In The News

One of the Worst Assaults Ever

October 24, 2002
One of the worst attacks on the internet ever recorded shut down seven of the 13 root servers that undergird internet service. The attack lasted for an hour on the servers that control domain names. However, most internet users were unaware of the attack as the slack from the seven effected servers was taken up by the remaining four. Two other servers were impaired. The US Federal Bureau of...

Beijing’s $2b Reminder to US Varsities

Jason Leow October 24, 2002
Recent clampdowns on immigration have prevented Chinese students from attending US universities. China Central Television claimed that China leads the world in providing graduate students to the US. Since 2001, however, larger numbers of Chinese students have had their visa applications rejected. A Beijing scholarship center noted that Chinese students contribute close to US$2 billion to...

F.B.I. to Open Liaison Office in Beijing, Ashcroft Says

Elisabeth Rosenthal October 24, 2002
The US will set up an F.B.I. liaison office in Beijing to help the Chinese in their fight against terrorism as well as smuggling and money laundering – two criminal activities often found to provide material support for terrorists. In a country where the police are weak, due process is sparse, and the legal system is relatively undeveloped, how this help will manifest itself is still uncertain....

N. Korea: China echoes U.S. concerns

P. S. Suryanarayana October 23, 2002
China is North Korea's close neighbor and strongest ally in Asia. But the Chinese government joins the US and others in wanting to keep the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons. As Jiang Zemin prepares for a US trip, Beijing is advocating diplomacy and dialog between North Korea and the US. - YaleGlobal

Unmanned U.S. Planes Comb Arabian Desert for Suspects

Neil MacFarquhar October 23, 2002
The war on terror has extended to a new geographic location - the Empty Quarter, or the Rub al-Khali in Arabic, in Yemen. Pilotless American surveillance planes have been flying over the soaring dunes and craggy valleys that extend for some 900 miles from the frontier of Yemen to the foothills of Oman, and 500 miles northward into central Saudi Arabia. The spy planes are scouring the ground for...

Don't Rock the Boat

Nayan Chanda October 23, 2002
When George W. Bush meets Jiang Zemin in Texas this Friday, he is likely to find a skeptical but polite interlocutor who will make sure that Iraq does not get in the way of an improving relationship between China and the United States. This will reflect China's cold calculus of its immediate interests in a U.S.-dominated world. For both economic and political reasons, China's leaders...

Seoul Criticized for Sweeping Information on North Korean Nukes under Carpet

Hwang Jang-jin October 21, 2002
The North Korean revelation about its secret weapons program has emerged as a hot new issue in the South Korean election campaign. The fact that the South Korean government was informed by the US of North Korea’s secret program in August but it kept quiet about it is being used to blast the government of president Kim Dae Jung, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation effort vis-à-...