There is a valuable lesson to be learned about raw material dependence from the tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea. It’s not about the oil and gas that is thought to be stored under the seabed in disputed waters, but rather the so-called “rare earth elements”, of which China produces 97% of the global supply.

Sino-Indian relations have become increasingly significant and produced widespread implications. The evolving bilateral relationship is reasonably seen as a result of their shifting strategies and the ever-changing global politico-economic situation. On the political front, high-level interaction plays an important role in improving Sino-Indian ties. The political willingness to improve relations helps kick-start the significant process of building confidence and trust in different areas and at various levels.

Between dignity and racial prejudice, empathy and weakness, intelligence and paralysis, will the talents of the presidential candidate become handicaps for the 44th president?

After hurricane Katrina in 2005, images of the miserable and abandoned black community of New Orleans surfaced. This portrait of a black underclass mired in poverty is not thoroughly representative of African Americans in the U.S., however.

Turn on the news or open the paper and sure enough there will be mention of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although it has retreated from the big headlines, the disaster still looms large as people deal with the aftermath of the BP catastrophe. 

An ominous resource crunch in the so-called “rare earth elements” is now threatening the development of a number of key industries from energy to defense to consumer electronics. As key components in the latest generation of technologies, including specialized magnets for windmills and hybrid cars, lasers for range finders and “smart” munitions, and phosphors for LCD screens, demand for these rare metals is expected to grow rapidly in the years to come.

The 15th annual Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen last year saw delegations from 192 countries come together in an attempt to establish a global climate agreement for 2012 before the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto protocol (2008-2012). This paper will examine how these figures have changed since Kyoto base year 1990, before looking at certain countries" proposals for the future of their carbon dioxide emissions.