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As President Bush met with Palestinian and Israeli leaders at the White House before the start of a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference, officials highlight broad international support as essential to move the peace process forward. Some 49 nations, organizations and individuals, including 16 Arab states, have accepted invitations to the November 27 conference on the sprawling campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, outside of Washington, according to a State Department spokesman.

Economic leaders in other countries recognize that entrepreneurs are a sustaining force for U.S. economic growth.  But they do not always understand that the environment that fosters U.S. entrepreneurs as they start businesses includes more than bankruptcy laws to protect a person’s assets if his or her business fails.  The environment also includes an attitude that sees failure as a necessary part of the education of a successful leader. Ideas about entrepreneurship, such as the importance of failure, will be discussed worldwide during Global Entrepreneurship Week, scheduled for November 17–23, 2008.

Internationalizing the American campus can involve more than attracting international students or encouraging U.S. students to study abroad. Branch campuses and collaborative degree programs are growing areas of internationalization, but the key to internationalizing may be the faculty, according to an expert on the subject. “The major focus should be about producing globally competent graduates” who are “ready to live and work in a global, multicultural world,” says Madeleine Green, vice president for international initiatives at the American Council on Education. “If the faculty thinks about their connection with the larger world … they will communicate that through their teaching and research to students.”

The November 26-28 Annapolis Conference is important to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in two ways -- it solidifies the launch of peace negotiations and it brings together international support, especially from Arab nations, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. For the United States, the two elements are critical to each other and to achieving success, Rice adds.

Were you to talk to Isaac Larian about his childhood in Iran, he would not wax nostalgic over childhood games or playthings.  In fact, he would tell you that, when his friends and cousins played or went on vacation, he did “constant, hard work” helping his father run a retail textile business.  Today, Larian is president and chief executive of the largest privately held toy company in the world, MGA Entertainment, based in Van Nuys, California -- and he has been named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by a leading accounting firm.

Forty-nine nations, organizations and individuals have been invited to attend the U.S.-sponsored international Middle East conference November 26-28 in Annapolis, Maryland, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "The Annapolis Conference will signal broad international support for the Israeli and Palestinian leaders' courageous efforts and will be a launching point for negotiations leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace," McCormack says.

Palestinians traditionally value education as the way forward, so it is not surprising that the West Bank has dozens of articulate, home-grown advocacy groups. But even the most seasoned civic activists constantly seek new strategies to communicate their message. Recently, the U.S. Consulate General invited an experienced U.S. activist to work with local advocacy groups on communicating their message through the media as part of the United States’ continuing support for democratic development in the Palestinian Territories.

On Thanksgiving Day, when most Americans enjoy a holiday meal with friends and family and give thanks for the good things in their lives, many also take time to prepare and serve meals to the needy.  Others donate to food drives, work at food warehouses or deliver groceries to soup kitchens, churches and other charitable groups. “As we count our many blessings, I encourage all Americans to show their thanks by giving back,” President Bush says during a speech at Berkeley Plantation in Virginia.

Creation of a Palestinian state and resolution of long-standing Arab-Israeli issues are the focal points of a U.S.-sponsored international conference November 26-28.  The meeting, however, will not lead to Palestinian statehood immediately nor even in the next few months, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says in discussing expectations for the meeting.

Innovative U.S. companies are transforming the business paradigm through products, services and operations that address social and environmental problems. “We have a different definition of success,” says the founder and chief executive officer of a company that supplies and markets organic products made of the açai fruit from the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. “Being financially strong but weak on ecological conservation and social equality is not a success for us.”

While young Americans often are criticized for not voting, many are showing that young people can be political leaders despite their age. USINFO talks with a 26-year-old congressional candidate and two young mayors about their experiences. Young people "are the future of your country," 20-year-old Mayor Michael Sessions of Hillsdale, Michigan, tells his contemporaries. "So you need to start shaping it now and get involved somehow." Sessions was elected to lead his town of 8,200 while still in high school.

While young Americans often are criticized for not voting, many are showing that young people can be political leaders despite their age. USINFO talks with a 26-year-old congressional candidate and two young mayors about their experiences. Young people "are the future of your country," 20-year-old Mayor Michael Sessions of Hillsdale, Michigan, tells his contemporaries. "So you need to start shaping it now and get involved somehow." Sessions was elected to lead his town of 8,200 while still in high school.

The United States is sending naval ships and $2.1 million in emergency relief supplies to Bangladesh to help the victims of Cyclone Sidr that ravaged the southern coast of Bangladesh. President and Mrs. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice express their condolences and sympathies to the victims, while the USS Essex and USS Kearsarge, each carrying 20 helicopters for relief and rescue operations, steam toward the coast of Bangladesh.

Debate continues on calls from human rights and press freedom groups for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to protest the Chinese government's repression of journalists and human rights activists and its policies toward Sudan, but some argue that a boycott would accomplish nothing and could be counterproductive.

The world is benefiting from the expansion of democracy and stands to gain even more through greater stability as democracy and development spread in the future, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte tells delegates to the Community of Democracies ministerial forum in Bamako, Mali. "Advancing these principles is not only morally right; it is a strategic and practical interest for us all," he says.

The world is benefiting from the expansion of democracy and stands to gain even more through greater stability as democracy and development spread in the future, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte tells delegates to the Community of Democracies ministerial forum in Bamako, Mali. "Advancing these principles is not only morally right; it is a strategic and practical interest for us all," he says.

Increasingly, U.S. colleges and universities are making efforts to internationalize their campuses by welcoming more students from other countries and collaborating with international institutions on study abroad and other programs. There is no single blueprint for successful internationalization, given the size and diversity of the U.S. educational landscape, but common themes emerge from a look at two winners of the International Institute of Education’s Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education in the category of Internationalizing the Campus: George Mason University and the University of Delaware.

Emergency rule in Pakistan is undermining years of successful reforms, says Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf November 16-17 to underline U.S. concerns about a key regional ally. "Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair, and credible elections, which require the active participation of political parties, civil society and the media," Negroponte says in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Emergency rule in Pakistan is undermining years of successful reforms, says Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf November 16-17 to underline U.S. concerns about a key regional ally.  "Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair, and credible elections, which require the active participation of political parties, civil society and the media," Negroponte says in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Volunteerism continues to be crucial to a functioning democracy, American authors Susan Ellis and Katherine Campbell say in their book By the People. Civic voluntary activity long has been a noteworthy aspect of American society. Volunteers helped shape the nation and continue to contribute to its prosperity. The more citizens involve themselves as volunteers, "the closer they come to making the ideals of democracy real," the authors, who are experts in volunteerism, say.