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There’s a persistent urban legend going around since 2017 that China “invented” four modern innovations that have impacted modern times, namely: mobile payment, bike sharing, e-commerce and high speed railways. Here’s the plain truth: none of the above innovations were invented in China, although China did pave the road for all of them to be […]

Just as the long-standing rift between the Vatican and China seems to be about to heal, Beijing jailed popular Catholic bishop, Guo Xijin. Bishop Guo was detained shortly before Easter for declining to celebrate mass with another bishop, one who had received government approval. The Catholic Church in China has faced an interesting situation since […]

Remarks made by Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s highest leader, seems to suggest that he believes there is no hell. These remarks, published in an Italian newspaper, have caused the Vatican to scramble in walking back the Pope’s statements. Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari, an atheist and a longtime friend and intellectual sparring partner of the […]

The world continues to be in decline, democracy-wise. More than fifty percent of countries around the globe show an alarming downward trend when it comes to democratic health. Earlier this year, The Economist published its tenth annual Democracy Index, which shows that Larry Diamond’s prediction of a global “democratic recession” is indeed a reality. A […]

China’s announcement of new tariffs on more than one hundred goods from the US caused stocks to take a tumble on Monday, April 2. Losers include large technology companies, which have long been the favorite of investors. The retaliatory tariffs from China are considered to be a step toward a full scale trade war between […]

After the United States imposed additional taxes on steel and aluminum from China, Beijing retaliated by enforcing tariffs worth a total of 3 billion dollars on more than one hundred goods imported from the US. China protested against the higher steel and aluminum taxes when they were recently announced by officials of the Trump government, […]

In a report for the South China Morning Post, Raquel Carvalho writes about the plight of  Filipinos who are trafficked into the USA. They end up being exploited not only by illegal recruiters, but by the very wealthy in whose homes and offices they work. Hundreds of Filipinos are trafficked into the US every year. […]

Rising comedy star Tiffany Haddish cannot contain the fact that someone had the audacity to bite Beyoncé in the face at a party, leaving millions of netizens trying to guess who it was. Whatever the “bite” was, and whoever did it, did not seem to cause damage to the superstar, and so all the speculation […]

In an unprecedented but well-coordinated move, twenty countries as well as NATO have sent Russian diplomats packing, expelling them in retaliation to Moscow’s nerve agent poisoning of British citizens in the UK early in March. This could be a sign that the West has had enough of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strongman tactics. The first […]

Namo, the official mobile application of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reportedly sent the personal information of its users to a third party in the US, unbeknownst to the users, and without their consent. The app was launched in 2015, and was an additional venue for PM Modi’s already stellar social media presence, with more […]

In an opinion piece for the South China Morning Post, senior writer Peter Kammerer tells readers to stop comparing Hong Kong and Singapore, since the two countries have such considerable differences that any comparisons are basically pointless. Mr. Kammerer makes several points in his opinion piece. He begins by saying that there is a one-sided […]

On Saturday, March 24, supermodel, Lip Sync Battle host, and worldwide celebrity Chrissy Teigen announced to her 10 million Twitter followers, as well as the rest of the world, that she is done with Snapchat. She cited her fans’ difficulty in finding her on the app, as well as a controversial ad run on Snapchat, […]