Word: reformer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
With its forest of neon-emblazoned high-rises, Shanghai's Xuhui district embodies the country's dazzling economic development. But Xuhui is profiting from an even rarer commodity: political reform. Led by district Mayor Sun Chao, Xuhui's nearly 1 million inhabitants can participate in town-hall-style meetings to discuss a wide range of concerns, such as an innovative parole program and the location of a new garbage dump. "Before, leaders just made decisions," Sun says. "Now we have public hearings to allow ordinary people to debate things." That idea may sound suspiciously like democracy. But Sun, a smooth...
...employers. "It's not about being scared of technology; it's about the appropriate safeguards," says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. To Rotenberg, the push to automate is running way ahead of the legal protections. Even Newt Gingrich, a longtime champion of health-care reform, sees the need for updated legislation to protect medical privacy as technology evolves. But, he adds, it's important to keep the relative risks in perspective. Should you get into a car wreck, he says, "if you're an absolute privacy addict you can always say, 'I'd rather...
...struggling to cling to power. Meanwhile, Commission President José Manuel Barroso is still new in the job. Small wonder that last week's summit meeting involved little more than pruning the European agenda, and squabbling over what remains. Expansion to include Turkey? Don't hold your breath. Reform the Common Agricultural Policy? Not now. With many still stunned by the French and Dutch rejection of the new constitutional treaty, the leaders agreed to put its ratification on hold. On the other key issue on the agenda - the future budget of the E.U. - the summit ended in acrimony and mutual...
...massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989, many have seen China's government as nothing but repressive. But groups like these environmentalists have become drivers of social and political change. They don't directly challenge the Communist Party's power but instead focus on issues like AIDS education, legal reform and, above all, environmental protection--endeavors the government professes to support. What unifies the new generation is a commitment to individual rights. The cover of the influential Beijing magazine Economics last year called the anti-dam movement a "New Social Power in China." "They're promoting the rights of ordinary people...
...intelligence collection." One worry, Hoekstra says, is what kind of activity would fall in the category of "tactical intelligence for the military," which the Pentagon jealously guards. Hoekstra said he agreed to drop the provision "to give the players the opportunity to work out in practice what the intelligence reform bill means." Hunter could not immediately be reached for comment. A Negroponte spokeswoman said the DNI was "unaware of any such deal. We were never consulted and played no role in it." - With reporting by Douglas Waller/Washington