Real interest rate risk

Since 2007, the financial crisis has pushed the world into an era of low, near zero, interest rates and quantitative easing, as most developed countries seek to reduce debt pressure and perpetuate fragile payment cycles. But there is a strong risk that real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates will rise over the next decade.

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Prism of expediency problematic

Is there an afterlife? Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander III has added to the many descriptions of near-death experiences. Eben has been an academic neurosurgeon for the last 25 years, including 15 years at the Brigham and Women's and the Children's Hospitals and Harvard Medical School in Boston. During his academic career he has authored or co-authored more than150 chapters and papers in peer reviewed journals and made over 200 presentations at conferences and medical centers around the world. He thought he had a very good idea of how the brain generates consciousness, mind and spirit.

Re-education through labor

Re-education through labor, a kind of administrative penalty, will be subject to reform this year, according to a national legal work conference convened on Monday in Beijing.

Ending Syrian crisis

That Syrian President Bashar Assad's peace initiative was given a cold shoulder by some members of the world community indicates the difficulty in finding a political solution to the crisis in the Middle East country.

Sino-US ties in times of fiscal cliff

The recent mini-deal to help the United States avoid the fiscal cliff is just another timeout. In the next few weeks, a highly divisive showdown is likely to take place in Washington.

Meeting the needs of special children

A friend told me recently: "When we got the diagnosis we felt like they had put a gun to our face." His daughter had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a milder form of autism characterized by behavioral problems, including difficulties in social interaction. My friend's reaction to the diagnosis reminded me of similar reactions from other parents whose children have some type of physical or mental disability.

Letters

Japanese rightwingers a threat

From the Chinese press

Heated debate on public heating

Actions don't match words

The so-called purchase of the Diaoyu Islands by the Yoshihiko Noda government had a serious impact on the mutual trust between China and Japan. But after Japan's Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the House of Representatives election and Shinzo Abe became prime minister for the second time, China asked the new government to show sincerity and solve the dispute with China through negotiation.

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Supporting failure no success at all

The collapse of a major lighter manufacturer and a shipbuilder in Wenzhou has sparked speculation that it signals the onslaught of another wave of closures in what was once a celebrated boom town on the coast of Zhejiang province.