Iceland says goodbye to the Big Mac

In the October 26, 2009 article "Iceland says goodbye to the Big Mac," Associated Press writers Gudjon Helgason and Jane Wardell report that economic conditions are causing the closure of Iceland's three McDonald's restaurants.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – The Big Mac, long a symbol of globalization, has become the latest victim of this tiny island nation's overexposure to the world financial crisis.

Iceland's three McDonald's restaurants — all in the capital Reykjavik — will close next weekend, as the franchise owner gives in to falling profits caused by the collapse in the Icelandic krona.

"The economic situation has just made it too expensive for us," Magnus Ogmundsson, the managing director of Lyst Hr., McDonald's franchise holder in Iceland, told the Associated Press by telephone on Monday.

Lyst was bound by McDonald's requirement that it import all the goods required for its restaurants — from packaging to meat and cheeses — from Germany.

Costs had doubled over the past year because of the fall in the krona and high import tariffs on imported goods, Ogmundsson said, making it impossible for the company to raise prices further and remain competitive with competitors that use locally sourced produce.

A Big Mac in Reykjavik already retails for 650 krona ($5.29). But the 20 percent increase needed to make a decent profit would have pushed that to 780 krona ($6.36), he said.

That would have made the Icelandic version of the burger the most expensive in the world, a title currently held jointly by Switzerland and Norway where it costs $5.75, according to The Economist magazine's 2009 Big Mac index.

The decision to shutter the Icelandic franchise was taken in agreement with McDonald's Inc., Ogmundsson said, after a review of several months.

McDonald's, the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, arrived in Reykjavik in 1993 when the country was on an upward trajectory of wealth and expansion.

The first person to take a bite out of a Big Mac on the island was then Prime Minister David Oddsson. Oddsson went on to become governor of the country's central bank, Sedlabanki, a position that he was forced out of by lawmakers earlier this year after a public outcry about his inability to prevent the financial crisis.

Lyst plans to reopen the stores under a new brand name, Metro, using locally sourced materials and produce and retaining the franchise's current 90-strong staff.

Ogmundsson said it was unlikely that Lyst would ever seek to regain the McDonald's franchise with Iceland still struggling to get back on its feet after the credit crisis crippled its overweight banking system, damaging the rest of its economy, last October.

"I don't think anything will happen that will change the situation in any significant way in the next few years," Ogmundsson said.

It is not the first time that McDonald's, which currently operates in more than 119 countries on six continents, has exited a country. Its one and only restaurant in Barbados closed after just six months in 1996 because of slow sales. In 2002, the company pulled out of seven countries, including Bolivia, that had poor profit margins as part of an international cost-cutting exercise.

Examples of Good Mind Maps

The following two mind maps were created by students in John Budd's labor relations course at the University of Minnesota.

This mind map illustrates a moment in the history of labor unions:
(Click the image to enlarge it.)

This mind map summarizes the diverse impacts of labor unions:
(Click the image to enlarge it.)

A good mind map will:
*use different colors to represent different branches;
*illustrate the maps with images; and
*use single words because phrases or full sentences can limit their ability to create associations.
(Avoid full sentences. Phrases are acceptable if a single word does not express the concept effectively.)

A darker side of Columbus emerges in US classrooms

In the October 11, 2009 article "A darker side of Columbus emerges in US classrooms," Associated Press writer Christine Armario reports:

TAMPA, Fla. – Jeffrey Kolowith's kindergarten students read a poem about Christopher Columbus, take a journey to the New World on three paper ships and place the explorer's picture on a timeline through history.

Kolowith's students learn about the explorer's significance — though they also come away with a more nuanced picture of Columbus than the noble discoverer often portrayed in pop culture and legend.

"I talk about the situation where he didn't even realize where he was," Kolowith said. "And we talked about how he was very, very mean, very bossy."

Columbus' stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, and many districts will not observe his namesake holiday on Monday. Although lessons vary, many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.

"The whole terminology has changed," said James Kracht, executive associate dean for academic affairs in the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development. "You don't hear people using the world 'discovery' anymore like they used to. 'Columbus discovers America.' Because how could he discover America if there were already people living here?"

In Texas, students start learning in the fifth grade about the "Columbian Exchange" — which consisted not only of gold, crops and goods shipped back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but diseases carried by settlers that decimated native populations.

In McDonald, Pa., 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, fourth-grade students at Fort Cherry Elementary put Columbus on trial this year — charging him with misrepresenting the Spanish crown and thievery. They found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.

