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The Economist (December 15)

2014/ 12/ 15 by jd in Global News

“Mr Abe’s gamble to dissolve the lower house of the Diet in November was his alone, opposed by many in his party. It has paid off handsomely, and he may now become one of Japan’s longest-serving post-war prime ministers.”

 

Bloomberg (July 18)

2013/ 07/ 19 by jd in Global News

Japan needs to mend relationships with its neighbors. After the upper house Diet elections, “LDP leaders would be wise to focus their resources on overcoming opposition to the most difficult structural reforms. That doesn’t mean Japan can’t take measures it deems necessary to bolster its defenses, such as increasing its military budget, or even making cosmetic changes such as renaming its military the ‘National Defense Forces.’ Such decisions should be based on strategic concerns, not a desire to fire up patriotic fervor. They should be communicated to Beijing quietly but transparently, well in advance.”

 

Time (May 12, 2013)

2013/ 05/ 13 by jd in Global News

“While people in some parts of India continue to battle malnutrition, many residents in the wealthier states have, during the past two decades of the nation’s boom, faced a menace of excess. Rising incomes paired with sedentary lifestyles and starchy, sugary diets have helped diabetes spread furiously.” Now the crisis is spreading to rural areas and the poor. It’s hard to even get a grip on the size of the problem, let alone move towards a solution. “Researchers believe there are nearly five times the total of undiagnosed patients and diabetes-related deaths in India than in the U.S.,” but nobody knows for sure.

 

The Economist (January 5)

2013/ 01/ 05 by jd in Global News

Japan’s “dangerously nationalistic new cabinet is the last thing Asia needs” and “rings alarms” on the domestic front, as well, due to the shortage of “economic modernizers.” One half of the cabinet positions went to “MPs who inherited Diet seats from their families. Worse, its members are gripped by a backward-looking, distorted view of history that paints Japan as a victim.”

 

Time (September 13)

2012/ 09/ 16 by jd in Global News

“On Thursday the New York City Health Department became the first in the nation to ban the sale of sugared beverages larger than 16 oz. at restaurants, mobile food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters.” Mayor Bloomberg was a strong proponent of the ban. Despite many objections, the health board is “convinced that banning mega-sized drinks would be an important step toward helping consumers not only to drink fewer calories, but also hopefully to make healthier changes to their diet more broadly.”

 

Time (July 18)

2011/ 07/ 19 by jd in Global News

We’ve been catching about 90 million tons of fish, the last great wild food, since the mid-90s and that’s simply “not enough to keep up with global seafood consumption, which has risen from 22 lb. per person per year in the 1960s to nearly 38 lb. today.” Worse yet, the U.N. reports that already “32% of global fish stocks are overexploited” so catches may decrease. Aquaculture and fish farms “might represent the last, best chance for fish to have a future.” Aquaculture is growing “faster than any other form of food production,” and now provides over 50 million tons of fish annually. Time believes, “if we’re all going to survive and thrive in a crowded world, we’ll need to cultivate the seas just as we do the land.”

We’ve been catching about 90 million tons of fish, the last great wild food, since the mid-90s and that’s simply “not enough to keep up with global seafood consumption, which has risen from 22 lb. per person per year in the 1960s to nearly 38 lb. today.” Worse yet, the U.N. reports that already “32% of global fish stocks are overexploited” so catches may decrease. Aquaculture and fish farms “might represent the last, best chance for fish to have a future.” Aquaculture is growing “faster than any other form of food production,” and now provides over 50 million tons annually. Time believes, “if we’re all going to survive and thrive in a crowded world, we’ll need to cultivate the seas just as we do the land.”

 

BBC (June 25)

2011/ 06/ 26 by jd in Global News

“The number of adults with diabetes in the world has more than doubled since 1980,” rising from 153 million to 347 million. While some of the increase can be blamed on diet and rising rates of obesity, researchers from Imperial College London and Harvard University attribute 70% of the increase to longer lifespans.

 

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