Newsweek International articles from August 2002

Newsweek International archives from August 2002

Letters.
August 5, 2002... Fixing the Brain Readers of our June 24 Next Frontiers report on the brain were full of praise for the coverage. One reader thanked us for the cover story on "updated technological advances aimed at easing human suffering." Hope for a...

Eyes On Turkey.(Muslim politician Recep Tayyip Erdogan)
August 5, 2002... Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of Turkey's most popular political party and a devout Muslim, has something to hide--and it's in his refrigerator. At his home in a middle-class suburb of Istanbul earlier this year, he stopped a Turkish TV crew from...

A Nationalist Alternative.(Turkey's Nationalist Action Party)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... If the prospect of an Islamist government in Turkey seems alarming, consider an alternative. The right-wing Nationalist Action Party, or MHP, also has a shot in the polls. The group won 18 percent of the vote in the 1999 elections, earning it a...

Late Great Wall.(preserving the Great Wall of China)
August 5, 2002... The Great Wall of China can't quite match the myths that have grown up around it. Still, the truth is astonishing enough. The Chinese call it the Long Wall of 10,000 Miles--an exaggeration, even though its actual length would stretch from Paris...

A Bitter Bon Voyage.(aliens face deportation if convicted felons)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... Andy and Mau never thought they'd return to Cambodia this way. Like tens of thousands of other Cambodian war refugees, the two young men fled a genocidal campaign to begin new lives in the United States. Resettled with their families in places...

Saying No to The 'Illusion'.(Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva doesn't hang out in a sweaty T shirt and flip-flops anymore. The onetime lathe operator, who left the starving northeast for a So Paulo factory job, and then hefted himself by his own blue collar to the center stage of...

Rising With Keyboards.(Francis Quartey)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... Francis Quartey is building an army of young men and women and preparing to storm Accra, the capital of Ghana. His uniform may not be typical: he wears glasses and a suit. And his soldiers use motherboards, not machetes. But his objective is...

The Next to Fall? Europe.(European economic conditions)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... In the late 1990s, no European moneyman could meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, among others, without enduring a lecture on the virtues of American capitalism as compared with their own pathetic markets. And their only defense,...

Running on Empty.(Tarahumaras)
August 5, 2002... Even on their own turf in the mountains of northwestern Mexico, Tarahumara Indian runners like Arnulfo Quimare seem like a sideshow to their better-heeled competitors. The outsiders are outfitted with water packs, $100-plus shoes and belts...

Hitler's Paintings.(Adolf Hitler)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... "But why give him the wall space?" One of the art critics at the exhibition preview asked Deborah Rothschild, curator at the Williams College Museum of Art in Massachusetts. "Him" is none other than Adolf Hitler, and two of Hitler's watercolors...

The End of Innocence.(Banska Stiavnica)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... It was a jewel of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a proud Renaissance city made rich by the precious-metal and gem mines that brought it world renown. The little town of Banska Stiavnica, in central Slovakia, still retains much of its former...

Israel's Arab Democrat.(Azmi Bishara)(Brief Article)(Interview)
August 5, 2002... One of the most respected voices in Palestinian politics is neither a member of Yasir Arafat's Palestinian Authority nor of the Islamist party Hamas, but of the Israeli Knesset. Azmi Bishara, 46, is a Christian Arab activist and Israeli citizen...

100 Minus 2.(Mildred MacFadyen)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... In March, my grandmother Mildred MacFadyen celebrated her 98th birthday. More than 40 people descended on the old Colonial home she shares with an immense collection of teddy bears and treasured family photos. She received 85 congratulatory...

Genes, Girls and Gall.(Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA)
August 5, 2002... In 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick stormed into The Eagle pub outside their Cambridge University lab and declared that they had discovered the secret of life. After two years of frenetic brainstorming and failed attempts, the pair had...

Perspectives.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... "This is greed on steroids." Former U.S. presidential candidate and consumer advocate Ralph Nader, on the corporate malfeasance committed by WorldCom executives "The popular sentiment around [my] country is 'One more time, we will be...

Periscope.(Interview)
August 5, 2002... AFGHANISTAN How Best To Help? With the Loya Jirga a success and a new government in place, the situation in Afghanistan was looking up. The Bush administration was set to review its "where now?" goals. But the assassination of Vice...

Yar, Mate! Swashbuckler Tours!(pirate haunts)
August 5, 2002... Cruise ships have been dropping anchor for years near tiny Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic. But visitors lolling in the island's crystalline water are blissfully unaware that they've crossed paths with Captain Kidd. The infamous...

