In The News

Bit of Malay Culture Is Now Vanishing Under Muslim Rules

Chris Prystay April 21, 2006
Introduced to Southeast Asia in the 13th century, Islam gradually supplanted Buddhism and Hinduism, but co-existed with ancient traditions over the centuries. Since the 1970s, however, fundamentalist Islam has spiked in multicultural countries such as Malaysia, with Muslim students and scholars galvanized by Iran emerging as an Islamic state. Political gains of Parti Islam parallel the increasing...

Mothers Want Hope for Their Children

Sonia Nazario April 19, 2006
The tide of illegal immigrants to American shores has become unmanageable, with numbers far outstripping those at any other time in US history. Immigrants take jobs that are unpopular with native US workers, often at reduced wages, thus allowing US firms to compete globally. The immigrant workforce reduces US food and clothing costs and makes child-care readily available for US families,...

Disappearing Delphi

Rick Popely April 18, 2006
Delphi Corp., the major supplier of auto parts in the US market, plans to close or sell more than two thirds of its 29 US plants. If the plan is approved by bankruptcy court, the company would focus on high-end electronic technology – with the eight remaining US plants making products that require immediate installation. The sell-off could allow the company to end its union contracts with 17,000...

Stitching Labor Change in Italy

Jennifer Clark April 17, 2006
Italy’s economy relies on traditional industries such as textiles and shoes—the type of products that China manufacturers have targeted as well. Facing rising foreign competition, more than 2000 Italian firms closed in 2005. But rather than fight outsourcing, Italian fashion-textile union leader Valeria Fedeli contends that the industry must “adapt or die.” Fedeli supports more tax breaks for...

Off the Job, Onto the Streets

Miriam Jordan April 16, 2006
As US Congress takes a vacation away from debating proposals aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, immigrants and their supporters remind the rest of the US how much the country depends on their work. Latino workers have walked off their jobs in droves, joining large pro-immigrant demonstrations in more than 100 cities. The protests forced some employers to scramble and close a gap...

A Nation of Immigrants Clashes Over the Future

Georg Mascolo April 12, 2006
In 2005, the US arrested 1.2 million people attempting to cross the US-Mexico border in Arizona’s Arivaca Valley. About half that number were successful journeying through the treacherous desert, encouraged by words on the Statue of Liberty that welcome immigrants from the world over – “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.” The US estimates that 11 million...

Visa for Cream

Sanjay Suri April 12, 2006
Historically, Britain relied on immigrants from India for factory help and other jobs that the British didn’t want to do. Immigration resulted in a British community of 2 million Indians, many who met with great success. But now the UK has tinkered with its immigration rules to reject poor workers from former colonies Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and elsewhere and target workers with information-...