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Simon Benoit-Guyod

See more by Simon Benoit-Guyod

Back in business
CAIXINMEDIA

When Chinese Businessmen Step Onto The Global Market

Over the past 30 years, while China opened up to the outside world, the Chinese business community has gradually accumulated more and more knowledge of the world as well. Access to the World Trade Organization and modern information technology also helped speed along that process of global understanding.

Still, there are limits. Since the vast majority of China's business leaders grew up in a relatively closed environment and formed their business philosophy mainly in the Chinese market, there is a steep learning curve when it comes down to knowing how to invest, undertake mergers and acquisitions in the international market, or how to manage a multinational company.

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Rob Rhinehart pouring a nice glass of Soylent
food / travel

This Soylent Isn't People, But Is It A Super Shake That Could Save The World?

A young American entrepreneur has created what appears to be a successful add-water-and-mix food he thinks could have many helpful applications around the globe. Others aren't so sure.

The first signs appeared a little more than a year ago when Rob Rhinehart stopped washing his clothes. A few weeks earlier, he donated most of his personal belongings because he felt they were a burden he didn’t really need.

What remained were a laptop and some other technology equipment, a few basic hygiene products and two sets of clothes. And instead of washing them, he would store them in the fridge after realizing the low temperature kills the microorganisms responsible for the odor that we identify as unclean. It was simpler and cheaper than a washing machine.

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Bringing electricity - among other things - to Sumba
Smarter Cities

In A Remote Corner Of Indonesia, A Model Of Clean Energy Use

WAINGAPU — In a remote western village on the Indonesian island of Sumba, 37-year-old Rambu Cinta sits on the porch of her thatched roof house chewing beetle nut.

For most of her life she has lived without electricity. “Before at night we didn’t have anything to do. So after we had eaten dinner we just went to sleep,” she says with a laugh.

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In Beijing's finance district
China

Why China's Business Leaders Don't Sleep Well At Night

BEIJING — The “Hierarchy of Needs," an influential psychological theory put forth by American psychologist Abraham Maslow, tells us that humans have different levels of needs. From the most basic physiological necessities such as water, food and sex, to love, belonging and self-actualization. It is notable that security comes in second on the hierarchy after the physical needs for human survival.

For Chinese entrepreneurs, who are typically taken care of materially and are pursuing social respect and self-fulfillment, their sense of security is the factor meant to allow them to sleep soundly at night. It means not having to think about emigrating from China, and feeling confident about China’s economy and the future for themselves and their businesses.

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Snapshot Of The World: Paris Protests, London Sunrise, Tokyo Typhoon
blog

Snapshot Of The World: Paris Protests, London Sunrise, Tokyo Typhoon

A quick trip around the world in six photographs, from London and Paris to Tokyo and Kabul...

Beijing's uncontrolled urbanization
China

Is China's Urban Boom A House Of Cards?

BEIJING"Better city, better life ..." This was the theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a nod to the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle who understood what people expect from urban life: to make their living a better living.

But what is the reality in people's lives right now? During China's golden week — in which people celebrate China's National Day — Typhoon Fitow made landfall on the southeast coast and Shanghai was instantly turned into a lake. Buses became submarines. The nearby city of Yuyao in Zhejiang province was almost completely underwater. And even the north wasn't spared, as a haze lingered for days, causing serious air pollution in numerous cities including Beijing.

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National Front leader Marine Le Pen speaking at a party rally in May 2013
Germany

The Troubling Rise Of The Far Right In Europe

From Greece to France to Austria, political parties espousing anti-immigrant, anti-euro policies are making gains across Europe.

-OpEd-

BERLIN — Europe sees itself as the home of democracy, but do democratic values truly run to its core? If you believe the regular warnings about the danger of extreme right-wing parties, democracy is little more than a thin veneer stretched across the continent. Throughout Europe, the euro skeptics are growing in popularity.

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Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters in Syria
Turkey

After Backing Syria's Islamist Rebels, Turkey Now Fears Al-Qaeda 'Boomerang'

Ankara had bet on Islamist rebels taking down the Assad regime. Now they may have helped create a monster right across the border.

ISTANBUL — Earlier in the Syrian war, Turkish officials backed the Islamist rebel group al-Nusra, seeing it as one of the most effective forces fighting against the regime in Damascus.

But that’s over.

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Xi Jinping's Oct.4 state visit to Malaysia
CAIXINMEDIA

What China Sees When It Looks At Southeast Asia

Following fast on the heels of President Xi Jinping’s recent trip to Indonesia and Malaysia, China’s Premier Li Keqiang also showed up in Southeast Asia, attending the East Asia leaders’ meeting before bilateral visits to Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam.

It is rare in China’s diplomatic history that its president and premier visit the same region within a short space of time, a sign of the growing importance of Southeast Asia in China’s current approach to foreign affairs.

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Snapshot Of The World: Ben Franklin, Banksy, Fog Of War, More
Geopolitics

Snapshot Of The World: Ben Franklin, Banksy, Fog Of War, More

Balloons, Ben Franklin, Banksy share center stage in our photographic wrap of the past seven days...

Last one till the next one
Germany

Can Smokers Be Shocked Into Quitting?

Public smoking bans, written warnings, shocking images on cigarette packets: Deterrent measures grow worldwide, though consumption in developing countries continues to rise.

MUNICH — It’s almost impossible to imagine Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca without a cigarette in his hand. And what would Holly Golightly be without her signature cigarette holder?

A few years ago, a study at the University of San Francisco showed that even as smoking becomes more taboo in society and the number of smokers decreases, screen representations of smoking are more prevalent. The last few years have seen a sharp increase in anti-smoking measures worldwide, so if this trend holds we can expect more actors lighting up in films.

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