As part of the plan, DCI seeks to "create French influence" through academic and training courses, Rotrubin said. Instilling an appreciation of the language and culture, the company's leaders believe, will confer a competitive advantage for French products, and DCI hopes graduates might later draw up specifications that reflect the French training.

No matter where in the world you live or what sector you are involved in, you have to take into account China's rise. China continues to invest and buy things abroad in its drive to secure access to natural resources in places like Afghanistan and Australia and to exert power.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received Monday US Special Envoy on Science, Bruce Alberts, as Indonesia and the US are eyeing for enhanced cooperation in the field of science and technology.

It’s hard to tell whether Arizona’s reputation at home and abroad is going to be damaged more by enactment on April 23rd of the state’s draconian new immigration law or by the WE cable network’s new reality program “Sunset Days,” a sort of Geriatrics Gone Wild in a Phoenix-area retirement community.

Most of Asia suffered from hubris during the Asian miracle -- but not China. Expo 2010 in Shanghai might be a test of whether China can think outside of the West's intellectual box. It might be a showcase of the charisma of Chinese culture...

Joseph Lee, a lecturer at the University of Nottingham Business School, is quite optimistic about the public perception of China. “I think to a certain extent that the British are happy about the economic rise of China. They don’t view that as a threat.”

It is true that China’s hosting of the event, especially on the heels of the spectacular Summer Olympics two years ago, sends an unmistakable signal of the country’s return to global prominence. Nonetheless, the Expo is also a grand stage where, over the next six months, nearly 200 participant countries will be courting and engaging the Chinese public.

To characterize the Shanghai Expo as mainly China’s showcasing of its soft power misses an important point.