Grown-Up Friendly.(Ibiza)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... Ok, it's true: Ibiza is a global party mecca for 20-year-oldravers. But grown-ups can have fun there, too. Tour an eighth-century Moorish castle in the morning, swim and lunch on paella at a salt-white beach, stroll through thick pine forests...

Lara On The Go.(Lara Croft)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2002... Tomb raider's Lara Croft takes to the small screen in a pocket-size adaptation of the '90s original made for PCs and PlayStations. Able to run (and somersault and shoot) on the latest Pocket PC handhelds from Compaq and Toshiba, the...

Out, Damned Spot!(Dockers Go Khakis with Stain Defender)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
August 5, 2002... Khaki pants have never impressed me, sartorially speaking. Nothing against casual Friday, but who wants to look like all those shlubs you work with? Khakis can end up with a baggy backside that some (mostly female) critics call "diaper butt."...

Letters.
August 12, 2002... Who Are the Victims? Our July 1 report on Israeli victims of suicide bombers led readers to protest: some complained about our gory pictures, others about the Palestinians' plight. One advised Israel to "give these people what legally...

Trouble Next Door.(European Union in Eastern Europe)(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... It's been three years since her husband disappeared, and Irina Krasovskaya has told the story over and over again. But there are still moments when she can't quite hold back the tears. She lives in the former Soviet republic of Belarus, where...

Is Europe Broken?(Valery Giscard d'Estaing to chair European Union's constitutional convention)
August 12, 2002... Valery Giscard d'Estaing set three goals for his summer vacation this month. The erudite former French president, now 76, plans to go walking in the Loire Valley. He will perfect his studies of the Chinese language, and once again he will plow...

From Rags To Riches.(international textile industry, end of trade quotas on China)(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... The tiny island of Mauritius is so remote, both in geography and the popular imagination, that it is really only famous for one thing: the dodo. The giant flightless bird, driven to extinction by European settlers more than 300 years ago, has...

'We Were... Like Slaves'.(inhumane treatment of Chinese garment workers, Mauritius)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... The rain is coming down harder now, but Qiu Jonghua doesn't seem to notice. The wiry old man is clenching a photograph of his only daughter, wondering aloud why she never came home. Two years ago Qiu Nengjuan left Zhejiang province to work in a...

Open For Business.(Chile's economy)(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... There was a time not that long ago when the fate of Augusto Pinochet was a burning issue for Chileans of all political persuasions. His enemies welcomed his detention in England four years ago on an arrest warrant issued by a Spanish...

Waiting On a Deal.(President Ricardo Lagos, Chile)(Brief Article)(Interview)(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... President Ricardo Lagos spoke to NEWSWEEK's Joseph Contreras last month in the skies above the Andes as Lagos flew to a regional summit in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. Excerpts: CONTRERAS: The United States and Chile have been...

A General's Daughter.(Michelle Bachelet, daughter of former general Alberto Bachelet, Chile)(Brief Article)
August 12, 2002... One of Chilean President Ricardo Lagos's boldest moves was to transfer Health Minister Michelle Bachelet to another cabinet position earlier this year--Defense minister. Bachelet, a 50-year-old pediatrician by training, is the first female to...

Barbarian at the Gates.(Europeans brace for entrance of Microsoft into market)
August 12, 2002... Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is the sort of chief executive Europe loves to hate. Last year a video clip of a sweaty, screaming Ballmer delivering a motivational speech, with background music from Gloria Estefan, became an instant cult classic,...

Europe Misses Its Big Moment.(European economic conditions and policies)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... On the face of it, this should be Europe's time. It has so far avoided Enron-style bankruptcies or scandals. The stock bubble was never quite as overinflated in Europe as in America. And the electoral swing to the right in Europe means that...

Out of South Africa.(South African designs and designers)(Brief Article)
August 12, 2002... If linen-maker Gary Searle has learned anything in the past five years, it's that Africa sells. As managing director of Johannesburg-based textile house St. Leger & Viney, he used to produce "very Eurocentric collections," he says. "Lots of...

Flights of Folly.(art museums become entertainment, expansion and expense)(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... At the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, it's an amazingly short walk from slot machines to Cezanne. Built right into opposite sides of the Venetian are two Guggenheim museums, both designed by avant-garde Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and...

Fine Art Takes a Loss.(art museums run upon hard times in Japan)(Brief Article)
August 12, 2002... When art lover Toshiko Sawano was in the old imperial capital of Kyoto two months ago, she had hoped to revisit the Seiho Takeuchi Memorial Museum. Its collection of delicate nihonga, or traditional Japanese- style paintings, by the early...

