In The News

Global Prosperity at Risk

Ernesto Zedillo May 27, 2003
The upcoming meeting of the Group of Eight must help resolve the contentious trade disputes that threaten to ruin the free trade regime, says Ernesto Zedillo, Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former President of Mexico. Without intervention by the leaders of the developed world at their June gathering in France, the Doha Round of WTO negotiations will continue to be...

Remake Man

Tad Friend May 26, 2003
In a telling commentary that combines capitalism in Hollywood with the American Dream, a contributor to the New Yorker magazine, Tad Friend, takes the reader through the making of Roy Lee as the "remake king." Lee, a Korean-American, whose parents moved from South Korea to the United States in the late 1960s, has carved out a unique role for himself in Hollywood: It is one that...

Terrorism Needs 'New Definition'

Gwynne Dyer May 24, 2003
This opinion piece in the Jakarta Post by Gwynne Dyer, a columnist based in London, argues that "since we're going to have to live with it (terrorism) for a long time, we need to get both the numbers and the strategy into perspective." He notes that the numbers – 153 dead in one week from terrorist bomb attacks across the world – are nothing compared to the thousands who die every...

Getting Our Bearings

Joan Johnson-Freese May 23, 2003
Human beings have occupied most of the inhabitable surface of the earth for tens of thousands of years, but only recently have we had the means to accurately determine where on Earth we actually are. The technology that supports this is one of a new breed of global utilities and, surprisingly enough, comes free - compliments of Uncle Sam. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology allows or...

Bush Links Europe's Ban on Bio-Crops With Hunger

David E. Sanger May 22, 2003
In his commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. President George W. Bush urged the European Union to lift the ban on bio-crops so as to make Africa not "fear being shut out of European markets." Many U.S. officials, including the President himself, have alleged that the European fear of bio-crops was without scientific basis. Meanwhile, one E.U. official, in response...

Solutions for Coffee Crisis

May 22, 2003
As a world glut cut down the price of coffee, some coffee-growing countries have decided to convert some of their coffee areas to other crops, increasing the diversity of their agricultural production and raising world coffee prices. At a recent round-table discussion, the World Bank and the International Coffee Organization urged rich countries to lower their agricultural tariffs and reduce...

Historic Tobacco Control Pact Adopted

Frances Williams May 21, 2003
After several years of negotiation, countries of the world finally reached an agreement to adopt the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The US and Germany, which previously objected to some parts of the treaty, have decided to support the pact. This global convention will bring "a ban or tough controls on advertising, prominent health warnings on cigarette packets, and measures to...