SINGAPOREAccording to the New York Times, Yale University has announced plans to establish a liberal arts college in Singapore, financed by the Singaporean government in hopes to create a new model for higher education in Asia. The new institution, Yale-N.U.S. College, is scheduled to open in 2013 and seeks to introduce the residential college concept to Singapore. The goal is that students live, study, and take classes in an intimate setting. Yale would be primarily responsible for hiring 100 professors to teach about 1,000 students at the college.

CUBA

According to the BBC, Cuba has announced plans to cut 1 million public-sector jobs, half of them by March of 2011. By cutting state employees, they hope to help revive the country’s struggling economy by reducing the state’s role in it. The recently unemployed will be encouraged to become self-employed or to join private enterprises. Strict rules limiting private enterprises will be relaxed; the self-employed will be allowed access to social security, open bank accounts, and loans. Cuba’s government currently employs 85 percent of the country’s workforce.

CHILE

The 33 Chilean miners who have been trapped underground for nearly three weeks have been given permission to smoke by health officials, according to a Sept. 11 article by the BBC. Health experts had previously prevented rescuers from sending them cigarettes, due to concerns of polluting the air in their rescue shelter, but after efforts to improve ventilation in the shelter, two packs of cigarettes will now be included in their daily survival supplies. Many of the miners will meet this survival package with extreme relief, after having spent three long weeks in nicotine withdrawal.

MOZAMBIQUE

According to AllAfrica.com, the Mozambique government will be enacting an agricultural credit line worth $25 million this month. The initiative will be part of an integrated plan of action for food production, according to Noticias, Maputo’s daily publication. Agriculture Minister Soares Nhaca announced that the credit would be managed by Standard Bank, with support from the Mozambican government and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

AUSTRALIA

Australian health officials have proposed a 10 percent tax on junk food. The proposed tax is part of an initiative aimed at improving the quality of Australian fast food restaurants. Research has shown fast food marketed as “healthier” is, in fact, not healthy at all. Salads were found to be high in both sugar and fat and “healthy” sandwiches averaged 2.5 grams of salt. Officials have asked fast food restaurants to decrease the level of salt in their food by 10 percent. In defense of the tax, researcher for the George Institute for Global Health Elizabeth Dunford affirms, “A tax would be more effective than promoting healthy eating and exercise.