Read Cash and Chemicals: Banana Boom Blessing and Curse. Above, a worker waits to deliver his harvest at a packing line inside a banana plantation operated by a Chinese company in the province of Bokeo in Laos April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva
Trying to listen in Trump’s America, by Tom Regan Column
In the heart of America, there are long, flat stretches of emptiness in the spring. Fields, only recently plowed and sown with the fall’s harvest, still look barren and soggy. No majestic fields of wheat or corn greet the eye. This is a trip to Trump country.
Signs like this one dot the American Mid-West. Photo by franleleon, Creative Commons
Trump-Kim smackdown leaves South Koreans cold, by Jonathan Manthorpe Column
The election to the South Korean presidency on May 8 of Democratic Party leader Moon Jae-in is primarily a demand by the country’s voters to reform government, erase corruption and improve social justice.
Everyday chemicals affect brain, IQ — study, by Barbara Demeneix Expert Witness
All vertebrates – from frogs and birds to human beings – require the same thyroid hormone to thrive. Every stage of brain development is modulated by thyroid hormone and, over millions of years, the structure of this critical hormone has remained unchanged. But, increasingly, the trappings of modern life are preventing it from playing its critical role in human brain development.
The Last Person You’d Expect to Die in Childbirth, by Nina Martin, ProPublica, and Renee Montagne, NPR
The U.S. has the worst rate of maternal deaths in the developed world, and 60 percent are preventable. The death of Lauren Bloomstein, a neonatal nurse, in the hospital where she worked illustrates a profound disparity: the health care system focuses on babies but often ignores their mothers.
Cash and Chemicals: Banana Boom Blessing and Curse, by Jorge Silva Photo-essay
Kongkaew Vonusak smiles when he recalls the arrival of Chinese investors in his tranquil village in northern Laos in 2014. With them came easy money, he said. Three years later, the Chinese-driven banana boom has left few locals untouched, but not everyone is smiling.
These three firms own corporate America, by Jan Fichtner, Eelke Heemskerk, & Javier Garcia-Bernardo
A fundamental change is underway in stock market investing, and the spin-off effects are poised to dramatically impact corporate America.
Traffic cones are seen on the bank of the River Thames during low tide in London, Britain January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
London’s Secretive Dark River, by Stefan Wermuth
London’s River Thames has been the lifeblood of the British capital since the city’s origins as a Roman garrison town around 2,000 years ago. The artery through which the world’s trade passed at the height of the British Empire, its banks were lined with factories that drove the industrial revolution but left its waters biologically dead. Now, with power stations transformed into galleries, the river is home to seals, the occasional porpoise and has become a much-loved open space.
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