In The News

President Rewards Like-Minded World Leaders With State Visits

David E. Sanger May 28, 2003
U.S. President George W. Bush has used his Texas ranch for many world leaders' state visits. Now he has even had Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sit in on his highly classified morning intelligence briefing on global affairs and terrorist activities and given President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines special treatment as well. Japan has recently launched its first spy...

Nations Join the U.S. in Banning Canada's Beef

Clifford Krauss May 22, 2003
For the first time, mad cow disease appeared in a ranch in North America. While Canadian officials are trying to find out where this cow might have gotten infected and convince people that beef from Canada is still safe to be eaten, several countries have decided to put a temporary ban on beef imports from Canada. Farmers and people in related businesses in Alberta complain that their cattle...

Technology Gap Forces Flexibility in Teaching

Lori Aratani May 21, 2003
Andrew Hill High School in northern California, USA, which serves some of the area's poorest students and immigrants, has brought technology into its daily teaching, with wireless network installed and laptops equipped in classrooms. Computer use is integrated into the education. With a third of the student-body still in a struggle to master the English language, teaching methods that...

Chinese Beats... on Cuban Streets

May 20, 2003
Chinese migration to Cuba rose significantly in the mid-19th century with the demand for unskilled labor in the island's sugar industry. Over the years, the overseas Chinese community has been involved in Cuba's war for liberation from Spain, endured U.S-friendly Batista's dictatorship and Castro's nationalization project. One Chinese immigrant, Rolando Ziang Lian, reminisces...

Fewer People Are Crossing Border Bridges

Jeorge Zarazua May 19, 2003
The war on Iraq has negatively affected the traffic on the international bridges between Southern Texas and Mexico, with substantially fewer travelers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in the past two months. Making the situation worse, say some Texas-side business owners, are Mexico's decision to lower its gas prices along the border - which gives Mexican drivers one less reason to visit the...

The China Syndrome

Paul Krugman May 13, 2003
While American critics of China blame media censorship for Beijing's initial mishandling of SARS, this opinion piece in The New York Times argues that the US is no less vulnerable to the influence of the state. According to economist Paul Krugman, although media companies in the United States are privately owned, they remain deferential to the political regime. The nexus between the US...

Parents, Shopping for Discipline, Turn to Tough Schools Abroad

Tim Weiner May 9, 2003
Wwasps, a Utah-based private school organization, has taken to setting up shop abroad, where rules on student treatment are not as tight as in the US. Beating students’ heads against concrete, enforcing prolonged periods of isolation, and creating affection-less environments are the mainstays of these “behavior-modification” schools, which call themselves “specialty boarding-schools”. Without...