In The News

Pew Survey Says America Most Religious of Wealthy Nations

December 23, 2002
The latest poll by the Pew Research Center reveals that Americans place a higher degree of personal importance on religion than residents of other wealthy countries. The survey of 44 countries, part of The Pew Global Attitudes Project, also found that residents of Asia, Latin America, and Africa tend to place a great deal of importance on religion in their own lives. – YaleGlobal

No Sugar Coating, Just Tea Please

Amira El-Noshokaty December 18, 2002
Modern 'Western' medicine – consisting now of pharmaceutical drugs manufactured in factories – has spread around the world as the norm for medical treatment. Despite its popularity, though, traditional medicine forms, such as acupuncture and herbal treatments, are also reaching out from their original bases to benefit people around the globe. The International Seminar on the...

Strict International Patent Laws Hurt Developing Countries

Amy Kapczynski December 16, 2002
In 1998, 39 pharmaceutical companies filed a lawsuit against South Africa. They hoped to stop the government from producing the generic drugs that would have made treatment affordable for the country's AIDS victims. A public outcry ensued, and critics accused pharmaceutical companies of valuing profit over human life. Although these same companies were eventually pressured into dropping...

Bush and the Three Rogues

December 16, 2002
Iran, Iraq, and North Korea comprise the 'Axis of Evil' named by US President George Bush as the three most significant threats to world stability in general and the US in particular. With inspections of Iraq's weapons program not progressing in a clearly useful manner, pressure is building on the Bush administration. Now Washington must decide how to handle North Korea's...

The Pedal-Powered Internet

Clive Thompson December 15, 2002
For many people in the world, talk of globalization and new telecommunications technology is irrelevant; the world’s poorest don’t have enough to eat, let alone access to the Internet. But in Laos, an American nonprofit organization is working with Laotian farmers to set up a computer that they can use to check weather patterns and rice pricing. The farmers have no electricity or phone service...

Bush turns diplomatic in handling Korean crisis

Edward Epstein December 14, 2002
In a phone conversation on December 13 with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, President Bush said he won't allow "business as usual to continue," but promised to seek a diplomatic settlement to North Korea's decision to restart a nuclear program. The question of why the US is preparing to go to war against Iraq but seeking a diplomatic solution in North Korea underlines the...

'A Global Image on the Way Down'

Robert A. Levine December 13, 2002
Assessing the significance of the Pew Research Center survey of attitudes towards America, Robert Levine breaks the story into four questions: "Why don't they like us? Should we care? What can we do about it? What should we do about it?" Each of these questions needs to be carefully considered by all Americans, especially those in charge, he writes, but answers are not easy. On...