"In their own verbiage, he was a bad guy," teacher Laurie Crawford said.

Of course, the perspective given varies across classrooms and grades. Donna Sabis-Burns, a team leader with the U.S. Department of Education's School Support and Technology Program, surveyed teachers nationwide about the Columbus reading materials they used in class for her University of Florida dissertation. She examined 62 picture books, and found the majority were outdated and contained inaccurate — and sometimes outright demeaning — depictions of the native Taino population.

The federal holiday itself also is not universally recognized. Schools in Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle will be open; New York City, Washington and Chicago schools will be closed.

The day is an especially sensitive issue in places with larger native American populations.

"We have a very large Alaska native population, so just the whole Columbus being the founder of the United States, doesn't sit well with a lot of people, myself included," said Paul Prussing, deputy director of Alaska's Division of Teaching and Learning Support.

Many recall decades ago when there was scant mention of indigenous groups in discussions about Columbus. Kracht remembers a picture in one of his fifth-grade textbooks that showed Columbus wading to shore with a huge flag and cross.

"The indigenous population was kind of waiting expectantly, almost with smiles on their faces," Kracht said. "'I wonder what this guy is bringing us?' Well, he's bringing us smallpox, for one thing, and none of us are going to live very long."

Kracht said an emerging multiculturalism led more people to investigate the cruelties suffered by the Taino population in the 1960s and '70s, along with the 500th anniversary in 1992.

However, there are people who believe the discussion has shifted too far. Patrick Korten, vice president of communications for the Catholic fraternal service organization the Knights of Columbus, recalled a note from a member who saw a lesson at a New Jersey school.

The students were forced to stand in a cafeteria and not allowed to eat while other students teased and intimidated them — apparently so they could better understand the suffering indigenous populations endured because of Columbus, Korten said.

"My impression is that in some classrooms, it's anything but a balanced presentation," Korten, said. "That it's deliberately very negative, which is a matter of great concern because that is not accurate."

Korten said he doesn't believe such activities are widespread — though the lessons will certainly vary.

In Kolowith's Tampa class, students gathered around a white carpet, where they examined a pile of bright plastic fruits and vegetables, baby dolls, construction paper and other items as they decided what would be best for their voyage.

"Do you think it would be good to take babies on a long and dangerous boat ride?" he asked the class. "No!" they replied.

Fifteen miles away, in Seffner, Fla., Colson Elementary assistant principal Jack Keller visited students in a colonial outfit and gray wig, pretending to be Columbus and discussing his voyages. The suffering of natives was not mentioned.

"Our thing was to show exploration," he said.

Meanwhile, Crawford's Pennsylvania class dressed up as characters from the era, assigned roles for a mock trial and put Columbus on the stand. Out of a jury of 12 students, nine found him guilty of the charges.

"Every hero is somebody else's villain," said Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a scholar and author of several books related to Columbus, including "1492: The Year the World Began."

"Heroism and villainy are just two sides of the same coin."

Names for U.S. citizens

"Names for U.S. citizens" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Different languages use different terms for citizens of the United States, the people known in English as Americans. All forms of English refer to these people as "Americans", derived from "The United States of America", but there is some linguistic ambiguity over this due to the other senses of the word American, which can also refer to people from the Americas in general. Many other languages use cognates of "American" to refer to people from the United States, but others, particularly Spanish, primarily use terms derived from "United States". There are various other local and colloquial names for Americans.

Development of the term

The adjective "American" originally referred to the landmass known as the Americas or America. "Americans" originally referred to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and later to European settlers and their descendants. English use of the term "American" for people of European descent dates to the 17th century; the earliest recorded appearance is in Thomas Gage's The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies in 1648. "American" especially applied to people in British America, and thus its use as a demonym for the United States derives by extension.

The United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 refers to "the thirteen united States of America", making the first formal use of the country name; the name was officially adopted by the nation's first governing constitution, the Articles of Confederation, in 1777. The Federalist Papers of 1787-1788, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to advocate the ratification of the United States Constitution, use the word "American" in both its original, Pan-American sense, but also in its United States sense: Federalist Paper 24 refers to the "American possessions" of Britain and Spain, i.e. land outside of the United States, while Federalist Papers 51 and 70 refer to the United States as "the American republic". People from the United States increasingly referred to themselves as "Americans" through the end of the 18th century; the 1795 Treaty of Peace and Amity with the Barbary States refers to "American Citizens", and George Washington spoke to his people of "[t]he name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity…" in his 1796 farewell address. Eventually, this usage spread through other English-speaking countries; the unqualified noun "American" now chiefly refers to natives or citizens of the United States in all forms of the English language. Although "American" may refer to all inhabitants of the continent, this is generally specified with a qualifier such as "Latin American" or "North American."

