Globalization

In a world of information overload and a dearth of critical thinking it’s easy to misrepresent the facts. Two recent “news” items make the point.

World oil prices fell in Asian trade Tuesday as fears about slowing US demand outweighed the increasing likelihood of heightened tensions over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, dealers said.

Oil prices jumped higher Friday on renewed jitters over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, as Israel’s deputy Prime Minister, Shaul Mofaz, said Tehran was playing for time.

A new defense strategy released Thursday places the “long war” against extremism above potential conventional challenges from China and Russia as the top priority of the US military in the coming years.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America is dead, says Robert A. Pastor, the American University professor who for more than a decade has been a major proponent of building a North American Community.

Individual European countries should sign up to a legally-binding security pact that includes Russia in a new structure over-arching the EU and NATO, Russian diplomats will propose at a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels on Monday.

Russia’s presentation of plans for a new “Treaty on European Security” at a NATO gathering on Monday (28 July) met with suspicion the scheme could undermine existing alliances, with Moscow to return to the topic in September.

Border control staff will be able to use iris scans and finger printing to check passengers’ identities under major changes to New Zealand immigration rules.

Iran OPEC Governor says the oil price may reach $500 a barrel in case dollar depreciation continues and the political tensions deepen.

Pakistan warned the international community yesterday that a deal allowing India to import US atomic fuel and technology could accelerate a nuclear arms race between Delhi and Islamabad.

The first formal border checks between the UK and Ireland in more than 80 years have been proposed by the two governments.

An estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered but technically recoverable oil — three years of world consumption — lie north of the Arctic Circle, the U.S. Geological Survey reported Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Oil prices will hit $300 US a barrel in 10 years if the United States fails to reduce its dependence on foreign imports, billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy insisted Monday the EU will not force Ireland to vote again after its shock rejection of the bloc’s new treaty, as he faced protests in Dublin.

The man who delivered an historic “No” vote in Ireland against the EU’s Lisbon Treaty has revealed far-reaching plans to give voters throughout Europe a peoples’ referendum on the handover of power to Brussels.

The price of European emission permits is rising so rapidly that German companies are threatening to leave the country. Thousands of jobs could be lost. And the environment may, in the end, be no better off.

Time magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel told the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on July 17 that “there’s incredible despair out there and there’s a sense that, that something needs to be done and people have kind of an appetite for big government in a way” in America.

The final act required for the UK to endorse the controversial document was completed this week, the Foreign Office said.

Energy drink Red Bull appeared in its original recipe in France’s shops for the first time on Tuesday, implementing European regulations that say it should be put on sale in the absence of proof that it is harmful.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a new international body with 43 member nations aimed at ending conflict in the Middle East.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Saturday he expected food prices to remain above 2004 levels until at least 2012 and energy prices would also remain high and volatile.

The National Human Rights Commission on Friday accused the Mexican military of wrongfully killing eight civilians at roadblocks, torturing witnesses and allowing soldiers accused of rights violations to escape prosecution during its continuing campaign against drug cartels.

“This is a disgrace. Look at how they portray his mother.”

The Democratic nominee is embarrassed at the fact we can’t all speak Spanish and French.

Gordon Brown wants to see petrol-driven cars off the roads within 12 years as evidence that Britain can break its addiction to oil.

The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a proposal to include airlines in the bloc’s strategy to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

World leaders sat down to an 18-course gastronomic extravaganza at a G8 summit in Japan, which is focusing on the food crisis.

Two hours were enough for José Luis Sánchez and his family to pack their most valuable belongings in two vans – items accumulated in 10 years of living in the Dallas area.

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins hosted his last Independence Day shindig in Canada stating even a Democratic president, if elected, will see the benefits of NAFTA and won’t attempt to renegotiate it.

This Nation’s Deathbed exposes the SPP Summit and the protests of Montebello Quebec held in summer of 2007.

Crude oil futures rose to a record above $144 a barrel in New York after a U.S. government report showed an unexpected decline in inventories.

Videos showing Mexican police learning torture methods appeared on the Internet this week.