In The News

Immigrant Horror Stories Leading Nation to Policy Change

Carlos Guerra June 12, 2003
Along the US-Mexico border, this year alone over 100 people have died while trying to illegally cross into the US. But the high death toll will not prevent yet more hopeful migrants from making this dangerous journey. Economic downturns like the current one often lead to calls for tougher immigration restrictions in the US, but, ironically, they also often coincide with an increase in flows of...

Indians Pursue Portuguese Passports as an Entree to Europe

James Brooke June 8, 2003
Anyone who was living in the Indian state of Goa in 1961 – when colonization by Portugal officially ended – or who had an ancestor living there at the time, can still obtain a Portuguese passport and thus have indirect access to much of Europe. During decolonization, the Portuguese made arrangements so that all inhabitants of “Portuguese India” would retain some of the rights of Portuguese...

Senators Demand Ban on Imports from Burma

Anwar Iqbal June 5, 2003
In the wake of the detainment of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the opposition party in Myanmar, two US senators are proposing a legislation to ban all imports from the country until it improves its record on human rights and democracy. If the bill passes, the US will join business and labor groups that have already united in support of sanctions. Already, many major...

India Fears Impact of Bid to Curb Jobs Exports

Edward Alden June 4, 2003
Following the lead of many other American and British firms, the British insurance company, Prudential, is planning to export jobs from the UK to India. Outsourcing to low-cost offshore centers is saving companies billions of dollars a year, since it allows them to set up shop where labor is plentiful and cheap. Though company executives maintain that outsourcing merely follows economic law and...

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...

In Search of the Iraqi Pie

Charubala Annuncio June 3, 2003
Preliminary work on the reconstruction of Iraq has begun, and firms from a variety of countries are already lined up for possible contracts. This article from Outlook India Magazine discusses the prospects for Indian companies hoping to get some of the lucrative sub-contracts in the reconstruction. Since the contract assignment process is mostly run by the Americans, the authors point out that...

Steel Striking for a 35-Hour Week

Heidi Sylvester May 30, 2003
The biggest German union, IG Metall, is pushing hard for shortened weekly work hours in eastern Germany's steel factories. The strikes, supported by 83 percent of the steel workers polled, are likely to start on June 2. A 35-hour work week would put eastern Germany's steelworkers on a par with their counterparts in western Germany. Many economists and politicians, however, are...