International use

International speakers of English refer to people from the United States as "Americans", while cognates of "American" are used in many other languages. French, German, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian speakers use cognates of American (Japanese: アメリカ人 roma-ji: amerika-jin), (Russian: американец, американка,) (Mandarin Chinese: pinyin- měiguórén, traditional- 美國人, simplified- 美国人) to refer to U.S. citizens. Spanish and Portuguese, however, chiefly use terms derived from Estados Unidos, the cognate of "United States" – estadounidense and estadunidense, respectively. The same linguistic ambiguity that occurs in English use of the term "American" occurs in the other European languages: to compensate for this, French (predominantly Quebec French) and Italian speakers may refer to U.S. citizens respectively as états-unien and statunitense, though this is less common, and German speakers may distinguish an Amerikaner as a U.S.-Amerikaner. This confusion is also present in Portuguese, as people from the United States may alternatively be referred to as americanos in that language. However, in Spanish, americano chiefly refers to all people from the Western Hemisphere, and using it in the United States sense may be considered offensive; the Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas de la Real Academia Española advises against using it in this sense.

Alternate terms

The only officially and commonly used alternative for referring to the people of the United States in English is to refer to them as citizens of that country. "Yankee" (or "Yank") is a common colloquial term for Americans in English; cognates can be found in other languages. While "Yankee" may refer to people specifically from New England or the Northern United States, it has been applied to Americans generally since the 18th century, especially by the British. The earliest recorded use in this context is in a letter by Horatio Nelson in 1784. The word "gringo", often used pejoratively, is common in Spanish and has entered into other languages including English, in which language it is recorded as early as 1871. More generically, they may be specified as "U.S. Americans". Several single-word English alternatives for "American" have been suggested over time, including "Usonian", popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the nonce term "United-Statesian". The writer H. L. Mencken collected a number of proposals from between 1789 and 1939, finding terms including "Columbian, Columbard, Fredonian, Frede, Unisian, United Statesian, Colonican, Appalacian, Usian, Washingtonian, Usonian, Uessian, U-S-ian, Uesican, United Stater." Nevertheless no alternative to "American" is common.

Spanish and Portuguese speakers may refer to people from the United States as norteamericanos and norte-americanos respectively ("North Americans"), though this term can also include Canadians and sometimes Mexicans. The fact that citizens of the United States call themselves "Americans" causes discomfort for many Latin Americans, who see it as an appropriation of the collective identity of all peoples and countries of the Western Hemisphere. However, this usage has historical roots. Other languages which optionally distinguish the two uses include Japanese, French, Finnish, Italian, and Navajo. Other languages, such as Chinese, Korean, Swahili, Vietnamese, and Esperanto, have different terms for U.S. citizens and people from the Americas.

Retrieved October 8, 2009.

See also:
Santos, Luis Claudio (March 2006). "American, United Statian, USAmerican, or Gringos?". AmeriQuests 2 (1).

The power of China's big checkbook

In the October 7, 2009 article "Amid the global economic crisis, China rises," Associated Press business writer Joe McDonald reports:

BEIJING – The auto-parts maker Delphi Corp. is headquartered in Troy, Mich., in the heart of the region that made the United States the car capital of the world. It's a place where the phrase "buy American" is right at home.

Now the 3,000 employees of Delphi's brake and suspension unit are getting a new boss. Battered by weak sales, Delphi is selling the unit to investors led by a company named Shougang Corp.

Shougang is a steel maker owned by the government of China — a government that calls itself communist but espouses a "socialist market economy" as it marches down globalization's road toward a capitalistic future.

"Everyone's so desperate for cash that the Chinese show up with a checkbook and people say, `Yes, please'," says Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Dragonomics, a Beijing research firm.

Explosive growth in China and India, coupled with Japan's clout as the world's No. 2 economy, has long been expected to shift economic power from the United States to Asia as this century progresses. The financial crisis and resulting Great Recession are accelerating that process.

