KHALED ALSABEEH WRITES— The 2019 Lebanese Revolution has been a series of countrywide protests in response to the government’s failure to deal with the country’s economic crisis. The protests began 18 October, with a few activists in Riad al-Solh Square, in front of the Grand Serail, the official residence of the…
ABDULAZIZ ALABDULRAZZAQ WRITES—Where would Kuwait be without oil? Certainly not as prosperous. Half of its GDP, in fact, comes from oil. But now, it seems, this has become too much of a good thing. As oil reserves dry up and the world switches to greener sources of fuel, the economy…
MICHELLE DOR WRITES– For as much as $50,000, Vietnamese migrants can get the “VIP package” to Britain– a flight, fake passport and even an attorney. Too good to be true? This deal, although unlawful, is regarded as the cheaper and safer alternative to land routes by smugglers, where migrants are…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.” – Theodore Roosevelt Say again? November 11 is Veterans Day. Do Americans deserve to celebrate? These have not been the best of…
TOM PLATE WRITES — The stars and stripes of the American flag, as if sliced by partisanship into bipolar bands of red and blue, never seemed more at cross-purpose. Only true haters might find pleasure in the proceedings. In the House, as if plowing through a field of empty dreams and…
TALIN DEROHANESSIANS WRITES – QR Codes in Asia are a hit! This could be attributed to an increase in mobile devices sold with built – in QR Code readers as well as the overall increase in smartphone sales. Quick review: Quick Response codes were first invented in the 1990’s, by…
DANIELA GUEVARA WRITES — Known as an ultra-competitive and highly technologically advanced society, South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in developed nations. And this month the even higher stresses in the country’s profitable K-pop industry took their toll on a K-pop star. After hearing the tragic news that Sulli,…
EMILY CAPOUYA WRITES- According to Facebook’s blog post this Tuesday, facial recognition will “be off by default for all new users, and for current users who do nothing when they receive an upcoming notice about the change.” While originally popularized by Facebook as a seemingly harmless concept used to tag friends’ faces…
JOANNE PANG WRITES — It used to be the case that becoming a singer or an actress was a chance of a lifetime: you either got it or you didn’t, and then you moved on; but with K-pop on the rise, every boy and girl in South Korea wants to become an…
DANIEL ZAND WRITES– High priced athletic shoes have driven “sneakerheads” — shoe enthusiasts who collect and trade the products, particularly in basketball and skateboarding—to fake (as in knock-off) sneakers. The demand for them is booming, as the makers of brands like Nike and Adidas are well aware. Chan, a seller of fake sneakers in…
ABDULAZIZ ALABDULRAZZAQ WRITES – The persistent decline in oil prices has led many oil-producing countries to think of ways to reinvent their economies. Saudi Arabia is one of them, with its Vision 2030, first introduced in 2016. Vision 2030 will be built on three pillars: a vibrant society, a thriving economy…
GREGORY de GERSDORFF WRITES- All life on planet Earth requires water. Given the risks that come with climate change, one would expect all countries to preserve the world’s increasingly dwindling supply of fresh water. This is not the case with Indonesia, but this should come as no surprise. The country has…
NATASHA VASS WRITES – In a world in which chronic disease and childhood obesity are on the rise, it is no question that countries must come up with solutions. Enter Singapore. At the October 2019 Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress, Edwin Tong, senior minister of state for law and health,…
JOSEPH LITTAUA WRITES — Asian countries have never been considered powerhouses in the world of rugby. Of those that participated in the Rugby World Cup circuit, only Japan made it to the tournament—as the host country. So, when the pools were drawn and the preliminary qualifying tournaments finished, few expected…
ANNALISA DEL VECCHIO WRITES – The future is now and — once again –and it has an Asian look. The gigantic conglomerate Alibaba, creator of Tmall, an online retail platform based in China, is refashioning fashion. Tmall uses an Al (Artificial Intelligence) clothing store that relies on “smart mirrors” to offer information to…
TALIN DEROHANESSIANS WRITES – The world is heating up fast, and according to the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS), the island city-state is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world– at a rate of 0.25 degrees Celsius, per decade. That may seem low, but to a nation…