The Fall of Babel.('Language in Danger')
August 12, 2002... Genghis Khan massacred the populations of whole cities as he built his Mongol empire. But in 1227, when his son avenged his death by ordering the slaying of the Central Asian Tangut people, he destroyed a whole culture, as the local Tangut...

Hoping to Get Religion.(Jewish converts in Mexico)(Brief Article)
August 12, 2002... For the first 52 years of his life, Antonio Carvajal was a good Mexican Catholic. But recently he decided that he is a long-lost descendant of Jews. His belief comes not from genealogical research but from a feeling that struck him during a...

Going After Saddam.(editor Abdel Bari Atwan comments on United States plan to invade Iraq, depose Saddam Hussein)(Brief Article)(Interview)
August 12, 2002... Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based daily Al Quds al-Arabi, is one of the best-connected Arab journalists covering global events. Among his reporting coups: the first interview with Osama bin Laden after the infamous Saudi moved to...

Doggedly Determined.(Coney Island hot-dog-eating contest)(Brief Article)
August 12, 2002... A story appeared in the New York papers the other day. The Walt Disney Co. was thinking of building a new theme park in Coney Island. Historically, the idea has great appeal. After all, from the late 1800s to the 1940s Coney Island's three...

Perspectives.
August 12, 2002... "We are condemned to live as neighbors." Congolese President Joseph Kabila, on the peace agreement signed last week to end his country's four-year war with Rwanda "I don't think it's very likely a terrorist would seek treatment......

Periscope.(Statistical Data Included)
August 12, 2002... Japan Not-So-Happy Meals Even for McDonald's, the war against falling prices in Japan is a losing battle. Back in early 2000, the fast-food giant cut the weekday price of its hamburger from 130 to 65 yen (about $1.09 to 54 cents), and...

Some Sartorial Savoir-Faire.(made-to-measure shirts)(Brief Article)
August 12, 2002... It used to be that made-to-measure shirts bespoke a certain old-money stuffiness, like the male manicure or the personal butler. But nowadays even ordinary working stiffs are luxuriating in the joys of a sartorial indulgence once reserved for...

NO SAFETY IN SINGLES.(even small indulgences can stress heart)(Brief Article)
August 12, 2002... Just a little indulgence, just this once? Watch out. Harvard Medical School researchers report that even one cigarette or a single piece of cheesecake can stress your heart. In one study, 15 healthy young men drank a liquid "meal" with...

Crime and Greed.
August 19, 2002... Our July 8 story on corporate fiascoes elicited pure vitriol against big business. One reader condemned "corporate crime and greed," another called them "evil." A third declared them worse than Whitewater. The Scandal of Big Business ...

The New Flesh Trade.(prostitution i)
August 19, 2002... Prostitutes have always been a part of French life, from the caravans haunting the Bois de Boulogne to the Chanel-suited call girls of the Place Vendome. In the 1967 film "Belle de Jour," no less than Catherine Deneuve played the bourgeois...

The Heart of The Matter.(flesh trade in Moldova)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... It's not often that billboards urge you not to buy or sell something. But the Moldovan capital of Chisinau is an exception. Its streets are filled with admonitions: TU NU ESTI MARFA (YOU ARE NOT FOR SALE). The dawn of market economics in...

Cowboys und Indians.(Germans celebrate American West)
August 19, 2002... A village of 390 tepees stretches along the valley floor, close by a gurgling stream. Squaws cook breakfast over open fires. Young girls play lacrosse. A pair of warriors skin a buffalo. Others have painted themselves with black ash and white...

Rigging the Races.(Thailand)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... At first glance, Satish Sehgal might seem to be a horse-racing psychic. He has an uncanny ability to pick the winners at any of Thailand's racetracks. Seated with a program booklet at the posh Royal Bangkok Sports Club one recent Sunday, Sehgal...

Her Eye on the Prize.(Benazir Bhutto)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been knocked down many times. Dictator Mohammad Zia ul-Haq hanged her father in 1979 and imprisoned her after her return from exile in 1986. She has been elected prime minister twice and twice...

A Psychedelic Summer.(drug use in Japan)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... The man behind the counter, who calls himself Carlos, offers a baggie full of dried Mexican sage. "Just like pot," he says, "only more hallucinations." In his head shop, located on the eighth floor of a nondescript building, kids too young to...

