The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity is long been taken as a defining feature of the genus Homo. However, primatologists such as Jane Goodall have identified aspects of culture among our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.Goodall, J. 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior.

Defining "culture"

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Christian Science Monitor | World

Congo blames Rwanda for fresh fighting
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:00:00 -0500
Clashes between government forces and Tutsi rebels could force 30,000 people from their homes in eastern Congo.
Suicide attacks a growing threat in Pakistan
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:00:00 -0500
Pakistan has overtaken Iraq and Afghanistan in suicide-bomb deaths this year, its intelligence agency reports. Thursday's attack in Islamabad struck the police's antiterrorism squad.
DiCaprio film glamorizes Jordan's feared spy agency
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:00:00 -0500
Human rights groups charge the mukhabarat, portrayed in the new Ridley Scott movie 'Body of Lies,' with systematic torture.

NPR Topics: World

Africa Hit By U.S. Economic Woes
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:00:00 -0400
Africa has made some of its biggest gains ever in the past few years as China, India, Europe and the United States have competed for its natural resources. But what happens when the money dries up?
Climate Change And Species Movement
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:43:00 -0400
As the world's climate changes, many species are being forced out of their old habitats. While some species are able to migrate to cooler territory, those in the tropics may have no where else to go.
Pakistanis Flee Military Crackdown On The Taliban
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:26:00 -0400
Thousands of Pakistanis are fleeing to Afghanistan to avoid a military launch against the Taliban. Pakistani soldiers are going door-to-door in the area demanding that Afghan refugees, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for decades, go back to Afghanistan as well. Afghan officials question how many more refugees they can house and feed in the midst of a food shortage.

NYT > World

China May Let Peasants Sell Rights to Farmland
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:36:34 -0000
The shift could draw hundreds of millions of farmers more firmly into China’s city-centered market economy.
With Spotlight on Pirates, Somalis on Land Waste Away in the Shadows
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:31:29 -0000
While the audacity of a band of Somali pirates who recently hijacked a ship has grabbed the world’s attention, the suffering of millions of Somalis seems to go unnoticed.
NATO Agrees to Take Aim at Afghan Drug Trade
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:25:57 -0000
The agreement came after strong pressure from the U.S., which has identified opium trafficking in Afghanistan as a primary target in the battle against the Taliban.

World business news - CNNMoney.com

Oil sheds more than $9 to hit 13-month low
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:35:24 -0400
Oil prices plunged to a 13-month low Friday, following steep stock market declines, as investors worried that the weakening global economy was driving down demand for fuel worldwide.
August trade deficit falls to $59.1B
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:16:42 -0400
Read full story for latest details.
The meltdown's silver lining - cheap oil
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:50:22 -0400
As the world loses confidence in the foundations of its economic system, the silver lining may be that oil prices are about to get a whole lot cheaper.

FRONTLINE/World - Reports | PBS

Sri Lanka: A Terrorist in the Family
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:00:00 -0500
Filmmaker Beate Arnestad moved to Sri Lanka in 2002 and saw that an entire generation was growing up surrounded by violence. Her resulting film "My Daughter the Terrorist," recut and excerpted here, goes inside the special Tamil Tigers' suicide division and is believed to be the first time any suicide bomber has spoken on film about their training and motivations.
Burma: Inside the Saffron Revolution
Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0500
On the one-year anniversary of Burma's September uprising, when hundreds of thousands of monks protested for change, the country's military junta continues to wage war against its own people and the crisis there has slipped back into obscurity. Our correspondent inside Burma reports on what comes next for the pro-democracy movement there.
China: Kung Fu English
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:00:00 -0500
Xinjiang province in remote western China is best known for the Taklamakan desert and the struggle for autonomy among the region's Muslim Uighur people. It's also considered a provincial backwater looked down upon by the Western influenced provinces in the east. Xinjiang native Jake Yong set out to change that perception by teaching himself -- and others -- to speak English.

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