In The News

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part I

Graham Allison March 14, 2008
The detonation of a nuclear weapon – intentionally or not, by state powers or terrorists – will produce no winners. The very real danger that terrorists could unleash a nuclear weapon in major cities adds new urgency to dealing with the gathering threat. This three-part series explores the consequences of nuclear Armageddon and explains why immediate plans to eliminate all nuclear weaponry are in...

Vatican Updates List of Mortal Sins for Globalization Era

Dmitry Sudakov March 13, 2008
Many religions share the same goals, preventing harm to others or society, and their doctrines label the deliberate transgressions of moral law or religious teaching as sins. After 14 centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has updated its list of serious sins – adding pollution, genetic engineering, obscene riches, drug addiction, abortion, pedophilia and social injustice to the 6th century list of...

Italian Waste Hits New Snag

Judy Fahys March 11, 2008
Utah is more remote than Italy, with about 30 people per square mile to Italy’s 5000. That doesn’t mean Utahns want 20,000 tons of radioactive waste from Italy buried in their deserts. “We believe that any country that has the technological capability of producing nuclear power within its borders should not seek to dispose of its waste outside them,” reads a letter from a state advisory board...

How to Buy a Gun in Darfur

Daniel Pepper March 10, 2008
The Darfur region of Sudan is home to a series of interconnected conflicts that blend genocide with large-scale rebel armies fighting both the Sudanese and Chad governments. Investigative reporter Daniel Pepper went to Darfur in 2006 to find out how the United Front for Democracy and Change (FUCD), a rebel force seeking to overthrow Chad’s regime, obtains its weapons and equipment. He discovered...

A Life or Death Decision

Robert Verkaik March 7, 2008
The punishment for practicing homosexuality in Iran is a slow and excruciating public hanging. An Iranian student in London, named by a former partner before an execution in Iran, failed to receive asylum in the UK, and has since fled to the Netherlands. A Dutch appeals court will rule on granting the young man Dutch asylum or returning him to the UK. Gay-rights activists throughout Europe...

Chavez Picks a New Fight, With Colombia

Peter Wilson March 4, 2008
Nationalistic economic policies have led to shortages of staples including milk and eggs, and high inflation rates in Venezuela, the highest in South America. Colombia President Álvaro Uribe and Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez have squabbled over both rebels and a recent free-trade pact between Colombia and the US, yet to be approved by Congress. After the killing of a Colombian rebel...

Myanmar Wildlife Pays the Price for Chinese Demand

March 3, 2008
A country with a repressive government and dire poverty can attract the wrong kind of tourists. Such tourists arrive in Myanmar, not to admire lush forests, open grasslands or wildlife, but rather take advantage of a black market for rare species. Mong La, along the Chinese border, has branched out from offering opium and prostitutes to marketing exotic species for visitors. Gangs offer rare...