| Sarkozy arrives in Saudi Arabia, starting first Gulf tour
Sarkozy-Abdullah talks will also cover ongoing negotiations on arms sales including secure communication equipment, reconnaissance aircrafts, radar networks and helicopters, according to French defense industry sources. Four agreements are lined-up to be signed in Riyadh on Sunday, according to the French presidential office, which indicates that the accords will include "the institutionalization of political consultations, dialogue on energy issues, enhancement of university training opportunities for Saudi students in France as well as the development of professional training." Of the three-nation visits, only the visit to Qatar is a state visit, the other two being official visits, the French presidential office said on Friday.
ALL BUSINESS: Cost cutting nightmare
Corporate leaders who think they can slash expenses without customers noticing might want to give Circuit City Stores Inc.'s top brass a call. The electronics retailer is living the nightmare of cost-cutting gone bad. The Richmond, Va.-based company has been in a downward spiral since it announced last spring that it would lay off thousands of experienced workers it candidly said it could replace with cheaper new hires. Too bad that service matters in that corner of the retail market. Shoppers quickly noticed and fled -- leaving Circuit City's sales and profits plunging. Its same-store holiday sales, reported on Monday, fell 11.4 percent. And its stock is now about 80 percent below where it was the day before it made the staffing announcement. It's a business school case study being written before our eyes.
Evolution revisited
Re Fred Grimm's Jan. 10 column, Kids paying for holy war over evolution: Around the world, Americans are the target of terrorists who choose battles based on religious and biblical grounds. Meanwhile, here at home, the Republican Party also chooses its battles on the same grounds.When I attended private Catholic school, we learned evolution in biology class. In religious study, we read the creation story -- indeed, the entire Bible -- and learned to interpret it through various points of view. I came away with a clear understanding that evolution is an important scientific theory, and that the Bible can be interpreted a million different ways.I find it ironic that if I want my child to receive a balanced, open, thoughtful education at a school that will challenge her to think, question and investigate, I will have to consider a private religious school.
Only Muscatine and Rivermont secondary schools offer Chinese to their ...
With China growing as a global power and Mandarin being the most widely spoken first language in the world, the lack of Chinese language teaching in American public schools is a weakness, some educators say.The problem is a lack of certified teachers."Just as the United States has built up a huge trade deficit with China, the teacher shortage reveals America’s language deficit," states the Christian Science Monitor. "In China, some 200 million students are studying English through programs put in place decades ago. In the U.S., the sudden attention on Mandarin has exposed a serious lack of infrastructure."In the Quad-City region, Mandarin is taught at Rivermont Collegiate, a private school in Bettendorf, and at Muscatine (Iowa) High School.None of the public high schools in Rock Island and Scott counties teach Chinese.
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