- Newsmaker: Los Angeles Unified to Ban Soda Sales in Schools
Urban school districts desperately short of money have increasingly relied on the sale of soda to help pay the bills. Now, that trend is changing and, tomorrow, the nation-s second largest school system is expected to ban soft drinks on campus. Genethia Hudley-Hayes, a member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, affirms that academic achievement and childhood health must take precedence over hard cash from soft drink sales. - Reporter's Notebook: Africa Wary of Accepting Genetically-Engineered Food
In Southern Africa, starvation threatens some 12 million people. Food is available that could save their lives, but their governments are reluctant to accept and distribute it out of concern for its safety. Nicole Itano, who reports from Johannesburg for the Christian Science Monitor, weighs life, death and the complexities of genetically altered food in Southern Africa.
Musharraf and the Future of Democracy in Pakistan
-He may be a dictator, but he-s our dictator.- The popular Cold War-era joke about US foreign policy applies today, especially in Pakistan where President Pervez Musharraf, America-s ally in the war on terror, has systematically dismantled democratic institutions. Not only has Musharraf made himself chief-of-state and head of the army for the next five years, he-s assumed the power to dissolve the parliament that will be elected in October. We hear more about military dictatorships, fledgling democracies and the unintended consequences for America-s long-term interests, from a regional leader of the International Crisis Group, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a former ambassador to Pakistan, and one-time CIA consultant Chalmers Johnson.