New approaches and western ideas find many paths into modern China, even through niche magazines about medical specialties.

State of the art procedures, and the ways medicine is practiced and made available elsewhere is gradually forcing some incremental changes in the ways that individual Chinese doctors think about their work, something that Jeffrey Parker (left) says his Chinese publications are quietly helping to facilitate.

After he reported on India’s high-volume, low cost eye care treatments, Parker says the first wave of reaction from his readership of Chinese ophthalmologists was skepticism. But that was soon followed by a upwelling of interest in learning how the Indian system worked.

Jeffrey Parker will talk about his experiences as a journalist and publisher in China before the World Affairs Council of Sonoma County Dec. 10 at Spring Lake Village in Santa Rosa, at 7:30 pm. Details about the event can be found here.

He will also speak at Stanford University at noon on January 14, 2010 on the subject,  "Grassroots Empowerment: Can Models from India Spark a Revolution in Healthcare Delivery in China?"

News reports from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip typically focus on clashes between Arab “militants” and the Israeli army. But when the dust clears, what is life there like for the Palestinian people?

Even for non-violent peace activists, simply being in the occupied Palestinian territories can be dangerous. Maggie Coulter offers two examples.

The military policies behind the Palestinian occupation are not unanimously supported by the Israeli populace, and Coulter reports that she found a number of local organizations there that are working to end or mitigate those policies.

Terrorism in the 21^st century is not confined to hot spots in the middle east or attacks on urban centers elsewhere. The upsurge in piracy in waters off Africa and Malaysia can be seen as another form of terrorism, but one that is driven by economic pressures rather than ideological concerns.

The pirates of east Africa, many of them former fishermen who have lost their traditional livelihood, almost always seek ransom for the ships they commandeer. But history professor Richard Kirk, who has made a special study of piracy over the past nine years, notes that the fate of captured vessels in the South China Sea is often much more dire.

It’s quite rare for passenger ships to be targeted by pirates, but Kirk knows of at least one instance in which a modestly sized cruise ship came under attack.

The original swashbuckling buccaneers of the 16^th century are the basis for the romanticized image that has endured, and Kirk says their era lasted almost two centuries.

Pirate attacks in 2007

Pirate Attacks in 2008

The 2010 edition of Project Censored’s annual list of important but undercovered news stories is out as usual, while behind the scenes, there’s been a changing of the guard.

One measure of the growth that Project Censored has experienced over the past 33 years, Frymer offers, is the huge increase in the number of stories that are now being nominated for their consideration each year. So even the list of finalists is longer now.

It’s always hard to pick a favorite, but new Project Censored Director Ben Frymer (left) admits to a particular fondness for one of the current top 25 stories, in part because it came from an atypical source.

 In fact, he couldn’t pick just one. Frymer has some other favorites from the list, too.

You can see all 25 of this year's top stories on the Project Censored website, as well as review the lists from past years.

The book release party for the 2010 Project Censored publication will be held at the Santa Rosa Oddfellows Hall on Saturday, Dec. 5, beginning at 6 pm. see full details here.