In The News

Kazakhstan: President Orders Study on Effects of Decriminalizing 'Soft' Drugs

Zamira Eshanova October 12, 2002
No longer simply transit areas for drugs from Afghanistan, Central Asian countries are now seeing increasing rates of drug use and addiction. In a radical move to deal with the problem, the president of Kazakhstan is considering whether the Dutch experience of legalizing 'soft' drugs like marijuana could help curb his country’s demand for harder, more devastating drugs like heroin....

World Court Rules for Cameroon in Prolonged Oil-Land Border Dispute With Nigeria

Marc Lacey with Neela Banerjee October 11, 2002
The World Court has declared Cameroon the rightful owner of the Bakassi peninsula, ending the country's long-standing dispute with Nigeria. Located in the Gulf of Guinea, the Bakassi area is rich in oil and has provided important naval access for Nigeria. Concern that the Nigerian military might balk at the decision worried some observers, but many are encouraged that the presidents of...

China and Kyrgyzstan Launch Anti-terrorism Exercises

October 11, 2002
The global war on terror has brought new security developments like the dispatch of Japanese navy vessels to the Indian Ocean for the first time since WWII and Chinese soldiers engaging in the first ever live exercise outside their border with another nation. Kyrgyzstan and China have begun coordinated military exercises along their border in order to combat threats from international Islamic...

Small Screen, Smaller World

Walid Mougayar October 11, 2002
When TV manufacturers outsource their products along a global supply chain, they create a win-win-win situation. The manufacturers have lower costs, the consumers have cheaper TV sets, and the sets are better made. Standardization of parts, economies of scale and lower transportation costs have made most TV factories assemblers rather than manufacturers. Parts from all the over the world are...

World Court Rules for Cameroon in Prolonged Oil-Land Border Dispute With Nigeria

Marc Lacey October 11, 2002
The World Court has declared Cameroon the rightful owner of the Bakassi peninsula, ending the country's long-standing dispute with Nigeria. Located in the Gulf of Guinea, the Bakassi area is rich in oil and has provided important naval access for Nigeria. Concern that the Nigerian military might balk at the decision worried some observers, but many are encouraged that the presidents of...

First Contact

Aparisim Ghosh October 10, 2002
Globalization is an older phenomenon than many people realize. In the early 1400's, the Chinese emperor set about building trade ties between his Ming dynasty China and other peoples in Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. Under the guidance of Admiral Zheng He, massive fleets plied the East China and Arabian Seas for 30 years, transferring goods, people, and ideas from one part of the...

Guerilla Warfare, Waged With Code

Jennifer Lee October 10, 2002
Computer programmers around the world have joined together to ensure global internet freedom. Concentrating most recently on China, which has the third largest online population, “hacktivists” program ways to get around government firewalls and to allow viewing of traditionally government-censored information. The activists also have begun work in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia by...