In The News

More Japanese Saying Sayonara to Düsseldorf

Stephan Finsterbusch March 14, 2003

Canada Tackled on Internet Drugs Sales to US

Christopher Bowe March 13, 2003
The flood of drug sales from Canadian pharmacies to US consumers raises many ethical, political, and trade questions. In response, American and Canadian health authorities have begun discussions on the flow of price-controlled drugs into the US. This growing cross-border business illuminates many loopholes in US health care policies and the problem of insufficient drug coverage for many elderly...

Microsoft Pact Not Much of a Deal

Jerry Fong 馮震宇 March 11, 2003
US-based Microsoft Corporation, manufacturer of the Windows operating system that runs the majority of computers around the world, has embedded itself more deeply into yet another country. Taiwanese IT companies and IT analysts are not too thrilled about the ROC Fair Trade Commission’s new pact with Microsoft. Jerry Fong, professor of Law at National Chengchi University, highlights major faults...

Calling Elvis, Anybody Home?

Seema Sirohi March 7, 2003
Should American politicians emphasize economic efficiency to cut costs in government or should they first and foremost seek to protect US workers' jobs? As the economy continues to decline in the US, some people are saying that it's time to move American jobs back to America. Over the past several years Fortune 500 companies like GE and American Express have shifted a great deal of...

Fawlty Globalisation

M.J. Akbar March 6, 2003
Providing space for economic refugees is the key to maintaining a balanced globalization. The countries that have best accommodated economic refugees, like the US and India, are the ones that also tend to benefit the most from the skills these individuals bring. But the worry is that countries want cheap labor while constraining the diversity that migration entails. Multi-ethnic India serves as a...

Ultraman Copyright: Big Plans after Japan Court Win

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn March 5, 2003
After a seven-year Tokyo court battle, Sompote Saengduenchai, a Thai businessman, won rights to Ultraman in all international markets except Japan. Ultraman has long been considered one of Japan's quintessential superheroes, like America's Superman, but Sompote was involved in designing the character while a student in Japan in the early 1960s. Sompote is now planning Ultraman films,...

Central Asia: Conference Asks What Lessons Can Region Learn from EU

Breffni O’Rourke March 5, 2003
Can the kind of economic integration that the European Union (EU) now enjoys be applied to Central Asia? The development of a single European market has raised standards of living across Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is looking for ways to develop a similar system for Central Asian states. But with a markedly different history, and given the current...