Established around 220 BCE during the Han Dynasty, the ancient Silk Road boosted trade between Asia, Africa, and Europe. The cultural exchange that occurred between nations along the Silk Road generated great prosperity and economic growth. Now, the Chinese government plans to invest 40 billion dollars to reestablish the trade routes from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The funds will help build or refurbish roads, railways, and airports
Sad to say, Americans have become so used to politicians lying that fact checkers now classify claims based on the level of deception involved. We not only expect our leaders to lie to us, but we cheer when their lies match our beliefs and boo when they don’t. The long ago hope that the Internet would improve our ability to separate fact from fiction has died. Lies gain even more
Anara was a teenage Kyrgyz girl with ambitions of a college education and a career of her own. She would have been the first in her family to pursue higher education, and one of the first in her rural Kyrgyz town. Just weeks after her 17th birthday, her close friend asked her to come along to the town’s water spout to collect water for the day. Her friend seemed nervous
When I was a kid my family lived way out in the country and my brothers and I had a ninety-minute bus ride to school. I always sat in front because I was one of the youngest. I dreaded the stop a few miles away from home where this kid Danny got on the bus, because he would pick on me the rest of the way to school. After a
The convenience of turning on the faucet and receiving safe, clean drinking is too often taken for granted. Many are so accustomed to the act that it would be gravely unsettling, at best, to find their water tainted with hazardous chemicals. That nightmare scenario occurred when tap water in Charleston, West Virginia ran pink and emitted a licorice-odor after 10,000 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) and 300 gallons of propylene
