As the war of words between Western nations led by United States and Iran’s hardliner government over its nuclear programme has escalated in the last few weeks, a cartoon published on the editorial page of the Columbus Dispatch on Sep. 4 has created a furor amongst Iranians worldwide. Omid Memarian (’09) reports for IPS.

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See the cartoon here.

In the first video Rob Krieger and Taylor Pipes (’08) follow truck-drivers along the gritty and remote coal distribution routes to Beijing, raising questions about the future energy needs of China’s growing economy. The second video tracks the rise of the car industry and car ownership in China.

See the first video here.
See the second video here.

Like a Shakespearean tragedy, the final chapter of General Pervez Musharraf’s reign began with an echo of the original sin of its first pages: the October 1999 coup by which he overthrew Nawaz Sharif, the democratically elected Prime Minister. Sharif’s highly publicized return from exile on Sept. 10 lasted just four hours; Musharraf had him deported again. But if the general’s first expulsion of Sharif–then an unloved head of an inept and corrupt government–brought Musharraf to power amid widespread acclaim, the second may well hasten the President’s downfall. Aryn Baker (’01) reports for TIME.

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Photograph by Stephanie Sinclair for TIME

Ting Shi (’03) reports for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong on the important debate over political reform in China as the Communist Party’s 17th National Congress approaches.

September 12, 2007
An influential Communist Party newspaper has urged greater political liberalisation to sustain the country’s rapid economic growth, adding more suspense to the lead-up to next month’s crucial party congress.

The Study Times, a weekly published by the Central Party School, suggested yesterday that political change and economic change should proceed hand in hand.

“Politics is a concentrated manifestation of economic activities,” a lengthy commentary said. “A democratic economy necessitates a democratic political system, and will actually bring out political democratisation.”

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By Se Zhang, Zhe Ziang Press Group
Originally published in the Zhe Ziang Weekly Magazine in China, August 15, 2007

Translated by Se Zhang

A female colleague of mine underwent caesarian to give birth to a baby boy a few days ago in Hang Zhou Fu-Bao Hospital. A few friends of ours went to congratulate her on the birth of the new baby. She happily announced to all visitors that she has made an extremely wise decision to request that the baby was delivered a few days early. The difference of being born a few days early has already gained one year in the baby’s elementary education.

You may ask, what does being born just a few days early have to do with the child’s elementary education? My colleague explained her wise decision with great patience. Today, the enrollment age for elementary schools is 6 years old. The cut off date is September 1. Any baby who was born after this date will need to wait until the following September 1 before he can be enrolled in school. Therefore, being born on a day after September 1 may well mean one year too late.

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Connie King makes a point of walking at least 10,000 steps a day. That’s about five miles — an impressive goal for the 84-year-old, especially in a town comprising only 10 acres. Eight years ago, Locke, California (population 80) had been on the brink of extinction. Bad plumbing and teetering, century-old shacks prompted the county to condemn the town, located 30 miles south of Sacramento. But King wasn’t about to let America’s last rural Chinatown — a national historic landmark — fade into history. Ling Woo Liu (’06) reports as a Hong Kong-based correspondent for TIME.

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When the communists won control of China in 1949, their Nationalist opponents retreated to Taiwan, taking with them nearly 4,000 crates containing the créme de la créme of the country’s imperial art treasures reports Ling Woo Liu (’06) Hong Kong-based correspondent for TIME.

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When New York hotelier Vikram Chatwal wed in India last year, he wasn’t content to stay put during the festivities. Instead, he hired three Boeing 737s to shuttle the wedding party around the country. Excessive perhaps, but Chatwal’s extraordinary affair is emblematic of India’s $11 billion wedding industry. David Gelles (’08) reported for Forbes this summer where he contributed to a Special Report on India at 60.
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Moming Zhou (’07) reports for Dow Jones’ MarketWatch in San Francisco, where he writes stories about the U.S. economy and its relations with Asian markets.

Read his reporting here.

Laurie Burkitt (’08) reports from Hong Kong on the dangers of Mah-jong, the popular Chinese domino- like tile game for Bloomberg News. The game has been found to cause epileptic seizures, according to research reported in the Hong Kong Medical Journal.

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