In The News

Stem Cell Research Must Go Global

Roger Pedersen June 16, 2003
Like the internationally known Human Genome Project, stem cell research is attracting much attention because of the promises it holds for medical science. In this article, biomedical expert, Roger Pedersen, argues that in order to ensure success for this project, more international collaboration is needed. He emphasizes the importance of transparent communication and exchange, among researchers...

Students Roil Iranian Capital in 3rd Night of Protests

Neil MacFarquhar June 13, 2003
Violent and vocal, Iranian students marched in protest again this week. The immediate stimulus was a government proposal to privatize the universities, but, according to one government worker who joined in, "For 25 years we have lived without any freedom. We want social freedom, economic freedom and political freedom." Cell phone calls by protesters to a Persian-language television...

Push for Rights of Singapore Women's Foreign-born

Chuang Peck Ming June 12, 2003
The proactive, modern women of Singapore are still shackled by obsolete policies, says the government-supported 'Remaking Singapore Committee'. Women and their children are subject to a vast array of double-standards that, they say, are born in the delivery-room and go on to thrive in society. These policies perpetuate the perception that women from Singapore are lesser citizens than...

What's Really Holding Islamic Nations Back

J. Bradford Delong June 9, 2003
Ever since the September 11 attacks, questions about the backwardness of Islamic countries have acquired a new urgency. In this article, economist J. Bradford Delong tries to answer what factors may have contributed to the bad economies of the Islamic world. He first cites the case history of the Industrial Revolution – how the Revolution touched almost all parts of the world but the Islamic...

Globalization with Few Discontents?

June 3, 2003
As a sub-section of the Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, "View of a Changing World," this article examines the global public's attitudes towards globalization in the past five years. Generally, peoples of the world agree - albeit to different degrees - that after experiencing globalization through trade, finance, travel, communication and culture, they favor an interconnected...

Dreams, Deferred

Erika Kinetz June 1, 2003
The recent downturn in the US economy has had a devastating impact on the financial services, telecommunications, and media industries in New York City. In a New York Times feature article, Erika Kinetz offers stories of recent graduates of Queens College who hail from around the globe, and who, in spite of enviable grades and technical skills, remain unemployed. For these graduates, jobs are...

Technology Gap Forces Flexibility in Teaching

Lori Aratani May 21, 2003
Andrew Hill High School in northern California, USA, which serves some of the area's poorest students and immigrants, has brought technology into its daily teaching, with wireless network installed and laptops equipped in classrooms. Computer use is integrated into the education. With a third of the student-body still in a struggle to master the English language, teaching methods that...