Obama Meets Students in Shanghai; Says World Urgently Watching US-China Talks

SHANGHAI - President Barack Obama declared Monday the world is urgently watching for a "meeting of the minds" between the U.S. and China as he meets with President Hu Jintao on the globe's biggest issues — climate change, economic recession, nuclear proliferation and more, the Associated Press reported.

Obama also prodded China about Internet controls and free speech, but his message was not widely heard in the country because his words were drastically limited online and shown on just one regional television channel.

In his first visit here, Obama is strongly suggesting that China, now a giant in economic impact as well as territory, must take a bigger role on the world stage — part of "burden of leadership" it shares with the United States.

"I will tell you, other countries around the world will be waiting for us," Obama said in an American-style town-hall discussion with Chinese university students in Shanghai, where he spent a day before flying to China's capital for a state visit with President Hu.

"I believe cooperation must go beyond our government. It must be rooted in our people — in the studies we share, in the business that we do, the knowledge that we gain, and even in the sports that we play," the U.S. president said.

Obama said the United States is not seeking to impose any system of government on any other nation, "but we also don't believe that the principles we stand for are unique to our nation."

"These freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information, and political participation, we believe are universal rights," he said. "They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any other nation."

The town hall meeting showed how difficult it is for the governments to work together. The U.S. initially requested a larger venue and a live broadcast on a major network. In the end, Chinese officials put the event on the eastern fringes of the city. Only local Shanghai TV carried it live, though it was streamed on two popular Internet portals and on the White House's Web site, which is not censored.

Eager to achieve a successful summit, the two leaders were likely to avoid public spats on economic issues. With America's budget deficit soaring to a yearly record of $1.42 trillion, China is the No. 1 lender to Washington and has expressed concern that the falling price of the dollar threatens the value of its U.S. holdings. READ FULL ARTICLE

New Canadian Consul General Visiting Pittsburgh This Week, Highlighting Key Relationships With Region

Marta Moszczenska, Canada's new Consul General for the region including Pittsburgh, will travel to the city this week to visit local officials, companies and organizations with interests in Canada.

Moszczenska replaces Consul General Steve Brereton, who has assumed a new post as Canadian Consul General in Atlanta. She has most recently served as Ambassador of Canada to Romania, with concurrent accreditation to Bulgaria and Moldova, and High Commissioner to Cyprus.

"We are honored to have Consul General Moszczenska coming to Pittsburgh," said Roger Cranville, Honorary Consul to Canada for Western Pennsylvania. "The relationship between Canada and the Greater Pittsburgh region is a very significant one, and one that provides great benefits in terms of jobs and economic impact."

This area exports more than $2.1 billion worth of goods and services to Canada every year, which results in tens of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in related business activity, Cranville said.

Recent trade figures show that Canada remained by far the largest customer for Pennsylvania exports, with more than $9.2 billion worth of goods shipped north of the border each year.

Exports from Pennsylvania to Canada exceeded shipments to the next seven countries combined – Mexico, China, Japan, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands.

Some other recent trade facts:
- 295,250 Pennsylvania jobs are supported by Canada–U.S. trade
- Canada buys more than a third of Pennsylvania’s exports
- Canadians made more than 696,900 visits to the state, spending $118 million

Moszczenska is based in the Canadian Consulate General in Buffalo, which administers immigration, trade, consular and public affairs programs across Upstate New York, western and central Pennsylvania and West Virginia. CLICK HERE to visit the Consulate's website.

She joined the Canadian Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce in 1977 as a Commercial Officer. In 1985, she became a Foreign Service officer with the Department of External Affairs and International Trade and later served abroad in Milan and in Boston as a Trade Commissioner.

In Ottawa, she had several assignments in trade policy and with the Program for Export Market Development. She also served as Departmental Assistant to the Minister for International Trade and as Deputy Director, Trade Development Liaison and Special Projects Division.

