In The News

Debate on Freedoms Splits Hong Kong

Peter S. Goodman June 30, 2003
Hong Kong should be celebrating – SARS has been contained, and the island just signed a free trade agreement with mainland China. But Hong Kong's independence and freedom are under threat, worry some critics. Democracy advocates and businesspeople fear that a proposed new law, called 'Article 23', will undermine the openness that has long attracted investors and enabled Hong Kong...

At the Crossroads of History

Kofi Annan June 30, 2003
In a speech delivered at the World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan, Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, spoke of the follies of the past to present his vision for the future. The first half of the 20th century, marked by two world wars, totalitarianism, holocaust and Hiroshima should not be emulated in this new century. Rather, humanity should "build on the achievements of...

Iran Is Trying to Curb Porn and Politics on Web

Neil MacFarquhar June 29, 2003
The Iranian government is attempting to control the internet, the last refuge of unadulterated information – and pornography – in the country. Newspapers, television, and other forms of media have long been censored by the government, prevented from printing sexually explicit pictures and from criticizing the regime. Thus far, the internet has remained immune to such controls, with student...

The Great Rainforest Tragedy

Michael McCarthy June 28, 2003
Brazil’s 1.6 million acres of rainforest is the most species-rich habitat on earth. But it has long been threatened by development, logging, and farming undertaken by a burgeoning population mired in poverty. Deforestation has jumped by 40% in the last year, shocking environmentalists and government officials, who have promised to take action against the problem. But the cause of deforestation...

Controlling the Flow

Gamal Nkrumah June 27, 2003
In the same week that European Union (EU) leaders met in Thessaloniki, Greece to discuss migration issues, a vessel carrying African migrants trying to enter Europe sank off the coast of Tunisia, killing some 70 people. This was one of the many vessels operated by illegal immigrant-trafficking gangs in Northern Africa who carry Africans to Mediterranean coastlines. Ironically, top on the agenda...

America Goes Backward

Stanley Hoffman June 27, 2003
After the war in Iraq, the US Bush administration is once again criticized by many. In this feature article in the New York Review of Books, Harvard scholar Stanley Hoffmann argues that not only has the administration's unilateralism resulted in anti-Americanism overseas, but also domestic concerns of justice issues, among others. Furthermore, seeing itself as the world's peacekeeper,...

Triumph of Pragmatism

June 25, 2003
Settling boundary disputes between China and India will draw the two countries closer together, this editorial in the Hindu maintains. Indeed, the Beijing Declaration produced at the recent India-China summit talks aims to settle long-disputed territorial claims and constitutes a mutual effort to repair strained relations between the two giants. By resolving these border issues, an agreement...