Too Old Economy.(backlash against Internet usage)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... The internet visionaries have fallen. What now? Vivendi Universal's Jean-Marie Messier, Ron Sommer of Deutsche Telekom and Thomas Middelhoff at Bertelsmann have all been ousted and speedily replaced by a pharmaceutical executive, a former...

Let Them Eat Organic.(organic farming)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... Baron Wolfgang Von Munchhausen gets a premium price for his premium crops. Ten years ago, after getting ill from some of the 125 different pesticides he was spraying on his 300 acres of wheat, rye and other grains, he converted his farm in the...

That Sinking Feeling.(Argentine economy)
August 19, 2002... Until last year, Argentina's banking system was viewed as one of the most trustworthy in South America. A decade of economic stability-- underpinned by steady foreign investment and a currency fixed at par with the U.S. dollar--had polished the...

Old Role, New Twist.(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... She has made her name playing strong female characters, from a tough but inexperienced lawyer battling the Mafia and the FBI in "The Client" to a nun counseling a death-row inmate in "Dead Man Walking." But early next year, Susan Sarandon fans...

The Muslim Moderator.(Hamza Yusuf)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... When Sheik Hamza Yusuf was summoned to the White House after the World Trade Center attack, he brought President George W. Bush two books. The first was a Qur'an, bristling with Post-It notes marking key verses. The second was "Thunder in the...

Calling All Mercedeses.(Saudi royal family in Geneva)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... As the dying sun makes the mansions on Lake Geneva glow gold, members of the Saudi royal family gather for a barbecue. Servants have set up a waterfront feast in a public park, complete with two long tables, red- backed chairs and arrangements...

Lives on the Line.(foreigners to be executed in the United States)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... In 1988 Javier Suarez Medina, then 19, was convicted for the murder of Larry Cadena, an undercover cop posing as a drug dealer, in a Texas drug bust. At his trial, police witnesses testified that Medina had opened Cadena's car door and shot the...

The Strong, Silent Type.(US perception in the Middle East)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... The perception of the United States overseas isn't exactly sparkling nowadays. According to a recent report issued by the Council on Foreign Relations, many nations, especially Islamic ones, view the United States as "arrogant, self-indulgent,...

Doin' the Perp Walk.(Dennis Kozlowski indicted in securities crime)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... Recently, the president of a large division of a large media company was given his walking papers. Nothing personal, of course. The guy was good at his job--or as good as anyone tasked with the same pointless responsibilities in a doomed...

Perspectives.(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... "The war against terrorism is terrorism." American actor and activist Woody Harrelson, currently appearing in a London stage play, on the U.S.-led war on terror "The forces of evil will carry their coffins on their backs, die in...

Periscope.(Statistical Data Included)
August 19, 2002... POLICY Beyond Baghdad While still wrangling over how to overthrow Iraq's Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration is already looking for other targets. President Bush has called for the ouster of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. Now...

Space--The Next Front.(home offices)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... Anyone who brings work home at night knows the feeling: dinner is over, the kids are in bed, but you just can't face the messy pit you call your home office. Trevor Hughes knew that phenomenon all too well. His work space was a cluttered,...

Going On A Fantastic Voyage.(fantasy computer games)(Brief Article)
August 19, 2002... Does your significant other disappear between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.? Have the words "orc" and "necromancer" suddenly entered her vocabulary? Then it's official. She's crossed over to the dark side. Fantasy games--with their...

Perilous Parlors.
August 19, 2002... Summer's strappy sandals and short skirts make pedicures and waxing a must. But even simple parlor procedures have risks. Here's what you need to know before your next salon appointment: Never shave your legs before a pedicure. Microbes can...

Fast Feet.
August 19, 2002... Running outdoors is Zen and all, but are you really doing nine-minute miles? And have you burned off that ill-advised hunk of cheesecake yet? Track your stats with Nike's lightweight SDM Tailwind, which clips onto your sneaker and provides all...

Israel's Front Lines.
August 26, 2002... Our July 15 reports on Israeli reservists and on Natan Sharansky's role in U.S. policy drew criticism. Some readers faulted us for "bias" in favor of Israel and for adopting Ariel Sharon's term, "war on terror." One praised our story and said...

'I Call This Kashmir Inc.'.(political corruption in Kashmir)(Brief Article)
August 26, 2002... Papa Kashtwari doesn't receive unexpected guests. Helmeted and flak- jacketed troops have guarded his house in Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, ever since he flip-flopped from being an Islamic rebel commander to a pro-Indian militant. After...

