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- Harvard University has more money in its endowment than 109 countries have wealth, a recent report said, and it's not the only school with more cash than most nations. For the rich, maintaining the status quo doesn't come cheap.

"America's public schooling system may be in trouble, but its top universities are anything but," said a story by Stacker, which compared the multibillion endowments of 50 American colleges to the "total wealth" of world nations as estimated by Credit Suisse. The list saw five universities – including Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and the University of Texas System – beat over half of world's 195 economies. Topping the list with its massive $38.3 billion endowment came Harvard.

Perhaps more than even the other Ivy League colleges, Harvard sells more than just a degree. A Harvard education provides entrée into exclusive circles populated by the very wealthy and very influential, and the school puts a lot of effort into nurturing this reputation. The quality of a Harvard education has somewhat dipped over the past decade, now occupying the sixth spot according to The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, but the same firm has invariably ranked the institution's reputation as pristine, scoring a perfect 100 on both research and teaching.

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Data from the International Social Survey Programme show that as a country's economy becomes less equal, its people perceive it as more of a meritocracy – the kind of place where, if you study hard and show up on time, you, too, can become a Master of the Universe. The kind of place where even a kid who grew up on the streets can go to Harvard. Doling out conspicuous scholarships helps Harvard perpetuate this illusion.

One of the most powerful and enduring founding myths of the US is that of the land of opportunity, where anyone with enough grit and tenacity can 'make it'. This may once have been the case.

But when these schools have war chests larger than most countries, it becomes impossible to ignore the fact that the system does not work for everyone. With homeless populations in many cities reaching record highs, even as colleges in those cities greedily snatch up more real estate, the inequality has never been so stark.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/467716-harvard-wealth-countries-status-quo/

- North Korea has called on "all Koreans at home and abroad" to make a "breakthrough" for unification without foreign assistance.

The rare announcement, which was made via the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday morning, called on all Koreans to "promote contact, travel and cooperation between North and South Korea."

It added that the North will "smash" all obstacles on the path towards the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, while stressing that military tensions on the peninsula were the "fundamental obstacle" for the better ties with the South.

Joint military drills with "outside forces" were also hindering the progression of ties between the two Koreas, it added.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/24/550078/north-korea-south-unification-foreign-assistance

- Last week, PAX, a Netherlands-based NGO, released a report on the extent to which major tech companies from around the world are engaged in the creation of artificial intelligence systems which could be used for deadly military applications, surveying fifty companies. PAX found that 21 companies were engaged in projects deemed of ‘high concern’, with 22 more listed as ‘medium’ concern. 13 of the ‘high concern’ companies were said to be based in the US, and include Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Palantir and Oracle. The UK’s Blue Bear Systems, Canada’s AerialX, France’s EarthCube, China’s Yitu and Israel’s Roboteam also made the list.

https://sputniknews.com/military/201908311076690942-pentagon-fears-china-could-soon-surpass-us-on-ai-due-to-beijings-military-civil-fusion-strategy/

- Hemke emphasizes, however, that the tendency the dollar is witnessing should not come as a surprise, as its days as the world’s reserve currency have been numbered from the start.

“The privilege the US had since the end of WW2 is a transitory thing – before the US the British pound was the reserve currency […] The world has switched that mantel every hundred years or so for centuries and soon it is going to be the US’ turn to switch,” Hemke claims.

He notes that speculation as to what will replace the dollar as the global reserve currency has been going on for some time, with many, like the bank of England head Mark Carney, betting on crypto currencies to take the baton. However, Hemke states that crypto coins need to evolve significantly in order to do it, as “in terms of market cap bitcoin is just a fraction of what even gold is [and] its price would have to be considerably higher than what it is now.”

https://www.rt.com/business/467556-gold-bull-market-keiser/

- As adversarial as Washington would want its relationship with Beijing to be, there is too much evidence that the relationship between China and the rest of the world is too intertwined to expect anything but a disaster from the current road ahead. A newly released report by the think tank China Matters just concluded that if China’s economic growth only shrunk by a few percent, Australia would potentially lose $140 billion in income and more than half a million jobs.

And it could be that if Beijing opens up this conflict on too many fronts, the Indo-Pacific region will only the tip of the iceberg. As part of its Silk Road Project, Beijing has begun snagging up states in the Balkans which will only further irk Washington, and might lead the US to do something painfully catastrophic in response.

All empires come to an end. That is an indisputable aspect of our history. Whether or not all empires will continue to fall in future of course remains to be seen, but generally speaking we base all future predictions on the back of previous experiences. How far an empire wants to bring the house down in order to avoid being overtaken by a rising power is also something which we would need to account for.

The US has nukes – a lot of them – and is slowly but surely propagating the notion that they might use them. And not just in situations when a nuclear strike is necessary to defend against another nuclear strike – just because, hey, if we are going down, we will take down the rest of the planet with us.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/467563-indo-pacific-military-base-us/

- Most of these spacecraft are tiny cubesats called Doves, which are about the size of a loaf of bread and can capture photos with a resolution of 10 feet to 16.5 feet (3 to 5 meters). But the imagery of today's failed launch was taken by one of Planet's minifridge-size SkySat satellites, which can resolve features as small as 3 feet (0.9 m), a company representative told Space.com.

https://www.space.com/iran-rocket-launch-failure-satellite-photo.html

In 2013, a study of Chinese medicinal herbs revealed pesticide residues classified by the WHO as dangerous or extremely dangerous in in 17 out of 36 samples. Twenty-six of them showed residues above the maximum levels permitted in the EU.

Despite the many irreconcilable positions, though, both camps have realized that both methods can complement each other meaningfully.

Acupuncture, for example, is now established in Western medicine.

And in today's China, Western medicine and TCM are mostly used in conjunction with one other.

https://www.dw.com/en/quackery-or-a-real-alternative-what-is-traditional-chinese-medicine/a-48805096

- SEOUL: An international trade fair in North Korea this week may be the largest such event on record, analysts said on Tuesday, with hundreds of Chinese and other foreign vendors taking part despite sanctions pressure.

The 22nd Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair opened on Monday with a ceremony hosted by top economic officials, North Korean state news agency KCNA reported.

More than 450 companies from North Korea, China, Russia, Pakistan, Poland and “other countries and regions” showcased a range of products at the fair, KCNA said.

That number would make it the largest trade fair hosted by North Korea, according to an analysis of state media announcements from 2007 to 2019 conducted by NK News, a website that tracks North Korean issues.

Last year, 260 companies reportedly participated in the spring fair, for example.

Among those taking part this year were at least 216 Chinese companies, NK News said in an analysis.

“The numbers tie into a lot of what we’ve seen recently demonstrating real Chinese interest in pushing ahead with business opportunities in North Korea, even though technically not much can go ahead under the current sanctions regime,” said Oliver Hotham, managing editor of NK News.

North Korean officials opened the event by saying it was a chance to expedite trade, economic cooperation, and science and technology exchanges with the participating countries, state media reported.

Companies exploring doing business in North Korea walk a fine line.

Sanctions imposed over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs would prohibit all joint ventures and most business with North Korea, analysts said, while some foreign business operations have previously said they were only preparing the ground for when sanctions are lifted.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1499976/business-economy

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