"China certainly comes out of the crisis stronger rather than weaker, and it's the opposite for the United States," says Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

Even some Americans have begun declaring this the "Chinese century" since it began nearly a decade ago. But while they and others fear the rise of China in international relations and the global economy, the reality is less dramatic: Beijing is still getting its own sprawling, chaotic house in order and is in no position to supplant the United States as global leader in the near future.

At the same time, Beijing's power remains undefined: On an unfamiliar global stage, it is unsure what role it wants to play.

For decades, China followed the dictum of its late supreme leader, Deng Xiaoping, to keep its head down abroad and focus on development at home. But earlier this decade, emboldened by success and mindful that their globalized economy needs stability, communist leaders started pressing for a place among the nations that manage world affairs.

These days, Beijing is claiming a bigger voice in global economic forums such as the Group of 20 and is getting more deference in the United Nations, which could mean protection for friends such as Iran and Myanmar. Its military spending is the world's second-highest, behind that of the United States.

"China is very likely to be the second-most-powerful country — if it isn't now, then within a decade," says Kenneth Lieberthal, director of the Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center in Washington.

For the United States, it's a mixed blessing. The American and Chinese economies are intertwined, and the success of one depends on the health of the other.

The United States is China's biggest trade partner. China sent $338 billion in goods here last year. Beijing is Washington's biggest creditor, with more than $800 billion invested in government debt. American automakers look to China's growing market to propel future sales.

The financial crisis set back U.S. growth by years and will add trillions to the federal debt over the next decade. But China avoided the worst of the crisis. Its banks are healthy and, with the help of a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus, this year's economic growth is on track to top 8 percent.

Already, demand from China can affect oil prices, and it is starting to influence what products are available worldwide. Western jobs are tied to Chinese spending, from British auto factories to Australian iron mines. Chinese money is financing development of oil fields from Venezuela to Central Asia.

And China's role as Washington's lender-in-chief is altering the dynamic of the countries' relationship.

At a meeting in London in April, President Barack Obama assured his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, that Washington would cut its budget deficit — a promise no American leader ever had to make to a Soviet leader.

Washington's three-year-old strategic dialogue with Beijing has long been dominated by U.S. trade grievances. But the latest round in July, overshadowed by America's need for China to keep buying its debt, became a discussion between equals.

China, a major destination for foreign investment, was starting to reverse the flow and invest abroad before the financial crisis. The crisis accelerated that and has led to a flurry of deals. In some cases, Chinese companies have stepped in to save Western jobs — a notion unthinkable a decade ago.

In Britain, China's Nanjing Automobile Group plans to reopen the Longbridge factory idled by the collapse of MG Rover to make limited-edition MGTF sports cars. And in Sweden, Beijing Automotive is joining a bid to buy Saab from General Motors, while Geely Automobile wants to acquire Ford's Volvo unit.

"It's better to be part of the race than to watch it from the stands," says Paul Akerlund, a union representative at Saab. "We see advantages in gaining access to the Chinese market, which is the fastest-growing auto market in the world."

In diplomacy, China is only starting to stake out positions on a wide array of global issues. It has used its influence in the United Nations to help allies such as Sri Lanka resist Western pressure on human rights. But Chinese leaders have yet to decide what overall political and military role they want abroad.

"They clearly want to be a country of some gravitas both regionally and globally," Lieberthal says. "But there are a lot of aspects of the American approach — too ready to interfere, to tell others what to do — that the Chinese criticize as `hegemonic.'"

Even as it is on track to overtake the American economy in size as early as 2030, China is burdened by enormous problems of corruption, poverty and pollution. Measured by income per person, China ranked 130th out of 210 economies in a World Bank survey last year, behind most of Latin America and parts of Africa.

"China's foreign currency reserves are huge. But that does not mean we are a rich country," says Cho Tak Wong, chairman of Fuyao Group, which produces glass for Chinese and global automakers. "We are about 100 years behind the United States."

China also has become a fast-growing market, and the financial crisis has only increased its importance to global companies.
Chinese demand affects everything from global steel prices to the design of consumer goods. Cadillac created its 2008 CTS with China in mind, adding a deeper back seat for Chinese buyers driven by chauffeurs.

Other countries' urgent need for cash has created opportunities for Beijing to make deals for resources to drive its booming economy. State companies have struck oil deals in Brazil, Venezuela, Russia and Africa and bought stakes in Australian and Canadian miners.

Delphi turned to Chinese buyers for its remaining brake and suspension operations after it sought bankruptcy court protection four years ago. The buyers are Shougang and two partners — the Beijing city government and an auto-parts maker, Tempo Group. Delphi says the $90 million sale should close in November, seven months after it was announced.

