Financial Times (April 3)
Chinese tourists are increasing in Japan, but they are positively flooding Seoul. “The streets of Seoul are full of Chinese tourists drawn by South Korea’s lavish department stores, its glamorous pop stars – and now its driving schools.” South Korea loosened its license requirements just as China tightened theirs, creating a new travel incentive. A license in South Korea is cheaper and only requires 13 hours of school versus 78 in China. As a result, Chinese students now outnumber Koreans at some South Korean driving schools.
Tags: China, Chinese, Department stores, Driving schools, Japan, Licenses, Pop stars, Seoul, South Korea, Tourists
CNN (April 2)
“After three and a half weeks, the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has come down to this: a lot of floating rubbish, hundreds of heartbroken relatives and, now, quibbling over words all acknowledge offer no clues into what happened to the doomed plane.”
Tags: Clues, Doomed, Flight 370, Malaysia Airlines, Plane, Relatives, Rubbish, Words
National Geographic (April 1)
“The world is not ready for the impacts of climate change, including more extreme weather and the likelihood that populated parts of the planet could be rendered uninhabitable,” according to 772 scientists who worked on a report released in Yokohama by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report “warns that the world is close to missing a chance to limit the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution.”
Tags: Climate change, Extreme weather, Global warming, Impacts, Industrial Revolution, IPCC, Planet, UN, Uninhabitable, Yokohama
4/2 Issue
Chances (last and otherwise) seemed to be the week’s prevailing theme. National Geographic highlighted an influential IPCC report, released in Yokohama, that asserts this might be our last chance to limit the impact of climate change.
The New York Times comments on the explosive growth of patents, many of them overly broad and vague, and urges the Supreme Court to avail itself of an upcoming chance to limit what’s patentable.
The Economist contends that Japan could boost its economy and prevent lost potential by availing itself of chances to better utilize women in its work force.
In the midst of perpetual drought, the Los Angeles Times points out how California could learn from Australia to avoid water shortages. By stretching its water resources, California has the chance to accommodate up to ten times the state’s current population.
The Financial Times notes how Abenomics has given Japan’s economy a chance to recover, but cautions that success in stimulating inflation could actually be the economy’s rapid undoing if it renders Japan’s debt burden unsustainable.
The Washington Post believes Europe has the capability to counter Russia’s recent incursions into Ukraine more forcefully. The region’s dependence on Russian natural gas is overblown.
And U.S.A. Today posits that a resurgent Russia could be exactly the chance the U.S. needs to again shine. Competition brings out the best in people, companies and countries. Since losing its great Cold War nemesis, the U.S. has grown enfeebled.
For your chance to see the media’s takes on these and other developments from around the world, last week’s Global News highlights appear below and also at http://www.irken.jp/gn/ where stories for this week will soon appear. As always, links are provided to the original source so you can get further detail, but please note these are frequently updated and links that were valid at publication may later be broken.
Chicago Tribune (March 31)
Ride share services like Lyft, Uber X and Sidecar are changing the way people get around urban environments like Chicago. “Consumers like ride shares. They like being able to find a nearby car, check out the driver and agree to a fare, all on their smartphones. They like the option of paying a premium for faster service in peak hours or bad weather. They like choices.” In contrast, taxi owners are unhappy with the new competition and pushing for tighter regulation or outright bans on ride sharing. Some prudent regulation is inevitable and desirable, but lawmakers should side with consumers rather than protecting “the people who got into the taxi business by paying $300,000 or more for a city medallion.”
Tags: Bans, Chicago, Consumers, Lyft, Premium, Regulation, Ride share, Sidecar, Smartphones, Taxis, Uber X
