Businessworld's latest cover story is on China -- on the country, the people and doing business.

"BEIJING'S trendy taverns generally have two distinct sets of patrons. There are those who sit in noisy groups and sing as they down vast quantities of Tsingtao beer, and there are those who sit quietly at the bar and stare morosely into their whisky glasses. Usually, there are a few CEOs in both sets. China may be the Gold Rush of our times, but just as in the old days of the Wild West, not all who venture forth return enriched or with their limbs intact." Very, very interesting read indeed.

That the Vatican and the Pope are marketing professionals par excellence is the theme of The Saint Business. The devastating article lashes out at the Pope and the Vatican. Sample this: The Vatican is the world's oldest, largest and richest multinational corporation. And perhaps the most rapacious. Microsoft, eat your heart out!. Intrigued? Enraged? Whatever, read the story

That the dollar is taking a hammering is documented well. But when this story last night in The Telegraph, I was petrubed. It spoke of how Russia is to start pricing its huge oil and gas exports in euros instead of dollars as part of a stragetic shift to forge closer ties with the European Union. Juxtapose this story with an earlier posting I had made on the dollar versus the euro.

Interesting times that we live in, eh?