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By HEIDI VOGT Associated Press Writer Posted: 22 minutes ago BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — There's a new building in town, and it isn't a military barracks or a hospital. It's a Tourist Information Center. Even as troops fight militants in the south, government officials and donors in Afghanistan's central Bamiyan valley are training tour guides and teaching restaurateurs about customer service. It's an attempt to draw tourism and return one small part of Afghanistan to normalcy. The challenges are many - land mines, dangerous roads outside Bamiyan, and, not least, Afghanistan's reputation as anything but a tourist haven. But the hope is to persuade history buffs and adventure seekers that Afghanistan can be safe, and locals are eager to give it a shot. "I can improve my province this way, and my homeland," said 19-year-old Zahra... [read full story]
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Nov 23, 2009 - A team of astronomers from Ibaraki University, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Kanagawa University, University of Tokyo, Academica Sinica, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan...
"The upcoming CAFTA, which boasts the largest population among all the world's FTAs (free trade areas) and allows zero tariff on 90 percent of products traded between China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),...
Billionaire Clive Palmer would consider sharing port and rail lines with Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart to cut the combined $15 billion cost of their two Queensland coal projects. ``If she's got a couple of billion...
Tax-take from the automobile industry has surged in the first 10 months this year as auto production and sales were booming in the world's largest market. The State Administration of Taxation said Friday value added tax (VAT)...
