Asian Tigers

The Asian Tigers or Asian Dragons is a term used in reference to the highly free and developed economies of

• Hong Kong, 
• Singapore, 
• South Korea and 
• Taiwan. 

These nations and areas were notable for maintaining exceptionally high growth rates and rapid industrialization between the early 1960s and 1990s.

These regions were the first newly industrialized countries in Asia. They are known because they had very high growth rates and fast industrialization between the early 1960s and 1990s.

The four Asian Tigers countries are now rich countries. All four Asian Tigers have a lot of people who are very educated and good at their jobs. They also did different things, and tried to do them better than other countries. For example, Hong Kong and Singapore became very good at international finance, while South Korea and Taiwan became very good at information technology.

All the Asian Tigers tried to export things to rich industrialized nations. They grew rich very quickly (they had double-digit economic growth) for decades. Each nation was not a democracy, and people were not very free in the early years. All of these countries later became freer, and people now think Taiwan and Korea are liberal democracies.

Japan, the old tiger and leading goose

South Korea, Taiwan but also Hong Kong and Singapore form the group of so called Asian Tigers. Japan is left out of this group because it emerged earlier than the other four nations and the term was coined later on after the Japanese economy had already developed. However, in another such paradigm, the so-called leading goose paradigm, Japan is seen as the lead goose followed by the four Asian Tigers. In this paradigm the Asian Tigers are followed by the main ASEAN countries Indonesia, Thailand as well as Malaysia and finally by other fast developing nations in the region: China, Vietnam, Philippines etc.

Rural - Urban migration in China

The dangerous border between Mexico and the United States

The USA – Mexico border is one of the most dangerous and porous borders in the world.

Each month, assisted by smugglers working with drug cartels, thousands of Hispanic immigrants try to cross the frontier between Mexico and the United States.

On the eve of the US mid-term elections, the influx of illegal immigrants has re-opened the debate on immigration. Many are caught and try again, once, twice, ten times if necessary, while those who make it through are often hunted down by federal agents once on American soil.

On both sides of the border, our reporters met with those who want to emigrate and those who try to catch them.

VIDEO: Mexico-USA-danger-ridden-border-immigration-illegal

Discouraging coca cultivation in Columbia

A waste of time and effort?

	Helpful to achieve the objective	Harmful to achieve the objective
Internal	Strengths	Weakness
External	Opportunities	Threats

Strengths -War on drugs (destroy the plantations of coca plants) -in 2000 – 1000 tonnes of cocaine annually -in 2010 – less than 300 tonnes of cocaine annually -in 2000 – 170000 hectares of coca bushes -in 2010 – 75000 hectares of coca bushes

Weakness -Columbian government has no authority: *left wing guerrillas (FARC) *right wing paramilitary  groups -environmental pollution (spraying & toxic materials). -Farmers cannot make a living from legal agricultural activities, coca cultivation creates jobs and income for all the coca farmers in remote rural areas. - +- 1.2 % of Columbia’s GDP is spent every year on the war on drugs (1 billion dollars).

Opportunities -American support (also European support). -US provides 1.3 billion dollars mainly in military aid, to help fight the drug barons. -US provides military helicopters. -US organised a training program for  3 special army battalions. The special army battalion try to clear the area of drug traffickers.

Threats -the demand for cocaine in the US is extremely high. For example most Columbian heroin is destined for the US Market. -the international crisis in the coffee world is tempting small coffee farmers to turn to growing the coca plant. -Farmers in Columbia go bankrupt because they can’t compete with subsidised agricultural products imported from Europe and the US.

Surtsey, a new volcanic island

New islands are islands which have been created recently, whether by means of volcanism, erosion, glacial retreat, or other mechanisms. 

One of the most famous new volcanic islands is the small island of Surtsey, located in the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland. It first emerged from the ocean surface only in 1963. 

In 1965, it was declared a nature reserve for the study of ecological succession; plants, insects, birds, seals, and other forms of life have since established themselves on the island.

What are hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones?

A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone.

Mexico City

Largest city in Mexico
Mexico City is the capital and largest city in Mexico. It is also one of the most populous and polluted cities in the world. The Aztec people were here before the Spanish came and made Mexico City. It was founded in 1521 by Hernán Cortés. Today, about 8.5 million people live in the city, and about 21.2 million live in the Greater Mexico City urban area. The city of Mexico City ceased to exist in 1928. Since then, there is only the Federal District.

Mexico City has 21.2 million people. It is the city with the second highest number of people in the world after Tokyo in Japan and just slightly more populated than Mumbai in India.

Primate city

Mexico City is a primate city. A primate city is the leading city in its country or region, disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy.A primate city is number one in its country in most aspects, like politics, economy, media, culture and universities.

A primate city is at least twice as large as the next largest city and more than twice as significant.