5/14 Issue
There is near certainty to “the collapse of the giant West Antarctica ice sheet,” but the inevitable won’t happen overnight. The Washington Post observes the massive impact on global sea levels won’t be fully felt for the 200 years or more the collapse takes to unfold.
A boom year in M&A also looks fairly certain. Institutional Investor reports that “global deals this year have already hit $1 trillion as of the end of March, one of the highest quarterly levels since 1998 and almost double the level announced for the same period a year ago.”
Less certain is the “business sense” to Pfizer’s proposed takeover. The Financial Times urges AstraZeneca’s directors to proceed with caution as Pfizer has destroyed tremendous value through previous mergers.
The world would, however, benefit if the pharmaceutical industry could unleash some new antibiotics. The last new class was introduced nearly three decades ago. The New York Times observes that both standard and last-resort antibiotics are increasingly failing due to growing resistance.
Thailand offers another immediate crisis. The country has been all but rent in half and, according to the Economist, now stands at an “abyss.” It’s been a stunning reversal of fortunes for a country that was once held up as an exemplar of success.
The U.S. may be more stable, but its K-12 education program is under-performing counterparts worldwide. Some of the problem may be teacher pay, but the Washington Post asserts a solution must involve the “selectivity of education programs, the rigor of their preparation and the continuing education and feedback they receive.”
And the Wall Street Journal reports that Tokyo topped New York, London, Shanghai and other major cities, becoming the world’s largest commercial real estate market during the first quarter of 2014. Transactions surpassed $10 billion, increasing more than 70%.
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To see the overseas media’s takes on these and other developments, you can browse Global News highlights below and also at http://www.irken.jp/gn/. Links to the original sources are provided above, but please note these are frequently updated. Links that were valid at publication may later be broken.
Washington Post (May 13)
“The collapse of the giant West Antarctica ice sheet is underway.” It will be massive, but it won’t be rapid. The apparently “unstoppable” melt could raise sea levels “up to 12 feet,” but it will take anywhere from two centuries to a millennium to fully transpire.
