May 21 How the Pentagon gets fooled into buying back its own garbage By P. J. Tobia The U.S. government spends billions of dollars a year on electronics, making it the largest buyer of IT products in the world, according to some estimates. When those electronics break or become obsolete (they always do!) they become e-waste,… Continue reading
May 14 How Chinese millionaires buy U.S. citizenship By P. J. Tobia, Marina Lopes For this week’s Shortwave, PJ Tobia looks at the practice and pitfalls of EB-5 investor visa program, which is due to expire in September. Continue reading
May 07 Twitter chat: Are you benefiting from modern day slavery? By Nora Daly Twenty-one million people are currently victims of modern day slavery. And most Americans use or consume products produced by slave labor--everything from pet food to sushi to cell phone parts--on a daily basis. Continue reading
May 06 Watch 4:02 Why U.S. rules aren’t stopping illegal ivory trade at home By PBS News Hour Much of the money made from the illegal global ivory trade funds global terrorism and criminal networks. Judy Woodruff talks to the NewsHour’s P.J. Tobia about illicit ivory sales in the U.S. and how hard it is to regulate. Continue watching
May 06 How smugglers move black market ivory on Craigslist By P. J. Tobia Experts say the African elephant could be extinct within a decade. Between 2010 and 2012 alone, 100,000 African elephants were poached -- killed for their tusks. That's a dead elephant every 15 minutes, much faster than the animals can reproduce. Continue reading
May 01 Is organized crime profiting from your Mayweather-Pacquiao wager? By P. J. Tobia Boxers Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao will face each other this weekend in what many are calling the "fight of the century." Hyperbole aside, this match is expected to shatter serious money records -- in pay-per-view sales, ticket… Continue reading
Apr 22 Teen brides and future jihadis, Syria’s child refugees By P. J. Tobia This week on Shortwave, we bring you the story of Syria's refugee children. Ten million people. A population the size of London and Paris combined. That's how many Syrians have been forced to leave their homes since 2011. Of these… Continue reading
Apr 15 What if every working age person in your town disappeared? By P. J. Tobia Imagine if you woke up one day and all of the working-age men and women in your town were gone. They'd disappeared practically overnight. How would that change your town's culture, its lifestyle -- your life?… Continue reading
Apr 08 You probably benefited from slave labor today By P. J. Tobia There are 21 million people worldwide living as slaves. Some of their work ends up in your home and on your plate. Continue reading