War of the Faiths.(Statistical Data Included)
August 26, 2002... Father Krzysztof Kempa has a congregation but no church. As he reads mass for 15 Roman Catholics in a dark, cramped apartment in the southern Russian city of Belgorod, he struggles to make himself heard over a curbside car alarm, the hum of an...

'Art is Bloody Society'.
August 26, 2002... "Art?" ask the doomsayers. "Dead. Killed by Hollywood and the 60-hour workweek. Squashed by Big Brother and the bottom line." Tell the skeptics to go to London's National Theatre where crowds are queuing for a nine-hour trilogy on the...

A Military Mafia.(Statistical Data Included)
August 26, 2002... Armed with an M-16 machine gun, Sergeant Juwono was--literally-- cornering the market. The Indonesian soldier stood along a main road in war-torn Aceh province selling bumper stickers commemorating the country's upcoming Aug. 17 Independence...

Hawaiian Flavors.(cuisine)(Brief Article)
August 26, 2002... Joan Myers and her husband, Stan, love Hawaii. The California couple has vacationed on the islands for nearly 30 years--espousing its virtues to anyone who will listen. Says Joan, "Our favorite place is the Big Island, with its volcanoes, rain...

Learning to Be Chinese.(schools in Tibet)(Brief Article)
August 26, 2002... If you are looking for Tibet's best and brightest, don't bother looking in Lhasa. The top scorers of the province's junior-high and high-school entrance exams--between 1,300 and 1,600 students each year--are now regularly shipped to study in...

Time to Strike a Deal?(Brazilian orange tariff)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 26, 2002... Brazilian orange growers have a complaint. Six of every 10 glasses of orange juice served worldwide can be traced back to their groves. That's a pretty gaudy statistic, but the Brazilians say the figure would be even higher--and the juice much...

On the Prowl.(Playboy in Mexico)(Statistical Data Included)
August 26, 2002... The last time Playboy published a magazine in Mexico, it suffered for lack of interest. Particularly from models. The editors could not find Mexican women--at least not the kind they were looking for--unabashed enough to take off their clothes...

Writer Meets World.
August 26, 2002... In 1950, at the age of 18, V. S. Naipaul made his first journey from his native Trinidad to England, from backwater to metropolis. A decade later he began to move from the center back toward the periphery, to societies that for different...

All Wagner, All the Time.(Bayreuth festival)(Brief Article)
August 26, 2002... My hotel room has two televisions playing Wagner operas 24 hours a day. The bus across town weaves past streets named for Wagner's characters-- Wotanstrasse, Tristanstrasse--all the while playing taped lectures on his musical motifs. The opera...

Hurling Through History.
August 26, 2002... Humble homo sapiens has long been in thrall to outsize creatures, first out of fear and later for fun. From "King Kong" to "Jurassic Park," we never seem to tire of tales of charismatic megafauna and the mayhem they cause. Alfred W. Crosby's...

Prayers vs. Realpolitik.(Russian Buddhists)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 26, 2002... For Russia's million or so Buddhists, it was to be an occasion of a lifetime. Their revered spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was set to visit on Sept. 9. Then came a shocker. For reasons not fully clear, the Russian Foreign Ministry reversed...

From Captive To Convert.(Yvonne Ridley)(Brief Article)(Interview)
August 26, 2002... Last September, as tensions mounted in Afghanistan, and Washington prepared to invade, British tabloid journalist Yvonne Ridley made headlines around the world. Clad head to toe in a burqa, Ridley was captured by the Taliban after sneaking into...

Go Yeast, Young Man!(Indians in America)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 26, 2002... Ever since Christopher Columbus set out for India and discovered America, his intended destination has remained curiously disconnected from the land of Manifest Destiny. It is only in recent years that this has begun to change with a wave of...

Perspectives.(quotations)
August 26, 2002... "This is nature. It shows how unimportant we are." Dresden, Germany, resident Falk Herrgott, on the flooding that has devastated his city "Friends don't allow friends to [flout] international law." William Schulz, executive director of...

Periscope.
August 26, 2002... IRAQ: The Debate Goes Public Even when he's engaging in political warfare, Gen. Brent Scowcroft is courteous. Last week, the day before his op-ed titled DON'T ATTACK SADDAM appeared in The Wall Street Journal, he faxed a copy over to...

CAVIAR / Born In The U.S.A.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 26, 2002... If the Beluga sturgeon ends up on endangered-species lists, the United States may soon ban imports of Beluga caviar--the creature's coveted, costly eggs. To compensate, American-grown varieties have proliferated. A sampling: Stolt Sea Farm...