Costa Rica rainforest at risk: ecotourism

Concern is mounting over the future of a pioneering eco-tourism development in Costa Rica - the Monteverde rainforest reserve in the country's north-western highlands.

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For the section on the environment and related sociological terms and concepts, click here.

Economy and Personal Debt

WASHINGTON Dec 19, 2004 — Shoppers are racing from store to store this holiday season, with credit cards clutched tightly in hand and visions of future bills dancing in their heads. One-half of Americans say they worry about the money they owe, and many say they worry most of the time about their overall debts, an Associated Press poll found.

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For the section on the economy and related sociological terms and concepts, click here.

Immigration and language differences

By LESLIE CASIMIR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Paciano Pedro, a new immigrant from Mexico, has a severe language problem. Not only does he not speak English - he can barely speak Spanish." Click here to read more.

For related sociological terms and concepts, click here.

US energy proposal pushes toward center

By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

The effort to craft a comprehensive national energy strategy got a significant nudge this week. After two year's work, the nonpartisan National Commission on Energy Policy, a panel funded by several foundations, issued what's likely to be an influential report addressing all aspects of energy policy: supply, national security, environmental impact, and diplomacy.

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Also click here to apply sociological concepts to this issue.

Israle and Palestine: Behind the barrier

By Nicole Gaouette | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

QALQILYA, WEST BANK – Yusif Josef Ramsi is still farming, if you can call it that. The West Bank farmer, never a major landowner, once tended his seven-acre plot of fig and olive trees with pride. Click here to read more...

Also click here to apply sociological concepts to this issue.

The former child soldiers of Mozambique's civil war offer insights into morality and human resiliency

The children of war

By Wray Herbert

Alfredo Betuel Macamo and Joaquim Fernando Quive live only a couple of hundred yards from each other, and they share a lot of history and culture. These two 23-year-old men grew up in the same primitive village near Malehice in the rural Mozambican province of Gaza, and both still live there today. It's a poor place, and neither Macamo nor Quive is doing that great financially. Macamo is struggling to raise three kids--6, 3, and a 4-month-old--by harvesting reeds on a riverbank. Quive does odd jobs when he can find them, though these days he doesn't work much at all. They both live in small reed huts with dirt floors and no running water.

Click here to read more and click here to apply sociological concepts to this issue.

Conflict in Congo

By David Lewis
GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Fighting between rival army factions has ended days of relative calm in eastern Congo where the United Nations say at least 100,000 people displaced by recent clashes have yet to return home. Click here to read more... Also click here for potential links to apply sociological concepts to this subject.

Afghan Culture

This is an interesting article about Afghanistan's culture.Click here to read more....

UNICEF

UNICEF is the United Nation's International Children's Emergency Fund. Their work is cited in the previous post "Global Poverty, Human Rights". The link below will take you to their website. There is a lot of very good information on their website referencing global poverty, the status of children in the world, children living in conflict nations, and related topics.

UNICEF Home Page

Global poverty, human rights

At risk: 1,000,000,000 of the world's children
One billion children are at risk today from war, poverty and hunger, failed by the world's governments

By Stephen Khan
10 December 2004

They are a billion strong. Diseased, malnourished, uneducated, they are a people on the run from wars that take the lives of their brothers and sisters. And they are all children - half the children on earth today. Click here to read more...

Global Economy: China and the EU

China and the European Union, meeting yesterday in the Hague, pledged to boost relations while signing more than a dozen cooperation agreements. To read more click here...

China: International Trade

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States yesterday announced anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese shrimp as high as 113 per cent, a move that will hurt both US consumers and Chinese shrimp farmers, China Daily reported Thursday.

This article highlights the dynamics of international economic relations and free trade issues. Read more by clicking here...