In The News

Malay-Muslims Have a Role in Remaking Singapore

Lee Hsien Loong May 27, 2003
In the contemporary moment, no country is immune from the possibility of religious and sectarian violence, and the threat of global terrorism. In this speech to a Malay-Muslim youth organization, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, emphasizes the importance of cultural and religious pluralism, and the critical role of Malay-Muslims in Singapore's continued growth and...

Remake Man

Tad Friend May 26, 2003
In a telling commentary that combines capitalism in Hollywood with the American Dream, a contributor to the New Yorker magazine, Tad Friend, takes the reader through the making of Roy Lee as the "remake king." Lee, a Korean-American, whose parents moved from South Korea to the United States in the late 1960s, has carved out a unique role for himself in Hollywood: It is one that...

US Imposes New Sanctions on China

May 23, 2003
Even though the new US embargo is not the first of its kind against China, it is the biggest in scope and it comes only a week before the two countries’ leaders meet in Russia. China sold weapons to Iran during its conflict with Iraq in the 80’s, but the US says a more recent arms sale breaks a weapons proliferation agreement reached between the US and China in 2000. The trade sanctions are...

Solutions for Coffee Crisis

May 22, 2003
As a world glut cut down the price of coffee, some coffee-growing countries have decided to convert some of their coffee areas to other crops, increasing the diversity of their agricultural production and raising world coffee prices. At a recent round-table discussion, the World Bank and the International Coffee Organization urged rich countries to lower their agricultural tariffs and reduce...

Blame It on Globalization

David Pozen May 21, 2003
For all the apocalyptic talk of globalization's corrosive effects on social provision, Western European welfare regimes have survived to date and will continue to survive in the future. Welfare regimes, generally operating within a national framework, involve states' actions for the funding, provision, distribution, and coordination of a wide range of benefits and services....

North Korea Is Said to Export Drugs to Get Foreign Currency

James Dao May 21, 2003
In order to increase the country's foreign currency reserves, North Korea has been exporting large quantities of drugs to foreign countries, a North Korean defector told lawmakers in Washington, DC. American intelligence officials believe that a big proportion of the money has been used to finance the country's nuclear programs, as well as production of traditional weapons, which...

Vietnam Cutting Back on Coffee to Ease Glut

Jason Folkmanis May 19, 2003
After increasing coffee production more than six-fold in the past ten years to becoming the world's second biggest coffee producer, Vietnam is now trying to decrease its farmers' reliance on coffee. Global prices are simply too low to justify coffee's large role in Vietnam's agriculture, say officials. – YaleGlobal