Contrast that with 2005, when Chinese oil company CNOOC Ltd. tried to acquired Unocal Corp. CNOOC offered to pay more than a rival American bidder but withdrew after critics in Washington said the sale might threaten U.S. energy security.

Still, the United States has many strengths that China lacks. The U.S. remains the world center for innovation in many areas and a magnet for smart, ambitious immigrants.

"Europeans may hope that the U.S. has been knocked down a peg or two, but even if that is so, they could be in for a nasty surprise," says Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners, a London brokerage. "Never underestimate the ability of the American people to rise to a challenge."

Peak Oil - A Mind Map

Click the image above to enlarge the concept map of peak oil.

Science of Global Warming - A Mind Map

Click the image above to enlarge the mind map of the science of global warming.

International Trade - A Mind Map

Click the image above to enlarge the mind map of international trade from dineshbakshi.com.

Globalization - A Mind Map

Click the image above to enlarge the mind map of globalization.

Globalization - A Mind Map

Click the image above to enlarge the mind map of globalization.

Protectionism versus Free Trade - A Mind Map

Click the image above to enlarge the mind map of protectionism versus free trade.

Farmers create chaos with spilled milk in Brussels

In the October 5, 2009 article "Farmers create chaos with spilled milk in Brussels," Associated Press writer Raf Casert reports that the European Union's transition to freer agricultural markets (by reducing price supports and other government interventions) is inciting protests by financially injured farmers:

BRUSSELS – Farmers drove hundreds of tractors and a lone cow to the heart of the European Union bureaucracy on Monday, pelting police with bottles and chickens and dumping milk and manure onto the streets of Brussels in a protest against collapsing milk prices.

Over 2,500 farmers from across the EU burned tires and hay outside an emergency meeting of farm ministers.

They sprayed milk from huge canisters, and the cow's udder, on a square close to the meeting. The jittery cow was frightened by firecrackers, sprang loose and chased an office worker down the street before it was recaptured by the farmers.

The farmers used heavy tractors to block major highways into Brussels and streets in the urban center, creating traffic chaos for dozens of miles outside the city for much of the day, keeping tens of thousands of commuters moving at a snail's pace.

Farmers' demonstrations have often been violent in the past and there was a massive police presence that further choked roads throughout the capital.

Officers prevented the farmers from getting too close to the meeting and there was no major violence.

The farmers' major demand — limiting production through quotas to drive up prices — met with no success. EU officials said they still intend to gradually create freer markets for European farm products.

"There will be no backtracking," said EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.

Farmers want regulation to shield them from market fluctuations and have been protesting for weeks, arguing production costs are currently up to twice as high as market prices. They have dumped tens of millions of gallons (liters) of milk into streets and fields to highlight their plight.

"If there is no change by this winter, I will have to stop milking," said Belgian farmer Richard Patrice. "Every day I lose money. It is as if every morning I wake up and I burn a 50 euro ($73) bill."

World's best countries to live in

The October 5, 2009 article "Norway is best place to live, China moves up: UN" reports on the United Nations' rankings of the best countries in which to live:

PARIS (AFP) – Norway takes the number one spot in the annual United Nations human development index released Monday but China has made the biggest strides in improving the well-being of its citizens.

The index compiled by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) ranks 182 countries based on such criteria as life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

Norway, Australia and Iceland took the first three spots while Niger ranks at the very bottom, just below Afghanistan.

China moved up seven places on the list to rank as the 92nd most developed country due to improvements in education as well as income levels and life expectancy.

Colombia and Peru rose five spaces to rank 77th and 78th while France -- which was not part of the top 10 last year -- returns to the upper echelons by moving up three places to number 8.

The UNDP said the index highlights the grave disparities between rich and poor countries.

A child born in Niger can expect to live to just over 50, which is 30 years less than a child born in Norway. For every dollar a person earns in Niger, 85 dollars are earned in Norway.

This year's index was based on data from 2007 and does not take into account the impact of the global economic crisis.

"Many countries have experienced setbacks over recent decades, in the face of economic downturns, conflict-related crises and the HIV and AIDS epidemic," said the UN development report's author Jeni Klugman.

"And this was even before the impact of the current global financial crisis was felt."

Afghanistan, which returns to the list for the first time since 1996, is the only Asian country among the bottom ten which also include Sierra Leone in the 180th spot, just below the Central African Republic.

