In The News

Cheap AIDS Drugs Under Threat

Randeep Ramesh March 23, 2005
Recent legislation passed by the Indian government will hamper the ability of poorer nations and individuals to treat the HIV virus. In order to comply with the World Trade Organization's patent licensing policies, India has criminalized the copying of patented drugs, which include the antiretroviral drugs used to treat AIDS. India's generic pharmaceuticals have treated almost half the...

Central Asia Is Corrupted by Cotton

Quentin Peel March 10, 2005
Though many developing countries are cheering a recent WTO ruling declaring US agricultural subsidies illegal, indigent farmers in Central Asia will never know the difference. Since the dismantling of the Soviet regime, the cotton industries in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan have been hijacked by wealthy insiders. Working with international traders, middlemen sell expensive inputs to...

India's City of Contrasts May Really Need Two Names

Anand Giridharadas February 28, 2005
Ten years ago, in seeking to escape its colonial legacy, India's wealthiest state re-named its flagship city, and Bombay became Mumbai. To this day, however, there is still confusion over what to call the city; the Times of India writes "Mumbai" on front-page news, but calls its entertainment insert the Bombay Times. Increasingly – and much to the confusion of outsiders – the...

Millions of Indians Await Benefits of Globalization

Jessica Einhorn February 25, 2005
At a time when many analysts predict a booming future for the Indian economy, India remains hesitant to fully embrace globalization. India and its neighbor China have been tagged as the world's next economic superpowers. Yet while China industriously makes its shores hospitable to foreign capital, Indian reformers continue to grapple with a long history of intransigent domestic opposition to...

"What Aspect of Islam is Supposedly Under Threat?"

Yoginder Sikand February 10, 2005
In the wake of communal violence in Holland, multiculturalists in Europe are under increasing pressure for preaching acceptance of Islam. Some detractors insist that Muslim minorities stubbornly resist integration into European culture. Another mounting strain of critique attacks multiculturalism from an entirely different angle. These critics argue that in privileging the conservative religious...

Can the World Deliver for Africa?

Larry Elliott February 2, 2005
2005 may be the year of Africa, if UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and other officials have anything to do with it. Britain, charged this year with the coinciding presidencies of both the EU and the G8, has vowed to make African economic revival a priority. The poorest continent in the world is steadily growing poorer, as standards of living, health, education, and economic productivity are far...

China Blocks World Meeting on Workers' Rights

Joseph Kahn December 9, 2004
With its low cost environment, especially cheap labor, China has become the world's largest producer of manufactured goods. However, not only NGOs but increasingly foreign governments and business leaders have urged China to do more to protect workers' rights. China only allows government-controlled labor union. Recently Beijing appeared to be listening when Prime Minister Wen Jiabao...