From 1994 to 1996, Moszczenska was Director, Rotational Administrative Personnel Division. Between 1996 and 1999, she served as Counsellor (Commercial) and Consul at the Embassy of Canada in Indonesia. From 1999 to 2002, she served as Canada’s Ambassador to Hungary, with concurrent accreditation to Slovenia. From 2002 to 2006, she was Director of the Central European, Baltic and Eastern Mediterranean Division.
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GlobalPittsburgh® Coordinating Local Visit of U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Nov. 10-11

GlobalPittsburgh® will host the Honorable Michael W. Michalak, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, for a two-day visit to Pittsburgh Nov. 10-11, 2009, highlighted by meetings with leaders of the academic, energy and technology communities.

GlobalPittsburgh has arranged numerous meetings for Ambassador Michalak, including sessions with top leaders from key corporations and research institutions, as well as with heads of many of Pittsburgh’s colleges and universities, according to GlobalPittsburgh President Roger Cranville.

"Vietnam is interested in creating partnerships with and learning lessons from Pittsburgh in the field of education, as well as in the energy and technology sectors," Cranville said. "Welcoming Ambassador Michalak to Pittsburgh is a very important step in developing these partnerships, which will be of great benefit to the Pittsburgh region."

Ambassador Michalak will start his visit with a morning session at Chatham University with regional academic leaders to discuss the Ambassador's focus on education in Vietnam, including opportunities to build bridges between Vietnamese and American institutions of higher learning, and to explore opportunities for student recruiting and exchanges, cooperation and collaboration. Vietnam is now the fastest-growing foreign student market in the United States and currently ranks 20th among all countries sending students to the United States.

Later in the day, the Ambassador will deliver a lecture titled “U.S.-Vietnam Relationships, Education Links, and Technology Opportunities” at the University of Pittsburgh. The lecture is presented by the Asian Studies Center of the University of Pittsburgh in conjunction with numerous other campus departments.

Ambassador Michalak will offer his ideas on the U.S.- Vietnam political and economic relationship, as well as the importance of educational links between the U.S and Vietnam. He will discuss faculty & student exchange, executive training, and university collaboration. Other topics will include priority technologies, products and service needs in Vietnam, including intellectual property security.

A career foreign service officer with extensive knowledge and experience in Asia, Michalak was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam on August 10, 2007. Prior to that, he served as the U.S. Senior Official to APEC, Bureau of East Asia Pacific Affairs.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Ambassador Michalak received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Physics from Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., and Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., respectively. He received a second Master's degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. He speaks Chinese and Japanese.

GlobalPittsburgh works with the U.S. Department of State and other international organizations to arrange and coordinate visits by foreign individuals and delegations interested in learning more about Pittsburgh’s centers of excellence, including energy, technology, health sciences, green design and education, and in studying the region’s economic and environmental transformation.

For 50 years, GlobalPittsburgh (formerly the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors) has welcomed volunteers and hosts to act as tour guides, dinner hosts, home stay hosts and drivers for visiting delegations and individuals. For more information about GlobalPittsburgh programs, visit www.GlobalPittsburgh.org, call 412-392-4513 or send email to info@pciv.org.

For further information about Ambassador Michalak’s visit, contact Thomas Buell, Jr., VP-Communications, at 412-720-2218 or tcbuell@versopartners.com.

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Town Meeting Tonight to Cover Health Care Issues in U.S. and Other Countries; Free, but Registration Required

Seldom has a national debate so captured the public's attention as the Washington maneuverings on health care, which comprises about one-seventh of the nation's economy. The effort to overhaul the country's health-care system reaches into every home, with potentially profound effects on businesses, hospitals and families.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's fourth town meeting is designed to shine a light onto not only how Americans finance their health care but also how other countries do so. With a top-level panel of experts and writers, this evening's event will be informative--and provocative.

Wednesday, November 4 • 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Heinz History Center
Free Admission • Registration is Required
Call 412-263-3850 to Register

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Introduction by Jim Rohr, Chairman & CEO, PNC

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Moderator: David Shribman Executive Editor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Executive editor since 2003. Former assistant managing editor, columnist and Washington bureau chief at the Boston Globe. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1995.