The top ten countries listed on the index are: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.

The United States ranks 13th, down one spot from last year.

McDonald's restaurants to open at the Louvre

In the October 4, 2009 Telegraph article "McDonald's restaurants to open at the Louvre," Henry Samuel says "It is a move which has managed to get both France's art lovers and gastronomes choking on their Gitanes."

Lovers of France's two great symbols of cultural exception – its haute cuisine and fine art – are aghast at plans to open a McDonald's restaurant and McCafé in the Louvre museum next month.

America's fast food temple is celebrating its 30th anniversary in France with a coup -the opening of its 1,142nd Gallic outlet a few yards from the entrance to the country's Mecca of high art and the world's most visited museum.

The chain faces a groundswell of discontent among museum staff, many already unhappy about the Louvre lending its name and works to a multi-million pound museum project in Abu Dhabi.

"This is the last straw," said one art historian working at the Louvre, who declined to be named. "This is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum," he told the Daily Telegraph.

Didier Rykner, head of The Art Tribune website found the idea "shocking".

"I'm not against eating in a museum but McDonald's is hardly the height of gastronomy," he said, adding that it was a worrying mixture of art and consumerism. "Today McDonald's, tomorrow low-cost clothes shops," he said.

McDonald's confirmed that a restaurant will open next month. The Louvre confirmed it will be positioned in the underground approach to the Louvre, known as the Carrousel du Louvre.

The stonewalled gallery was opened in 1993, five years after the famous Louvre pyramid. The Carrousel's initial remit stipulated that its "commercial activities will be regulated and restricted to cultural or tourist activities".

The Louvre has the right to protest against boutiques it considers fail to meet such criteria. However, the museum told the Daily Telegraph it had agreed to a "quality" McCafé and a McDonald's in place by the end of the year, which it said was "is in line with the museum's image".

"The Louvre welcomes the fact that the entirety of visitors and customers, French or foreign, can enjoy such a rich and varied restaurant offer, whether in the museum area or gallery," the museum said in a statement.

The McDonald's would represent the "American" segment " of a new "food court", and would be situated "among (other) world cuisines and coffee shops," it wrote.

It added that the franchise owner "has taken the utmost care in ensuring the quality of the project, both in culinary and aesthetic terms".

Louvre Pour Tous, a website whose aim is to "inform and defend" museum visitors, said: "Henri Loyrette, president of the Louvre museum just had to say one word to stop the whiff of French fries from wafting past the Mona Lisa's nose. He chose otherwise."

There was already an outcry last year when Starbucks opened a café perilously close to the Right bank museum's entrance. Employees and art aficionados sent management a petition in protest; the café opened regardless but was asked to provide a cultural corner of brochures and catalogues as a placatory measure.

"Starbucks was bad enough but McDonald's is worse," said the Louvre art historian.

A new ticket hall is due to be built in the next three years by the site of the new McDonald's to cope with the eight million annual visitors.

"Once this happens, the first thing visitors will likely see when they arrive are big golden arches," he said.

Many in France view "McDo" as the Trojan horse of globalisation and the scourge of local produce and long lunches.

José Bové, the mustachioed anti-GM crusader shot to fame after bulldozing a McDonald's in 1999 to protest against malbouffe (junk food).

However, even if there were a last-minute u-turn at the Louvre, statistics suggest the battle of Le Big Macs has already been lost. France has become McDonald's biggest market in the world outside of the US, according to the chain. While business in traditional brasseries and bistros is in freefall, the fast food group opened 30 new outlets last year in France and welcomed 450 million customers – up 11 per cent on the previous year.

Former McDonald's director plans to commercialise Italy's cultural heritage

In the October 3, 2009 Telegraph article "Former McDonald's director plans to commercialise Italy's cultural heritage," Nick Squires reports "It is an inconvenient truth that no visitor to Italy can fail to notice – that the country most blessed with archeological and artistic treasures often seems least able to look after them."

For the tourist who has been left aghast by the drifts of litter which choke the Roman Forum or graffiti on Florence's Renaissance bridges and buildings or the incomprehensible signage at any number of monuments and museums, salvation may now be at hand.

A former director of McDonald's is putting the finishing touches to a master plan which he hopes will dramatically improve the fortunes of Italy's 3,600 government-run museums and archaeological sites and achieve double-digit growth in visitor numbers and revenue.

