06/28/2006 - 06/29/2006

U.S.-Arab Economic Forum Confronts Cultural Misunderstandings

Misunderstanding between the Arab world and the United States is a two-way street, according to Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes, and if the two sides are to build a more hopeful future, they must address this problem together by fostering open economies, open minds and open dialogue.

“As I travel the Arab world, I hear, as I’m sure all you do, concern, suspicion, even mistrust of America’s motives and some of our policies. Recently, we also witnessed here in America concern, suspicion and mistrust directed at the Arab world. The Dubai ports matter hit a deep nerve of worry among our population about America’s security in a post-9/11 world,�? Hughes told participants at the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum in Houston June 26.

black leaders boycott bp

A group of American black leaders including the Revs Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are to boycott British oil giant BP, accusing the company of exploiting customers and racially discriminating in its business practices.

“One of the biggest issues of our time is energy exploitation,�? Jackson said. “We are encouraging people to go to other stations and to turn in their gas cards.�?

taiwan to highlight cultural diversity

The National Science Council (Taiwan) on Tuesday introduced a religion component of the upcoming 2006 Science and Technology Expo, which will highlight the diversity of faith and religious tolerance in Taiwan.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, as of June 2001, there were 23,146 temples and churches in Taiwan. Some of the popular faiths practiced in Taiwan include Buddhism, Taosim, folk religion, Christianity, Islam, I-Kuan Dao, and most recently, Falun Gong.

Moscow tops expensive cities list

Moscow is this year's most expensive city in the world for expatriate staff, a study released Monday by British human resources firm Mercer HR suggests.

Seoul was in the second place, followed by Tokyo — which topped the list in 2005, when the Russian capital was in fourth position — then Hong Kong and London. The cheapest city was Paraguay's capital Asuncion.

Top Position Adds French Language Service

Pan-European pay per click consultancy Top Position has added another outpost to its service portfolio with the opening of a dedicated French language department. To celebrate the launch of this new service, Top Position is now offering a free 30-day trial to French clients signing up via the Top Position web site.

Web Certain Announce Multilingual Search Marketing Partnership With Scandinavian Language Specialist

Web Certain currently work with a range of leading international companies providing search engine optimisation and pay per click management expertise working in the internet's major world languages in-house. The partnership with Nordic eMarketing is a great opportunity to extend these services across the Scandinavian languages.

Baidu.com to offer blogs

Search engine market leaders in China Baidu.com have said that they are soon going to launch their own Blogging service named Baidu Space.

This service would be similar in way to Google Blogger and MSN Spaces. Cynthia He, a spokeswoman for Baidu said in a statement: “There’s a product named Baidu Space. I can’t describe the product or give a date, except that it will be very soon and we are very excited. But we’d like to keep a little mystery for now.�?

This would make them the latest player in the Chinese internet service market to offer Blogs for their web users.

word of the day: venal

venal \VEE-nuhl\, adjective:
1. Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration; held for sale; salable; purchasable.
2. Capable of being corrupted.
3. Marked by or associated with bribery and corrupt dealings.

Not everything was so venal in this operation, however. Sometimes votes were bought outright, but this was frowned on if the sums were too high. -- Kenneth R. Johnston, The Hidden Wordsworth

The news items accumulate to project an image of French politics as venal, power-mongering, and posing a crazy threat to all those values of humanity and civilization that Picasso's work had always embraced. -- Rosalind E. Krauss, The Picasso Papers