In The News

Bloodstained Rubies Fund Burmese Regime

Beat Balzli October 25, 2007
It is well known how the proceeds from sales of diamonds or oil can subsidize civil war and corrupt regimes, but less well known is how the international ruby trade sustains the Burmese junta. The United States and Europe each responded to Myanmar's violent repression of peaceful protesters with tightened trade limitations in their relations with the pariah in Southeast Asia, but were easily...

Chasing the Chinese Dream

Ariana Eunjung Cha October 25, 2007
Business entrepreneurs seeking security, opportunity and religious tolerance are turning away from traditional immigration destinations like the United States or Europe, and instead finding themselves on China's shores. The number of internationals in China with long-term visas has nearly doubled since 2003, about 450,000 people, including about 20,000 Muslims and 1,000 displaced Iraqis. The...

Far-Right Swiss Party Divides Nation on Immigrant Issue

Elaine Sciolino October 17, 2007
With Swiss elections on the horizon, the campaign of the country’s strongest party, the Swiss People’s Party, or SVP, has turned alarmingly xenophobic. The SVP campaign has featured posters, films and speeches attesting to its staunch stance against the immigrant population. SVP offers a vision of foreigners as the “hell” that invades “heavenly” Switzerland, and the party supports the deportation...

Global Population: From Explosion to Implosion?

Koïchiro Matsuura October 15, 2007
The planet has some new patterns in population: Elders now outnumber the young, more people live in cities than in the country and more people live in nations where fertility rates fall below the replacement rate for population. But population continues to grow, and the increases predicted for later in this century will be a major historical event, with more than 9 billion people expected to...

US Lets in More Immigrants for Farms

Nicole Gaouette October 9, 2007
Despite earlier promises about strict enforcement of immigration laws, the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Labor are reportedly easing policies to welcome more immigrant workers ready to harvest tomatoes, fruit and other crops before they rot. The US refuses to release details, but farmers clamor for more workers, claiming that citizens have no interest in joining the...

Fewer Babies Pose Difficult Challenges for Europe

Joseph Chamie October 8, 2007
Over the next few decades, Europe's population level is expected to fall by nearly 70 million people, or 10 percent of its current level, even accounting for policies that promote immigration and reproduction. Birth rates have fallen significantly below replacement levels throughout Europe, and the continent's median age steadily climbs. As Joseph Chamie of the Center for Migration...

Thanks China, Now Go Home: Buy-up of Zambia Revives Old Colonial Fears

Chris McGreal October 5, 2007
Sino-African trade has reached unprecedented levels, but the debate over its benefits for Africa rages on. Intent on acquiring natural resources to continue its blistering rate of economic growth, China turns to African nations for oil, metals and other valuables. In return, African governments, like the one in Zambia, receive huge aid and development packages and loans at below-market rates...