The Herculean task to which Mario Resca has pledged himself, as general director of Italian museums, is part of a realisation that Italy has rested on its laurels for too long.

It is also a reflection of the grim fact that as Italian industry struggles to compete with cheap labour in China, India and elsewhere, the country must look to its extraordinary cultural repository to create the jobs and wealth of the future.

"For Italy, the era of factories is over," Mr Resca, 64, told The Sunday Telegraph this week in Milan, the engine of the Italian economic miracle of the 1950s and 1960s.

"Our future must lie in cultural tourism. Italy has a huge coastline but we can't even rely on that any more – there is much cleaner water in places like the Maldives. Beaches are everywhere in the world; what is not everywhere is Italy's heritage. In cultural terms, we are a world power."

Of the world's top 10 most visited museums, not one is Italian (the Vatican Museums ranked in the top 10, but they lie outside Italian territory).

While the Louvre attracts eight-and-a-half million visitors a year, and the British Museum five million, the Uffizi in Florence pulls in a paltry one and a half million.

Mr Resca's McDonald's background meant his appointment was controversial but he says he has now brought many of his critics round by touring the country's museums and listening to concerns.

"I see visitors as customers, clients. When you come to one of my museums, you are a guest and your needs should be satisfied. I want double-digit growth in visitor numbers," he said.

He wants clearer explanation of what visitors are seeing, better services including museum cafes (not necessarily McDonald's, he stresses) and cheery, welcoming staff, instead of the curmudgeons who have given some Italian museums a bad name.

Changing the way museums and monuments are funded is another top priority. "Until now the revenue from ticket sales went into a big central government pot instead of to the Culture Ministry," he said. "Museums had no control over their budgets. If a light bulb broke, they'd have to apply for funds to buy a new one. It was totally devoid of common sense. People told me, 'but it's always been like that'. That's going to have to change."

Mr Resca wants to use flagship attractions such as the Colosseum and Herculaneum to pay their own way by making them available to companies for private events.

The idea may elicit gasps of horror from some aesthetes, but Mr Resca insists that as long as care is taken not to damage the venues, there is no reason why such public-private partnerships cannot succeed.

The government has announced that over the next three years it will cut the Culture Ministry's budget by £850m. Only by offering the floodlit backdrop of the Roman Forum, for instance, to launch a car or a new line in cosmetics, can Italy's cultural treasures attempt to claw back some of the funds they have lost.

Italy has also been desperately slow to capitalise on marketing opportunities.

"You go to the Louvre and you find Mona Lisa T-shirts, Mona Lisa fridge magnets, Mona Lisa spoons. And the Mona Lisa is Italian! The French do marketing much better than us," said Mr Resca, noting that Paris has given permission for a McDonald's to open up inside the Louvre.

Cultural purists in Italy may fear the beginning of an era of McDonatellos and tawdry commercialisation under Mr Resca's five-year term, but with the nation's cultural treasures in such a dire state, many of his critics are prepared to give his ideas the benefit of the doubt, for now.

World unemployment rising; rates, responses vary

In the October 2, 2009 article "World unemployment rising; rates, responses vary," Associated Press business writer Emma Vandore reports:

PARIS – Unemployment is rising around the world as the recession leaves few corners untouched — but sharp differences remain between companies directly hit by financial or housing-market collapses and those that have deliberately protected jobs with expensive measures — including subsidizing shorter working weeks.

Unemployment rates in the 30 wealthy countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development range from a low of 3.2 percent in the Netherlands to 17.6 percent in Spain, according to July figures.

In the developing world, the downturn has also taken its toll. Unemployment in Brazil appears now to be easing a bit, but Mexico in August posted its highest jobless rate in 13 years. In Africa, the continent's largest economy, South Africa, is in the grips of its first recession in 17 years and about a quarter of the population is officially without work.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in July, above the European Union rate of 8.8 percent. By August, the U.S unemployment rate had ticked up to 9.7 percent, a 26-year high. On Friday, the Labor Department is due to release data for September and economists are forecasting the rate edged up to 9.8 percent. Most economists see U.S. unemployment topping 10 percent by early next year.

The speed of the increase in unemployment rates also varies, with countries like France starting with relatively high unemployment and shifting only slightly upward, and Britain and Ireland starting low but rising fast.

"There are quite significant differences across countries and regions," said John Martin, head of the OECD's employment, labor and social affairs division. "Quite a number of the countries which so far have not seen major increases in unemployment were countries that either have expanded short-time working schemes or introduced them in the first places."

