
Al Jazeera to close in America: the future will not be broadcast
Jan 15, 2016 09:43 am UTC| Insights & Views
Yesterday came the surprising announcement that Al Jazeera America (AJAM), the not even three-year-old US news franchise of the Arab media giant, was shutting down. Come April this year, up to 800 journalists may be...
Defying the 'one-hour rule' for city travel, traffic modelling drives policy madness
Jan 15, 2016 02:23 am UTC| Insights & Views
Most mathematical modelling used to guide our economy is simplified and only modified when it becomes so out of touch that it is dangerous. When the Atlantic cod fishery collapsed the model being used to set fishing quotas...

To cut emissions faster, U.S. should ditch tax credit-based subsidies for renewable energy
Jan 14, 2016 14:12 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Congress last month extended valuable tax credits to producers of electricity from wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels, a move that came as a relief to an industry that has experienced rapid growth in recent...
Jakarta attacks: is Islamic State's presence in southeast Asia overstated?
Jan 14, 2016 14:03 pm UTC| Insights & Views
A series of deadly suicide bombings and shootings in Jakarta have killed at least seven people, and been claimed by Islamic State (IS). At first glance, this seems to confirm that long-held worries of a full-blown IS...
Why the commodities crunch could hurt stability in Latin America
Jan 14, 2016 13:52 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Much of Latin America has seen an unusually long period of relative political stability since the early 2000s. With the exception of Cuba, democratically elected governments seem embedded throughout the region. The...

Japan's outlook for 2016 still remains a mixed picture
Jan 14, 2016 11:41 am UTC| Insights & Views
Year 2016 signifies a period that will test the intrinsic value of Abenomics, which is entering its fourth year. Japans recovery remains shaky three years after Prime Minister Shinzo Abes trademark policies trying to...
Parliament urgently needs to keep tabs on Britain’s arms exports
Jan 14, 2016 10:38 am UTC| Insights & Views Law
The aphorism that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce, seems cruelly relevant to the arms trade. Its history is littered with examples of arms transfers pursued on the basis of short-term interests,...