Rajmohan Gandhi was twelve years old when his grandfather, Mohatma Gandhi, was assassinated. It was an event that forever changed him, and the nation of India. From PRI First Persons, The World onlineListen to programrequires real playerread script

Brazil's armed forces have been ordered to release documents which could shed light on human rights abuses committed during the country's military dictatorship. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso demanded all branches of the armed forces to search archives for records of Brazilian involvement in Operation Condor. Human rights groups believe Operation Condor was conducted jointly by dictators in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile with the aim of killing regime opponents. (BBC has the full story)

Take food tour of downtown LA with Chef Tara Thomas and discover some of her favorite Latin eateries. Find out what olives and sardinnes have in common. And discover the Yeminite way to make home made matzohah.listen to radio showAired Saturday, April 15, 2000. on KCRW. Requires real player.

In the largest K-12 opensource project that we know about, Mexico's Red Escolar Linux launched its open source project recently. Our colleague, Arturo Espinosa Aldama, project director, sent us this kind note: "RED ESCOLAR propone llevar a las escuelas de educación básica y normal un modelo tecnológico flexible, que pueda adaptarse fácilmente a las necesidades particulares de cada entidad federativa (Mexicana). El modelo esta basado en el uso de la televisión y la informática educativas, principalmente a través de la RED EDUSAT y de la conexión a Internet." [English: "RED ESCOLAR proposes to bring a flexible technological model to the primary and normal education schools, a model that is able to easily adapt itself to the every federative state's particular necessities (in Mexico).

Ulric Björck & Berner Lindström, two colleagues from Sweden working intimately with online learning techniques, serve up their results based on observations of online posting board discussions. Abstract: "Analyzing transcripts has been established as a good way to study communication and cognition in coordination with the ideas in the scientific field of situated cognition. The study of transcripts from on-line courses gives us an interesting possibility to study situated learning."

"Our changing society and workplace require citizens who can take responsibility for their own learning and well being on a life-long basis. Educational reforms, which help develop our citizens, are dependent on the adequate and appropriate infusion of technology for their support. The time to think and plan strategically to further enhance instructional technology in LAUSD is here." So begins the latest Los Angeles Unified School District Instructional Technology Plan.

A Los Angeles Times piece by Craig Peck, Heather Kirkpatrick and Larry Cuban from the Stanford School of Education has stirred a simmering debate. We'd like to hear from you about your experiences--wherever you may be in the world--concerning the educational digital divide. Whether you are a teacher, student or a concerned citizen of the world we'd like to hear from you. Take a moment to read the article and then post your comments at the end. The article attacks the notion that somehow schools can rectify the social issues of haves and have-nots in societies divided by class. It is specific to the United States, but it has definite global ramifications. Click the link below to read the article in its entirety and add your comments.

Unlike distance learning, which includes text-based instruction and courses conducted through written correspondence, e-learning is focused on the delivery of educational content over electronic media, including the Internet, corporate networks, satellite, broadcast, audio, videotape, interactive TV and CD-ROM, IBM said in a statement.

Due to the lack of available names, non-dot com domains from non-US countries are all the rage these days. GLO has even joined the trend by recently purchasing glo.to (from Tonga, more on this in later publications). Some countries have actually positioned their domain names to attract certain types of would-be web entrepreneurs. Tuvalu, a small South Pacific island, recently opened its .tv domain meaning that anything television-related for the web has a ready-made domain name. But names are anything but cheap. (More from Computer Daily News)

Egypt has witnessed one of the fastest rates of population increase in the past century: in the past 70 years Egypt's population has risen from 18 million to more than 60 million. To educate the population about sex and birth control, Egypt is launching Nefertiti TV, a new television network named after the ancient queen. Topics previously thought to be taboo for discussion in Egyptian culture, such as sex, will be addressed in soap operas and chat shows, and broadcast via satellite across the country. (more from Salon)