But he noted such programs — where workers agree to fewer hours and the government helps make up the difference in their pay — may not be affordable for much longer.

The OECD expects the jobless rate in its 30 members to approach 10 percent in the second half of next year, meaning 57 million people out of work. If forecasts are correct, about half of those would have joined the jobless lines in the three years from the start of the downturn to the end of 2010.

Stefano Scarpetta, head of employment analysis at the OECD, said that the U.S. is historically quicker at reducing unemployment after a shock than Europe. But still, he said it could take three years or longer for the U.S. to return to pre-crisis levels.

Here is a look at unemployment rates around the world:

GERMANY — Unemployment edged up this year to 7.7 percent in July from an annual rate of 7.3 percent in 2008, but that was down from 8.4 percent in 2007, according to harmonized OECD data. Employment has been kept in check so far by government financial support for workers put on shorter hours in order to avoid mass layoffs.

FRANCE — The increase in French jobless lines has been somewhat tempered by short-work arrangements and government incentives such as exempting payroll taxes for some workers. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent in July from 7.8 in 2008, according to the OECD. It is expected to hit 10 percent by the end of the year.

BRITAIN — Unemployment hit a nearly 13-year high of 7.9 percent in July. The number of people out of work looks on course to pass the three million mark next year as the impact of the recession translates to rising dole queues. However, the number losing their jobs has fallen from spring highs.

SPAIN — Spain has gone from being a European model for growth, creating more than a third of all new euro-zone jobs over the past decade, to having the region's highest unemployment rate. This stems mainly from the collapse of a construction boom and a credit-fueled consumer spending spree over the past two years.

The OECD charts the rise in unemployment as moving from 8.3 percent in 2007 to 11.3 percent in 2008 and 17.6 percent this July.

IRELAND — The story is similar in Ireland, where unemployment has surged from 4.6 percent in 2007 to 6 percent in 2008 and 13.3 percent in July.

KOSOVO — The Balkan nation is one of the poorest in Europe, and not a member of the OECD club. With stagnant growth, its unemployment rate was 46.3 percent in 2007, according to the International Labor Organization. That may include the so-called "gray economy," in which people are paid under the table.

JAPAN — Japan's unemployment rate actually dipped to 5.5 percent in August after reaching 5.7 percent in July, the highest level in Japan's post-World War II era, amid mounting job and wage cuts. Still, the total number of jobless in August rose 32.7 percent from a year earlier to 3.61 million. The number of temporary workers has surged in recent years, reaching around a third of the work force in the world's No. 2 economy. The plight of these workers, who with little job security have born the brunt of the recession, has stirred emotions in Japan.

CHINA — The official urban unemployment rate was 4.3 percent for the three months ended June 30 but the actual level could be more than double that because the government system ignores millions of migrant workers and employees who are furloughed by state companies but not recorded as laid off. As of June 30, there were 9 million registered unemployed people in an urban work force of 210 million, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Yin Chengji.

As many as 30 million migrants are believed to have lost jobs in export-oriented factories in late 2008, government officials said. Some are believed to have found work on construction projects financed by Beijing's stimulus but no figures have been reported.

INDIA — The picture is even less clear in India where the government does an official employment survey only about once every five years. Ninety percent of the work force is in the so-called informal sector.

MEXICO — Mexico's unemployment rate rose to 6.28 percent in August, the highest rate in more than 13 years, according to The National Statistics Institute. The jobless rate among the country's roughly 45 million workers was up from 4.2 percent in August 2008. President Felipe Calderon has announced reforms to ease red tape and lower costs for investors in public works projects to foster job growth. The government also started paying one-third of the salaries of automotive workers to curb layoffs at the plants.

BRAZIL — Unemployment in Brazil reached 8.1 percent in August, remaining stable over the last two months. The figure shows a drop in the jobless rate from its peak of 9 percent in March. Brazil emerged from recession in the second quarter of this year and analysts are now predicting the economy will expand slightly in 2009.

SOUTH AFRICA — The unemployment rate in South Africa hovered at 23.6 percent in this year's second quarter, according to the country's statistics office. That was up slightly from 23.1 percent in the April-June quarter of 2008, as South Africa is mired in its first recession since 1992.

The African continent as a whole was initially unscathed by the financial turmoil that roiled Europe and the United States. But the collapse of Western consumer demand has meant Africans are selling less of the commodities on which many of their economies depend.