After a blockbuster US listing, Jack Ma's best asset may be Alipay, the online payment service not included in the Alibaba offering.
September, 2014
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17 September
How Hard Times Are Healing Bosnia
Amid rising anti-government sentiment and a series of natural disasters, Bosnia-Herzegovina's fractured ethnic communities are drawing strength from an unlikely source: each other.
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15 September
Ecuador: Amazon’s Green Turns Dark Back
One of the most interesting features of Ecuador is that it was the first country in the world to codify the Rights of Nature. Ecuador recognized the inalienable rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish in 2008, but the road that led the country to this recognition was not without obstacles.
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12 September
Kingdom of Slaves
The unspeakable abuse of foreign laborers in the Gulf underscores a dark underside to the modern, glossy exterior the GCC states like to showcase to the world. In the absence of a powerful labor movement in the Gulf, the GCC’s millions of suffering foreign laborers will have to hope that their home countries can protect them abroad, even if they couldn’t provide jobs at home.
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11 September
No Lessons Learnt in Flood-hit Pakistan
Once again, the havoc caused by the recent rains have exposed the lack of proper disaster management in Pakistan. It has not built any water reservoirs since the Tarbela and Mangla dams were built in the 1960s and 70s. Meanwhile, India has built hundreds of dams, reservoirs and barrages to provide water to its desert areas over the past four decades. As a result, India has the capacity to store enough water for 100-120 days, while Pakistan can only store 25-days worth of water.
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10 September
Using Art to Improve American Muslims’ Image
One New York City college has launched an innovative initiative -- Beyond Sacred: Unthinking Muslim Identity -- to improve the Muslim community's image by using theater.
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9 September
First South Asian on New York State Lt. Governor Ballot
A self-made successful businessman of Indian origin, who came to the United States when he was 21 years old, has made it to the ballot for New York state Lt. Governor.
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9 September
If Yes Wins, What Happens Next in Scotland?
Suddenly, it looks like the swing might be happening. So what would actually happen if Scots vote for independence?
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4 September
Nepal’s Mystical Dolpa in the Mist
Dolpa is one of the last two among Nepal’s 75 districts that doesn’t yet have a road connection and seeks to protect its pristine remoteness. Along with its rugged tree-less terrain, Dolpa’s jewel is Phoksundo Lake, a lapis lazuli-colored body of water, it is Nepal’s deepest and second-largest lake.
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1 September
Hunger in the Land of Plenty — South Africa
Despite being a middle-income country, South Africa has a long and shameful history of those in power ignoring the needs and the interests of the majority. Colonial and subsequent Apartheid laws reduced black people in South Africa to merely being cheap labor to service the needs of these economies. Poverty, inequality and hunger, while visible in the faces and cupped hands of people at traffic lights in middle-class neighborhoods, largely continue to be felt most in townships, informal settlements and rural areas which are often located far away from economic and suburban hubs.