The Economist reading - 24/03/07 week 4 March 2007 (part 2)

** New word: prone to take and reluctant to give

** New word: In the first place,...

flourish (v)

initiative (v+n)

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Can Asia Avert a Globalization Crisis?

The occasional rhetorical flourish by political leaders notwithstanding, the policy agenda for global trade is paralyzed. This endangers everyone, but especially Asians. As part of a growing backlash against globalization, protectionism, driven by a widespread fear of competition and job losses, is flourishing in many places and in many forms. Instead of common vision, ambitions and political will towards greater integration of markets and communities, there are today many symptoms of a "globalization crisis."

Protectionism is likely to cause considerable havoc, considering that goals such as global security and global prosperity are unlikely to be achieved in the absence of collective vision and action.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Foresight 2020 Report, between 2005 and 2020 Asia's share in the global economy is expected to rise to 43% from 35%.

If the Asian economies can practice free trade regionally, they will be in a much stronger position to preach free trade globally.

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Britain: the price of knowledge - students' debt, Britain trying to make undergraduate education more easily available to the poor through better accessible loans.

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An inspector call: doing business in China

According to the official Consumers' Association, 44% of China consumers have been "seriously violated" during the past year.

In January inspectors from the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau began an investigation of foreign designer clothing. It found that 17 of 40 brands tested were selling "substandard" goods. But the faults it uncovered were hardly the stuff of lawsuits. MaxMara and Burberry were both pulled up for selling trousers that "fade easily" while Armani's Collezioni jackets were singled out for lacking "fibre content". Other big brands were accused of using poor dyes or having bad colour quality. Makers of designer goods, of course, are no more infallible than other firms, but the companies concerned cannot help wondering whether they are victims of a new form of protectionism--bad publicity.

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The cost of non-Europe, Serbia's future

While Montegreno has signed SAA (Stabilization and Association Agreement), Serbia is still out of it due to not having arrested war crimes like Ratko Mladic, restricting itself a great deal in economic activities.

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Oil-rich Iran may have to ration petrol. It sounds weid but the country is in a shortage of refineries, now meeting only 60% of the nation's demand. For the rest amount, ppl have to face with the expensive market price, abt 45cent per litre, more than 5 times motorists would pay at the pump. Especially after this new year festive, the bill is increasing more than ever.

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Hope fades for a fairer UN policy on human rights.

At best, the council is a declamatory body; real power lies with the Security Council in New York. But the mess in the UN's top human-rights agency augurs ill for the reform of the UN as a whole.

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A shift of perspective: malaria

Recruiting mosquitoes to fight malaria

MAKING an ally out of an enemy is often a good policy. And that is what Mauro Marrelli and Chaoyang Li of Johns Hopkins University are trying to do. Until recently, Anopheles, the mosquito that spreads malarial parasites, has been seen by those trying to eradicate the disease as a target. Now, a few far-sighted researchers see it as an opportunity.

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United States: collateral damage; the Iraq war

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United States: Of banners and bongs; Free speech in school

** New word: censor (v+n) (a person) examine and supervise the quality of others (things or human) regarding morality and manners

** New word: bong (n+v) a dull, resonant sound, as of a large bell