In The News

Korea to Fight Web Attacks from China

Kim Tae-gyu March 2, 2006
In an effort to combat a growing problem of identity theft, the Korean government is taking steps to prevent access to its backdoor internet pathways from abroad. Data leakage from Korea, especially to China, has become particularly troublesome, with hackers using illegal internet providers as their main means of stealing restricted information, including resident registration numbers. The...

Dubai Limps Into Port

March 2, 2006
Intense bipartisan opposition to Dubai Ports Worldwide, a company from the United Arab Emirates, taking control of six US ports represents extreme and uncontrollable fear, according to this editorial from a Singapore newspaper. The uproar has cast suspicion on a moderate Arab country that has been a key US ally in the war on terror. The US ports are controlled by a British company, and the UK...

Will Fight for Oil

Ted Koppel March 1, 2006
The Bush administration has been sensitive to charges that oil was a central determinant of Iraq war policy. Maintaining that oil was unrelated to US action in Iraq is odd, suggests veteran television journalist Ted Koppel, considering that protecting the flow of Persian Gulf oil has been central to US foreign policy since the mid-20th century. And he also suggests that oil is the reason why...

India: Pro-America, Pro-Bush

March 1, 2006
Since the beginning of Iraq war, anti-Americanism has increased around the world. According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, however, India not only bucked the trend, but improved its opinion of the US. Seven out of every ten Indians reported a favorable view of the US. Of the 17 countries polled - including US allies like the UK, Canada, and Poland - only Americans felt more positively...

US Ceded Control of Ports

William Glanz February 28, 2006
The Bush administration’s approval for a United Arab Emirates company’s takeover of operations at six US ports ignited furious debate in Washington over the threat to national security. Yet the deal only reflects the global nature of today’s shipping industry: A Scandinavian ship – flying a Panama flag, carrying Chinese cargo and a Filipino crew – can dock at a California port managed by a...

Nigeria Counts 100 Deaths over Danish Caricatures

Lydia Polgreen February 27, 2006
Violence over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that has resulted in more than 100 deaths in Nigeria offers an example of global issues impinging on the country’s domestic politics. The country’s Muslims and Christians have a history of tension, and the cartoons prompted tit-for-tat violence. Political analysts suggest that, in Nigeria, the cartoon controversy functioned as a pretext...

US Approves Visa for Indian Scientist

Shankar Vedantam February 27, 2006
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks the US has implemented a stricter, more time-consuming visa policy citing concerns for national security., However, the recent denial of a visa to Goverdhan Mehta, an Indian scientist who is the president of the International Council for Science, has offered proof that this system remains far from perfect. In a case that caused furor in India just days before a...