Mar
22
Week 5: It’s WORLD WATER DAY today!
March 22, 2008 | 2 Comments
Elmy Lung
22nd March 2008- So, Ma Ying- Jeou, Nationalist party presidential candidate won by a large margin at the Taiwan Presidential Elections today. Just check any news website’s frontpage and this is what’s dominating international news at the moment.
But any of you even realize that something more international, something that’s more worthy of [...]
Mar
21
China: Friend or foe in Africa?
March 21, 2008 | 1 Comment
By Meryam
Discussion on China’s role and interest in Africa, whether in conferences, policy papers or in the news, has become a fashionable trend these days. The debate largely, and rather simplistically, focuses on whether China is a villain or a friend. For many western countries and international human rights groups, China is a villain: its [...]
Mar
20
The Problem With Tibet
March 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment
by Carol (6)
” Tibet…Tibet…Tibet”
More than violations of human rights and religious freedom, is what fueled the riots in Lhasa and across Tibet last week — the largest and most violent protests since 1989, when Tibetans last stood up to Chinese rule. Today, Tibetans stand at an economic threshold, about to be overwhelmed by the tsunami [...]
Mar
20
Climate Change and Global Warming: A Societal Dilemma
March 20, 2008 | 1 Comment
By Eva Chang (6)
Recently, the issue of climate change had made its way in the forefront of global debate. There had been talks about the politics and economic matter as well as its social dimensions. Held on March 5, 2008 in Romania, the Social Dimensions of Climate Change workshop addressed various implications of climate change [...]
Mar
18
Illicit Small Arms Trade
March 18, 2008 | 1 Comment
By Wanching (Week 6)
Notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand in early March for allegedly supplying the Colombian rebels with arms and explosives. Dubbed the “Merchant of Death” and the “Lord of War”, he has been in his arms “business” for a decade and a half.
His “business” included providing cheap freight routes [...]
Mar
16
Their Only Hope seems Vague
March 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment
by Emily Tsang
The worst humanitarian crisis in the world may not be unfolding in Sudan, but along a Mogadishu byway strip to Afgooye according to the United Nations.
The New York Times quote top United Nations officials saying that Somalia is now having the highest malnutrition rates in Africa, yet fewer manpower and food aid than [...]
Mar
16
“Climate Change Politics”
March 16, 2008 | 2 Comments
by Carol Zhou Yan
Hundreds of respected scientists from fields as diverse as economics to the physical sciences attended the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change. They discussed hot issues including paleoclimatology, climatology, climate change impacts, climate change economics, and climate change politics. I sum up some of their points about politics behind climate changes.
The unprecedented expansion of [...]
Mar
16
Malawi introduces compulsory birth certificates
March 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Penny (6)
Madonna’s controversial adoption of a Malawian child and the growing child trafficking problem in Malawi has partly prompted the Malawian government this week to introduce compulsory birth certificates.
According to Lawrence Hussein of the National Registration Bureau in the office of President Bingu wa Mutharika: “Malawian children have no document to show when they [...]
Mar
14
McCain’s Bright Future
March 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
by Maggie ZUO Yitong
McCain and Obama, one is old, the other one is young; one is white, the other one is black. McCain relied on his experience over the years, Obama relied on portraying a bright political future for the United States. There is no doubt that McCain compared with Obama, the biggest advantage is [...]
Mar
13
China, Darfur, and Oil
March 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Cindy Ru
The earliest oil exploration in Sudan started in the 1960s and in 1974 Chevron and Shell began their oil drilling in the country, according to this time line compiled on the sudanupdate website. But it was not until in 1999 when Sudan completed a major oil pipeline that the country’s oil export began [...]
