Media reports say China's National People's Congress has passed a law to allow people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residing in China to apply for Chinese citizenship starting next year. This means the Chinese government will be able to control the numbers and activities of people from Hong Kong and Macau as well as Taiwanese residing in that country.

[ FULL STORY ]

From cable-news channels to Comedy Central, Kobe Bryant's legal troubles are expected to dominate the nation's airwaves and newspaper headlines
You can see the gleam in their eyes whenever the name Kobe Bryant comes up -- which is about every five minutes in the current media climate.

[ FULL STORY ]

For Washington, weapons of mass destruction in the hands of friends and allies are OK, but nuclear weapons in the hands `rogue states' are not acceptable
By Louis Charbonneau
There are many ways to divide the world. But when it comes to military might, we divide it between those who have nuclear weapons and those who don't.

[ FULL STORY ]

President Gloria Arroyo's claim that the end to a mutiny last weekend was a `victory for democracy' is not quite true
By Ronald Meinardus
Military interventions in Philippine politics are not a novel phenomenon. The politicization of the armed forces occurred during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, when influence and power of officers were determined not by merit or performance but by political allegiance to factions or cliques. Ever since, the military has played the role of political arbiter at crucial moments in Philippine history.

[ FULL STORY ]

The recent joint petition by more than 100 academics calling for a "restructuring of the education system" listed 13 perceived failures of the last decade of educational reform and four general appeals. The petition criticized educational reform as being guided by "figures in the liberal faction," thereby seeming to imply that the critics have themselves adopted a conservative stance.

[ FULL STORY ]

By Wang Dan 王丹
Earlier this month, the North Korean government said it had completed the reprocessing of 8,000 used nuclear fuel rods, hinting that it already had the ability to produce nuclear weapons. The statement returned the North Korea nuclear crisis to the international spotlight. Pyong-yang's nuclear threats are aimed at gaining economic aid and diplomatic recognition from the US, as well as a non-aggression treaty. Pyongyang's aggressive attempt to seek interaction with the US has put China in a rather embarrassing position.China is now playing a far more active role in the North Korean crisis than it did in the past.

[ FULL STORY ]

Soong enamored with PRC

[ FULL STORY ]