European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 17, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 172007 stars and stripes Page 15 Asi Pacific vies for cruise ship travellers by Adrian Sainz the associated press Miami Beach Fla the port of Shanghai is getting a new cruise passenger terminal Southeast asian nations Are team ing up on a web site for cruise travellers officials from China Are using the 2008 olym pics to promote a Triangle of Northern cruise ports and dont forget about us says Taiwan heres Asia musings new Frontier representatives from the Asi Pacific Region attended the sea Trade cruise shipping con Ference this week beginning an aggressive marketing Campaign with the goal of Mak ing Asia a competitor in the world cruise Market Many of them toured ports in Miami and port Everglades to get a sense of us port operations Asia is Blooming maybe because peo ple Are too familiar with the South Caribbean or South America and you know Europe is too expensive said Michael by Chang director of the Taipei economic and cultural office in new York most of the countries in Asia Are in a very Good shape and if s reasonable in Cost and it has major wonders and culture the Asi Pacific Region lags behind the Caribbean Europe and Alaska in notoriety As a cruise destination but asian officials contend there is Lon term growth Poten tial for a Region with improving ports and alluring destinations such As the great Wall of China and the Jungles of Indonesia they predict that cruising will grow 40 per cent to 15 million passengers in 2010 in the Region infrastructure is mentioned As a major obstacle in terms of ship and passenger capacity with Many ports falling Short of hav ing adequate transportation in and out of port facilities for example Security deployment costs and creating More interest in cruising among asian trav Elers Are other challenges the worlds two largest cruise operators carnival corp and Royal Caribbean cruises Ltd Are establishing a presence in Asia carnivals Costa cruises already offers Asi Pacific vacations on the Costa Al Legra and Royal caribbeans rhapsody of the seas will become the largest ship in the Region when it begins its deployment in de Cember both ships will target Asia As a source Market Colin Veitch president and chief executive of norwegian cruise line a wholly owned subsidiary of Star cruises group said Star cruises which sails in the Asi Pacific Region has seen bureaucratic issues related to cruising in China and a reluctance of asians to take trips longer than two or three Days cruises Are quite new to the chinese people so its important for us to educate the Public about the cruise ship lifestyle said Chen Xueyuan president of the Shang Hai International port group Wolf Reno China International travel services Ling in Kong Speaks about cruising in China at the sea Trade cruise shipping convention on tuesday in Miami Beach Fla cruises Are quite new to the chinese people so its important for us to educate the Public about the cruise ship lifestyle said Chen Xueyuan president of the Shanghai International port group the chinese Are reaching out to us tour operators and travel agents to pro Mote their country which saw 17 million total us visitors last year and hosts the 2008 olympics in Beijing the port of Tian Jin is billed As the Gateway to Beijing two other ports in North China Dalian and Qingdao can hold Large cruise ships and both Are set to have new cruise terminals within the next three years kids Book pulled in s Korea comic series Content is deemed to be Akin to nazi propaganda by Hurt Herman the associated press Seoul a South korean publisher agreed thurs Day to withdraw a bestselling childrens Book from stores after meeting with a prominent antisemitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing nazi propaganda the series of comic books titled Meon Nara iwo of Nara or far countries near countries and authored by visual arts professor Rhie Wonok purports to teach children about the world and has sold More than 10 million copies since the first volume was published in 1987 one of three books on the us published in 2004 contains a chapter claiming jews were the driving Force for the hatred that led to the sept 11 attacks that they exert control Over All us Media and also prevent Kore a americans from succeeding in the United states rabbi Abraham Cooper of the los Angele based Simon Wiesenthal Center met with the author at his pub Lishing company thursday in Seoul confronting Rhie with copies from the groups archives of the Early 20th Century nazi Magazine Der Stuermer to show its similar Ity to caricatures in the South korean books i asked him straight out where did you get your stuff from did you get it from Der Stuermer Coo per said accompanying Cooper was Richard Choi Bertsch a member of the National Korea american coalition who also called shies Book prejudiced we condemn the Content of this Book Bertsch told reporters Cooper also raised questions about drawings of Afri can americans prompting the publisher to pledge an extensive review of the entire series in addition Seoul based Gim Myoung publishers inc agreed to translate into korean a Book by the Wiesenthal Center that Aims to reveal Antisemitic mis truths the publisher also will Send officials to the us to meet with Korea american and jewish communities Cooper said the company confirmed it would take the Steps in response to the centers complaints Rhie said he would consider How to change the Book and would undertake an fallout revision earlier he had maintained that his depiction of jews was accurate Ann rabbi Abraham Cooper associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center shows the childrens Book Meon Nara iwo of Nara or far countries near coun tries in Seoul on thursday a South korean publisher agreed to withdraw the bestseller from stores after meeting with Cooper and others who accuse the author of spreading messages echoing nazi propaganda and insisted he was not Antisemitic in sorry to see things like a Frog in a Well Rhie said thursday referring to a traditional korean saying that a Frog in a Well is unaware of the larger world out Side in the future i will write books in a More responsible Way however Cooper said shies responses were inadequate and that he did not expect him to play a role in re solving the Issue Survey dutch dads better than teens at tougher tech tasks by Toby Sterling the associated press Amsterdam Netherlands father May know Best after All at least when it comes to computers according to a Survey of dutch teenage computer users and their parents the link be tween youth and skill is Over stated the Survey found that while teenage boys and girls were bet Ter than their parents at some technical tasks such As rotating images the generation Gap was Small in tasks that everyone does frequently such As using a search engine and when it comes to More complicated tasks such As in stalling an operating system using and updating antivirus software and installing hard drives fathers come out on top Marion Duimel who coauthored the study for the nether lands Bureau for social and cultural planning said Chil Drens reputation for computer skills was based on the fact that they Are faster at navigating menus and clicking that they spend More time Overall online and that they Are Able to Inte grate various technologies Mobile phone calling and text messaging email and instant messaging seamlessly into their lives youth on the internet Are primarily concerned with communication and entertainment whereas older internet users Are More focused on practical matters such As searching for information or financial transactions Duimel said nearly All teenagers use in Stant messaging programs while few parents use them Well on the other hand few teenagers understand How to do online banking she said she said 98 percent of dutch families with teenagers have a computer with an internet connection at Home the Survey funded by the economics ministry was con ducted among 1561 teenagers and 1080 of their parents Dur ing 2005 and 2006 fathers Are More Likely to fix hardware problems while Chil Dren were More Likely to explain to other members of the family How something works the study showed boys scored highest in most categories but girls were better in text editing and using text and images to Gether mothers scored lowest in most categories and were also least Likely to use computers its not something that we see As a problem for the most part its just an observation weve made Duimel said in the old Days fathers were also often the ones who would program a Var younger readers Var stands for video cassette re Corder