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Panelists:

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	T.R. Reid Author, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care Washington Post correspondent and New York Times bestselling author T. R. Reid explores health-care systems around the world in an effort to understand why the U.S. remains the only first world nation to refuse its citizens universal health care. His book dissects the rhetoric surrounding the health care debate and finds models around the world that Americans can borrow.
	Robert Kormos, M.D. Director, UPMC Artificial Heart Program Co-Director, UPMC Heart Transplant Program A native of Canada, Dr. Kormos completed residencies in neurosurgery, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at Toronto General Hospital and provides Canadian health care perspective. In addition to director of UPMC's heart transplant program, he is professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and medical director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
	Leslie C. Davis President, Magee-Womens Hospital Provides national perspective as president of Magee and as an executive at medical centers including Mt. Sinai Medical Center (NY), Thomas Jefferson University, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Tenet Pennsylvania. She also serves as Vice President of Women’s Health Services at UPMC and is UPMC's representative to the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania.
	Mark Roth Staff Writer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Returned to full-time writing in 2005 after 20 years as an editor at the Post-Gazette. Was the newspaper's first science editor, and 1988-2005, served as city editor, assistant managing editor for news, and as an editor in charge of special issues, investigative stories and long-term projects. His monthly series The Thinkers focuses on the region's brightest researchers and progressive leaders.

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PARKING:
Alco lot with entrance at 12th and Smallman across from the restaurant Eleven. Parking: $4

EVENT LOCATION:
Mueller Education Center, 5th floor

QUESTIONS:
Question cards will be distributed to attendees and collected during the program. PG editors will select questions to be asked of panelists.

REGISTRATION:
Attendance is free but registration is required. Call 412-263-3850 to register.

TOWN MEETING SERIES:
PNC and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will host a series of five town meetings this year. This series will examine the new era and its promise in the Pittsburgh region across a wide range of areas, from politics to the economy, from the arts to education, from health care to technology, from demographics to diversity. This yearlong series of free town meetings will help shape the conversation of Pittsburgh as we move into a new age. Whether it's called an exercise in community education or participatory democracy, the Post-Gazette hopes readers will call each Town meeting a date to circle on their calendars as each is announced.

Presented By:

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/aboutpg/townmeeting.asp#ixzz0VtocuzUh

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Support GlobalPittsburgh With Your Holiday Shopping Purchases - Merchants Donate a Percentage of Your Online Orders - No Cost to You!

With the holiday season approaching, we have a tremendous opportunity to raise additional funds for GlobalPittsburgh — but it requires your help. It won’t cost you a penny.

We've partnered with We-Care.com to offer the We-Care Reminder. It allows us to receive a donation whenever you shop online at hundreds of participating merchants — at no extra cost to you. Whenever you visit a participating merchant, you’ll be given the option to have a donation made.

The Reminder is a browser extension for Internet Explorer and Firefox. It takes less than a minute to install on your computer. It's a breeze to download, and it works great!

There are three things you can do to help:

* Go to http://globalpittsburgh.We-Care.com/Start, take a minute to register, and then download the We-Care Reminder for Firefox or Internet Explorer. Make sure it loads correctly (it will ask to restart your browser) and then forget about it. It works automatically.
* Ask your friends and family to do the same, even if it's only forwarding this email.
* If you blog, tweet, use Facebook, or are involved in any form of social media, use it to spread the word!

Together, we can turn money already being spent on gifts into support for our work.

It only takes a few clicks, so please do it before you close this blog post. To get started, just visit http://globalpittsburgh.We-Care.com/Start.

P.S. If you’re reading this at work, please forward it to your personal email account to make sure you install the Reminder at home.

For access to more merchants; exclusive, money-saving offers; and the ability to track your donations, you can visit our Online Mall at http://globalpittsburgh.we-care.com.
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Cuban Pediatric Transplant Team Hosted by Pittsburgh-Based Global Links in First U.S. Visit

In a first-ever visit to the United States, a team of pediatric transplant surgeons from Cuba is spending a week in Pittsburgh meeting with and observing transplant surgeons and medical staff at the Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

The historic visit extends through Oct. 31 and is being hosted by Global Links, a nonprofit organization that works to improve health in developing countries through collaboration with hospitals and health institutions in our region to recover and redirect surplus materials to medical facilities in developing countries.

The team will spend several days at Children’s Hospital, observing procedures, making rounds, meeting with specialists and nurses, and discussing techniques and protocols. The team will also be the guest of honor at a luncheon hosted by Senator Jim Ferlo.

