DON'T LET TENSIONS ALTER `ONE CHINA'.(MAIN)

Byline: BRENT SCOWCROFT

Taiwan has been a sensitive issue in the U.S.-China relationship since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan from the mainland.

After more than two decades of unremitting hostility and recurring crises involving Taiwan, a truce was reached in 1972. In the Shanghai Communique of that year, the United States stated that it ``does not challenge'' the position of both Beijing and the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, that there is but one China.

In subsequent comments and clarifications, together with the 1979 normalization agreement and the arms sales agreement of 1982, the United States urged Beijing and Taipei to negotiate their differences, insisted that a settlement must be by peaceful means and added that it would accept any implementation of the ``one China'' principle agreed to jointly by the two sides. It declared there should be no unilateral steps to change the situation.

With the Shanghai Communique, these documents are called …

Tread carefully if traveling offshore: a little caution would go a long way for collection agencies using call centers overseas.

An American executive traveled to India recently, hoping to cement elations with local employees at his firm's new call center there. Soon after arriving, he found himself scanning a dozen eager faces arrayed around a conference table.

As he urged his workers to cast aside preconceptions, the executive fell back on a familiar phrase. "There won't be any sacred cows," he said earnestly. Faces fell, eyes widened and jaws went slack. His listeners were aghast at the unintended stereotyping.

Cultures do not always clash with as much force as in this reportedly true story, but North American card issuers should remain vigilant when taking collection efforts offshore, according to industry experts seasoned in the ways of globalization.

The challenge appears bound to intensify as offshoring increases in the next few years, says Dennis Grady, executive vice president of Global Vantedge Inc., a Larkspur, Calif.-based agency that offers collection and other credit services. The company employs five workers in the United States and 1,000 abroad, mostly in India.

Grady says offshoring, the practice of using technology to farm out chores to workers in distant countries to reduce wage costs, started 20 years ago with information technology. The concept moved into telemarketing and telesales seven years ago and made its first appearance in collections four years ago. Offshoring …

IMF director cleared in hiring of family friend

The International Monetary Fund says that that its director was cleared of an allegation he improperly influenced the hiring of a family friend for a temporary internship at the lending institution.

The issue has cropped up after Dominique Strauss-Kahn apologized this week for an extramarital relationship with another former IMF employee.

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New Business: Name: At Your Door Glam!

Area representative:

Twila Huddlestone-Keirns Shannon Huddlestone

Telephone:

(260) 348-6866 - phone (260) 744-4981 - fax

Web site:

atyourdoorglam@yahoo.com

Type of business:

At Your Door Glam! provides on-location makeup artistry for brides and bridal parties, proms or any other special occasion. Private instruction and group classes are also available, as well as aesthetic services such as facials, waxing and skincare consultation.

Owners' education/background:

Twila Huddlestone-Keirns has 10 years of experience in makeup artistry and has completed training with various major cosmetic companies. Twila has also worked with …

Jeddah woman driver accelerates campaign.

Summary: JEDDAH: The Women2Drive campaign continued down a rocky road with some sustaining the campaign a week after it was launched with sporadic efforts on Friday. Meanwhile a dawa (Islamic propagation) group, in Riyadh made clear its belief that women driving cars is against Islamic principles.

On Friday, stay-at-home mom Alsharifa Lana Engawi took to the Jeddah streets in a Range Rover to visit her father without any issues. But Layla Aldabbagh in Alkhobar posted on Twitter that police stopped her when she was driving with her male guardian: her father. For the past week Saudi women have been posting videos and pictures themselves driving on social media sites. Twitter and …

AUCTION TODAY AT SAINT ROSE CAMPUS.(Local)

The Neighborhood Resource Center of Albany will conduct its fourth annual auction today at the College of Saint Rose to raise money for staff and programs throughout the coming year. …

STOP THAT SPEEDING PALM TREE!(Personal)

Byline: Rick Karlin

Ever since a Miami television station showed a radar gun clocking a palm tree at 86 mph in 1979, there have been countless courtroom debates over the accuracy of radar speed detection. Along with the legal battles has been a steady escalation of technology by both police and those who would outwit them.

In New York, state police now have tools such as "instant on" radar that can be turned on so rapidly it outsmarts the radar detectors used by some motorists.

Troopers will soon be getting devices to detect the radar detectors. In response, a Chicago firm is developing "stealth" radar detectors that can't be picked up by these …