In The News

Progress on Global Access to HIV Antiretroviral Therapy

July 1, 2005
The number of people receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS is increasing in every region of the world, tripling in the last 12 months in both sub-Saharan Africa and Asia – the two areas most affected by the disease. According to this newly released report by the WHO and UNAIDS, however, it is unlikely that the "3 by 5" goal of treating three million HIV-...

A Message to the South

Boutros Boutros-Ghali June 30, 2005
Is the UN in crisis? Former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali thinks so. He claims that the liberalized theories of globalization have eroded the importance of the UN’s core powers and responsibilities, and that solutions to the crisis are long-term and intricate. The newest crop of post-Cold War conflicts, increasingly difficult to resolve, leave a larger peacekeeping role for the UN. But...

Social Network's Healing Power Is Borne Out in Poorer Nations

Shankar Vedantam June 28, 2005
A three-decade-long study by the World Health Organization has shown that patients diagnosed with the mental illness schizophrenia consistently tend to recover better in poorer nations than in developed nations. Researchers attribute these surprising results to the cultural differences in treatment. Seen by most Western psychiatrists as an organic, incurable brain disease, schizophrenia is...

Viruses, Security Issues Undermine Internet

Ariana Eunjung Cha June 27, 2005
Designed originally by the US Department of Defense as a limited experiment in communications, the internet was not intended to be the global network it is today. Since the system was originally used by only a small community of researchers and friends, the popularized version was not equipped with the security measures necessary to cope with the enormous number of current– largely anonomous –...

Farm Support's Deep Roots

June 24, 2005
As US sugar growers lobby against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), EU budget talks are stalled, in part because of resistance to a proposed decrease in farm subsidies. Because of the political power of farmers in Europe and the US, however, world trade liberalization could continue to be held back by lingering agricultural subsidies. A new report reveals that little progress...

Migration is Here to Stay, So Get Used to It

Brunson McKinley June 24, 2005
Commentator Brunson McKinley poses a lofty question: How can one manage migration for the benefit of all? According to a newly released report on world migration patterns, the costs and benefits vary among countries and individuals. As such, writes McKinley, wide-ranging, hard-and-fast rules are not appropriate. Migration management policies that are based on the characteristics of specific...

American Character Gets Mixed Reviews

June 23, 2005
According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, America's worldwide reputation continues to suffer. The Pew Global Attitudes Project, co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Senator John C. Danforth, surveyed nearly 17,000 countries to assess their opinions about their own nations and the rest of the world. The 2005 survey revealed that, although US...