Compulsory teaching of foreign languages was always unnecessary because we're blessed to have English as the national tongue - the language of business, diplomacy and tourism in almost every corner of the world. Worse, we've taught these languages with too few trained teachers, and in a ludicrously unco-ordinated way.

Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, chaired on Wednesday, the Security Council debate on "Intercultural dialogue for peace and security" at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, in the presence of the UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, the accompanying delegation, Lebanon's permanent representative to the UN Nawaf Salam, and the British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Alistair Burt.

In a joint statement released last week, President Barack Obama and President Felipe Calderón announced a new exchange program for high school students designed to promote mutual understanding between the two countries.

The U.S. pavilion finally got built after a determined push by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton..."Establishing an American presence at this Expo worthy of our great country was quite a journey," she told an audience of U.S. corporate sponsors who had ponied up $61 million in a last-minute private fund-raising drive to build the pavilion.Having spent a day talking to Chinese visitors at the U.S. exhibit, I think the journey was worthwhile.

According to the Nation Brand Index, which measures how countries are perceived by other nations, Scotland is ranked 18th, behind nations such as America and France. But one of the challenges Mr Dixon, who took over his post three weeks ago, has set himself is to elevate Scotland into the top ten.

The real purpose of burqa bans is to assert European cultural identity -- secular, liberal and individualistic -- at the expense of a visible, traditional religious minority. A nation such as France, proudly relativistic on most issues, is convinced of its cultural superiority when it comes to sexual freedom.

Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott gave important speeches this week about Australia's engagement with Asia. They were talking to a national forum sponsored by Asialink of Melbourne University, the best single body promoting connections between Australia and Asia.

President Pratibha Patil today arrived here to a red carpet welcome as the first Indian Headof the State to visit China in a decade for visit during which she will meet the top Chinese leadership and sign a number of agreements.