In The News

Networks Plan to Offer Front-Row View of War

Charlie McCollum March 18, 2003
The first Gulf War was dubbed 'CNN's war' by some because of the US news network's minute-by-minute televised coverage of developments in Iraq. But in America's second major military engagement with Saddam Hussein's regime – expected to come any day now – CNN will face competition in the US from domestic networks that couldn't rival CNN's war coverage in...

Vigils Are Held Around the World to Oppose Military Action

Thomas J. Lueck March 17, 2003
Anti-war protestors utilized the internet to organize vigils around the world on Sunday night. In almost 140 countries, people came together to protest an impending US-led military action against Iraq, all at 7:00pm in their local time. In major cities and small towns of the US, the mostly silent vigils provided thousands of protestors with the opportunity to protest the Bush Administration...

Via Ireland, a Chapter in the Story of Black America

S. Lee Jamison March 17, 2003
Recent studies of African American names reveal interesting interactions between African Americans and Irish immigrants in the 1800s in America. According to the author of "Black Genealogy", hair and skin color of both Blacks and Irish made them subject to discrimination from mainstream Protestant society in the North before the Civil War. Although such shared discrimination created...

Top Chinese Varsities Take After US Colleges

Jason Leow March 11, 2003
Through international conferences, journals, and the internet, educational theories and models are extremely mobile. Although most of China’s universities and colleges still require high school applicants to list their three most preferred schools and a corresponding major, 3 prestigious institutions are now switching to a system modeled after US colleges. Students at Qinghua, Beijing, and...

Controversial Findings Rekindle Education Debate

Carola Schlaghec March 7, 2003
Debates over immigration policy have been tense in Germany in recent years. This week, however, findings that schools with more immigrant students do worse than schools without immigrants are fueling the discussion even further. Immigrant children, particularly those from poorer backgrounds who do not speak German, have a disadvantage entering the school system. The results of this latest study...

Ultraman Copyright: Big Plans after Japan Court Win

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn March 5, 2003
After a seven-year Tokyo court battle, Sompote Saengduenchai, a Thai businessman, won rights to Ultraman in all international markets except Japan. Ultraman has long been considered one of Japan's quintessential superheroes, like America's Superman, but Sompote was involved in designing the character while a student in Japan in the early 1960s. Sompote is now planning Ultraman films,...

Infiltrators of North Korea: Tiny Radios

James Brooke March 3, 2003
During the Kim family’s 60-year rule over North Korea, the rest of the world has witnessed a communications boom: especially in recent years the Internet, cell phones, and the rest of the “information revolution” have made it easy to communicate from thousands of miles away. But Pyongyang's communist regime has made it all but impossible for North Koreans to take part in that revolution....