In The News

Migration Affects National Cultures

Jürgen Kaube October 31, 2003
Germany has only just begun to understand the implications of the increasing presence of migrant workers, says this article in a Germany weekly. Whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear head scarves in class is only a small part of the bigger questions of national identity, assimilation, and economic need. "By repeatedly expressing our unease about the mixed implications of...

Roh Supports English as 2nd Official Language

October 24, 2003
South Korea's President Roh is throwing his weight behind a plan to make English his country's official second language. The Ministry of Finance and Economy expects to build 100 special zones nation-wide for English education, and several provinces are considering investing some of their own resources into English immersion schools. In a recent survey of 12 Asian countries, South...

15,000 Families Granted Asylum

October 24, 2003
With more asylum seekers fleeing conflicts in various parts of the world, receiving countries are experiencing some hard times. The UK, for example, is already feeling over burdened. Recently, the government announced that it would grant 15,000 families indefinite leave to remain and enable them to work in the UK, a right they don't currently enjoy. According to the Secretary of the Home...

All Over an Inch of Flesh

October 23, 2003
Last month, two schoolgirls were kicked out of school in France for wearing headscarves, a traditional Muslim symbol. While it is legal to wear religious symbols in school, French law forbids the wearing of certain ostentatious religious signs "that constitute an act of pressure, provocation, proselytism or propaganda." Thus, wearing headscarves is acceptable. But when the girls...

Elderly Immigrants Embrace Nursing Homes

Sarah Kershaw October 20, 2003
For many American families, nursing homes are a fact of life for the elderly. This article finds that immigrants too are embracing “the very American tradition of living the last years with peers, not family.” In particular, this trend is becoming more commonplace among Asian immigrants – many of whom still feel that the “decision to send a parent away is clouded with shame and ambivalence.”...

Once Again Divided

Mohamed Darwish October 20, 2003
It's not only the western media's portrayal of the Iraqi war that has Arab journalists up in arms – some are not so happy at the perceived inaccuracies in other Arab sources. At the Third Arab Media Forum last week in Dubai, discussions disintegrated into shouting matches as journalists struggled to make sense out the role the media should play in wartime. Some journalists accused...

Courageous Arab Thinkers

Thomas L. Friedman October 19, 2003
Can the Arab countries – long dependent on their abundant oil resources for their incomes – be convinced that development and growth is actually dependent on democracy and open societies? A group of Arab scholars are aiming to do just that by publishing their second "Arab Development Report", which analyzes the economic stagnation of the Middle East in light of the UN's "...