Global Econ Puzzle Awaits New President

Zeituni Onyango granted asylum

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's aunt, has received permission to stay in the US. An immigration judge granted Zeituni Onyango's plea for asylum today, agreeing with her lawyer's arguments that she would face tribal violence if she returned home to Kenya. Oyanga was not well known to her nephew, but she became a focus of attention during the 2008 campaign after she defied a deportation order and filed for asylum, the Boston Globe reports. More»

More companies hire trained operators to work from home

(NEWSER) - It’s still not as cheap as outsourcing to India or the Philippines, but US companies are increasingly choosing homegrown telephone operators to handle their customer service needs. The trend is fueled by the advent of “phonesourcing” or “homesourcing,” which uses linkups to allow trained operators to work from home, instead of at your traditional brick-and-mortar call center. It costs less—about $20 an hour to the client, instead of $30. More»

China, India helped draft leaked agreement they railed against

(NEWSER) - The “Danish text”—the leaked climate change agreement that infuriated developing nations in Copenhagen and sparked accusations of bullying by rich countries—was actually drafted by a group that included China, India, and Brazil, among other countries. They had “input into the process and product” of the agreement, which seeks to impose stricter limits on developing nations’ emissions, an insider tells the Los Angeles Times . More»

Also, Samoa is a US territory, so...yay?

(NEWSER) - From Pacific islands to Eastern Europe, the world is fat. The cause is the same almost everywhere, Laurie Cunningham writes for Global Post : increased access to processed foods and sedentary lifestyles. The top victims of "globesity:"

1. American Samoa: Percentage of population that's overweight: 93.5. The tiny Pacific nation's traditional diet of "foods high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat" fell apart when Western dietary habits intruded.

How one country ducked the economic downturn

(NEWSER) - Australia has weathered the financial crisis better than any other developed country. Last week its central bank raised interest rates, indicating its primary concern is now inflation, not growth. What were the keys? Phil Dobbie of BNET explains:

• Befriending China: Australia used to export much of what it made to the US and UK, but over the last decade much of that trade has shifted to China. In fact, some economists argue that Australia didn’t need a stimulus package—Beijing’s stimulus was enough.