Digital Diaries: This Season in My Words
Young Refugee Calls for Peace And Unity in Her Country, Timor-Leste
"The crisis being faced by Timor-Leste has affected not only the elderly and children but also the students and youth—the future of Timor-Leste," says 19-year-old Ubalda Junior Soares Campos.
Uba, who sought refuge with her family at the World Bank office in Dili during the crisis, in June 2006, said the recent explosion of violence and conflict in the capital had halted all her normal activities and that of her friends, including school and extracurricular activities. Read full story 
Chinese and US Students Place Spotlight on Urban Development
Qianjiang officials and Lab students at a landfill construction site. Photo: Wendy Liberante
In Summer 2006, teams of students from Chongqing, Beijing and Los Angeles investigated urban development in Chongqing towns (in China) with World Bank-funded projects underway. In the words of Peking University student Wang Bingsong, "We learned as much from our cross-cultural teamwork experience as we did from direct observation of local conditions." USC student Tanner Blackman affirmed this view, adding, "Collaboration between the three schools was the Lab's best feature."
Successful urbanization in small and medium-sized cities is crucial to the Chinese government's strategy of evening out development … Read full story
Youthink! Asked: What Are You Doing the Summer of 2006?
Jonathan, 23, from Tanzania, told us, "I will be attending my fieldwork, [at] the University of Dar es Salaam. But, we will also be having the international student week here in Tanzania, whereby various issues such as AIDS, globalization and environment will be discussed." Read all submissions 
Some have said that the internet is the most democratic form of media. Not everyone can logon and type what they think and feel. Government censorship and low access to technology are the biggest challenges. Rates of computer and internet use are important world development indicators. Only about 14% of the world population uses the internet, according to the most recent World Bank data (2004).
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