

Morning Brief: Tests on Yasser Arafat’s Exhumed Body Find Evidence of Radiation Poisoning

The World's Billionaires Have Doubled Their Wealth Since 2009. Just In Case You Didn't Hate Them Already.

Meet the Jilted Wives, Indian Batsmen, and Russian Censors Taking On Twitter

Are Japan's Biggest Banks in Bed with the Yakuza?

Morning Brief: CIA Will Keep Control of Obama's Drone War

Here's Why Greenpeace Is Now Battling Advocates for Blind Children

Guess Who Opposes China’s New Olympic Bid

Does Burning the Thumb of Your Husband’s Lover Make You a WMD Monster?