At a time when North Korea’s nuclear brinkmanship requires a common front, growing maritime disputes over small islands in the South China Sea and East China Sea are pitting major countries against one another. Key players, including China, Japan and South Korea, are at odds and increasingly...
Fishing in troubled waters: Vietnamese fishermen around Chinese-controlled Paracel islands (top); Chinese naval fleet in the South China Sea
WASHINGTON: Since the Obama administration's announced pivot to Asia, challenges have piled up in the region...
Nike, the world's largest shoe manufacturer, could become the world's leader in improving labor standards across the globe. If US courts decide that it must, that is. The US Supreme court decided on June 26 to allow a California state court to proceed with a trial in which US-based Nike...
Indonesian workers protest against lay-offs by Nike in 2002: Demand for social responsibility.
San Francisco: The next chapter in the international sweatshop wars will be fought in a California courtroom, thanks to the dismissal by the US...
Zimbabweans had been anticipating the departure of President Robert Mugabe, who is 93. Mugabe had been president since 1987 and prime minister before that since 1980, when the country known as Rhodesia won independence from Britain. Zimbabwe’s military ended his long stretch in power with a coup,...
While secularism has taken hold in Europe, the story in the rest of the world has been quite different. Seemingly different regions, such as the Americas and the Middle East, have experienced substantial increases in religiosity. Africa is no exception: Christianity and Islam are expanding...
A recent Reader's Digest survey found that 31% of people thought Easter was sponsored by Cadbury's, while 48% had no idea what the religious festival was about. The 16-24 age group had the lowest level of knowledge. The...
Along with increased cross-border trade and transnational migration, globalization has also contributed to the internationalization of social woes such as forced prostitution. In this article, UCLA professor Richard Gunde reviews key sessions from a recent forum on transborder crime in...
Click here for the original article on UCLA International Institute's website.
Before defining or reacting to the word “jihad,” the meaning must be considered in its historical context. This two-part series debates the meaning and role of “jihad” in a modern global society. In Part I, sociologist Riaz Hassan cautions that any interpretation that dismisses jihad as merely a...
White House blessings for Jihadis: President Ronald Reagan received Afghan Mujahideen fighters in the Oval Office in February 1983. Enlarged image
ADELAIDE: The need for a dialogue between Islam and the West has never...
Host nations often welcome new immigrants and attempt to accommodate cultural differences in many ways. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams takes that one step further: He suggests that some Muslims in the UK do not relate to the British legal system and adds that adopting parts of Islamic...
Click here for the original article on BBC.
Israel’s air strikes on Southern Lebanon boost support for Hezbollah in the Arab world, as many lose faith in already struggling Arab democracies. Outlining the history of Hezbollah in a region prone to setbacks and violence, Middle East analyst and author Dilip Hiro predicts that the present...
Prisoner of history: The Hezbollah attack precipitating the Lebanon crisis was the latest in a long fight to win release of prisoners like Sameer Kintar from Israeli jails
LONDON: While Hezbollah’s kidnapping of Israeli...