The visiting team includes Dr. Ramon Villamil, transplant surgeon, and director of the transplant center at William Soler Hospital in Havana, the national Cuban reference hospital for pediatrics.

"At a meeting in Cuba last May, Dr. Villamil shared that he decided to become a transplant surgeon after reading Dr. Thomas Starzl’s autobiography, and that he and the rest of the team had long wanted to visit with transplant surgeons in Pittsburgh, which has an international reputation for leadership and excellence in this field," says Global Links Executive Director Kathleen Hower. "That visit sparked our efforts to bring the team here, and they are very much looking forward to the opportunity to meet with surgical teams and observe activities at the transplant center at Children’s."

In addition to Dr. Villamil, the visiting delegation includes Dr. Luis Orlando Rodríguez, MD, Urologist and General Director of Hospital Pediátrico William Soler, and members of the hospital’s transplant team, Dr. Cesar Silverio García, MD, hepatologist and gastroenterologist; Dr. Alioth Fernández Valle, MD, anesthesiologist and Chief of Anesthesia; and Daisy García Gutiérrez, surgical nurse.

Children’s Hospital established the nation’s first comprehensive pediatric transplant center in 1981 under the guidance of transplant pioneer Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD. The hospital has performed more pediatric transplants than any other pediatric center and Children’s transplant team, under the leadership of George V. Mazariegos, MD, achieves patient survival rates that are among the highest in the world. Children’s Hospital is also recognized as a leader in transplantation-related research.

Global Links provides more medical aid to Cuba than any other aid organization in the United States, and this year marks the 15th year of their Cuba Medical Aid Program. In the 15 years since Global Links began it historic program in Cuba, more than $83 million of materials and 90 sea container shipments have been delivered to Cuba.

In 2008, Global Links mounted a major Cuban hurricane relief effort raising $600,000 and providing more than 15 containers that were dispersed to some of the most severely affected provinces of Cuba. Global Links is continuing disaster relief efforts into 2010.

Global Links credits the Pan American Health Organizations/World Health Organization for assistance in acquiring permission to travel and U.S. Visas for the surgical team.

For more information on Global Links, call 412.361.3424 or go to www.globallinks.org.

For more information about the Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation, go to www.chp.edu/CHP/transplant.
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Support GlobalPittsburgh on Match Day TODAY - Pittsburgh Foundation Will Match Donations 50 Cents on the Dollar - PRE-REGISTER NOW!

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Wednesday, Oct. 28 to visit www.PittsburghGives.org – a Day of Giving organized by the Pittsburgh Foundation where any gift $50 - $2,500 will be matched 50 cents to the dollar!

Please consider making a gift to GlobalPittsburgh (formerly Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors) and secure that match! Please also forward this to your family and friends to encourage their participation. Through the Day of Giving, the Pittsburgh Foundation has dedicated $300,000 to this project. This is a fantastic opportunity for GlobalPittsburgh/PCIV to raise some much needed funds! Please be aware that this match will end when those funds run out, and it could happen in the first half-hour! That's why it's so important to register ahead of time, and to act quickly on the 28th.

How to Participate:
Make sure to register BEFORE Oct. 28th to allow your giving process to be as easy as possible. The $300,000 available in matching funds is expected to go VERY quickly.
1. Go to http://www.PittsburghGives.org.
2. Click "Login" on top right-hand side of page.
3. Click "Create Login." Fill in information and click "Register."
4. Fill in the appropriate information and then write down your username and password so you can easily find it on Oct 28th.
5. Set a reminder for yourself for October 28th at 10 a.m.

On October 28 at 10 a.m. SHARP (and not before):
1. Use your username and password to login to PittsburghGives.org.
2. Type in "Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors" where it says "Organization Name."
3. Click "Donate Now" and follow the instructions to complete your secure online donation. Contributions of $50 or more will be matched 50 cents for every dollar. If the match funds are exhausted, you will be notified and asked if you wish to proceed. Yes, you can still say YES!
4. You will receive a confirmation email that will serve as your tax receipt.
5. Every $50 you donate will entitle you to a ticket to GlobalPittsburgh's 50th Anniversary Celebration on Dec. 21, 2009 at LeMont Restaurant on Mt. Washington. More details about that later.
Thanks! READ FULL ARTICLE