In The News

Turkey Toughs Out Terror

September 14, 2006
An offshoot of the separatist Kurdish Workers Party in Turkey has reignited its terrorist campaign, with attacks aimed at foreign tourists, designed to hurt Turkey economically. The government in Ankara has tried to address the group’s grievances by improving Kurdish rights, though investment in the impoverished, mostly Kurdish southeastern region of Turkey is lagging. The Turkish government...

Detainee Decision Greeted Skeptically

Kevin Sullivan September 13, 2006
US President Bush announced a decision to transfer 14 suspected terrorists from Central Intelligence Agency detention centers around the world, including some European countries, to the US military prison in Cuba. By admitting the existence of such secret prisons, Bush put some of his European allies in the crosshairs of human-rights groups. Human-rights advocates and lawmakers suggest that at...

Living Under Police Protection: Advocates for Muslim Women Face Constant Danger

Cordula Meyer September 11, 2006
The legal system is often helpless, when it comes to intervention on cultural or family differences, such as assisting women who refuse to enter arranged marriages. Or the police help arrives too late. Muslim women who want to shed cultural restrictions endure taunts, brutal attacks and even death. Intimidation is so intense that some lawyers refuse to assist Muslim women in family disputes....

Made in Italy at Chinese Prices

Fiona Ehlers September 8, 2006
During the Middle Ages, cities in Europe used high walls and moats to protect their residents from invaders. Modern globalization has changed all that: Textile jobs gradually moved from Europe to low-wage countries in Asia. But now textile jobs return to Europe, as Chinese workers relocate and set up business. The Italian city of Prato has a strong community of Chinese workers, both legal and...

A Muslim Militancy Born in Modernity Not Mosques

Faisal Devji August 29, 2006
After the surprise attacks of 9/11, the world has made great strides in the technical aspects of security, but stalled when it comes to the complex politics that lead to radical thinking. British police were successful in foiling a plot to attack planes traveling from the UK to the US. But more frightening is the fact that instigators were citizens of the UK, educated in a democratic society that...

At France Télécom, Battle to Cut Jobs Breeds Odd Tactics

Leila Abboud August 23, 2006
A winery and scuba-diving shop, a magician and an opera singer – such are the small businesses and careers subsidized by France Télécom, the national telecommunications company. While preparing to list the company on the Paris stock exchange in the mid-1990s, executives recognized that its workforce was bloated. After nearly a decade of attempting to induce early retirement by offering generous...

British Law Against Glorifying Terrorism Has Not Silenced Calls to Kill for Islam

Souad Mekhennet August 21, 2006
British authorities suspect that extremist speech and writings stoke the anger of young men who turn to radical Islam and terrorist plots. A strict law – the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 – aims to curtail violent speech or publications. But clerics and online radicals test the limits of the law, adjusting their language just enough to avoid prosecution while keeping the angry context clear....