PARIS — Boeing's defense business plans to compensate for an expected weakening of U.S. military sales through a sharp rise in international exports, the company's president said yesterday. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, which makes surveillance systems and aircraft, already has increased foreign sales to a current export business worth $5 billion, or 16 percent of its sales. In November, the company was forced to lay off 800 workers in Kansas due to a delay of a U.S. Air Force tanker replacement program and the completion of other work projects.

WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING ON TRACK

CAIRO — The Saudi investment firm run by a Saudi billionaire is pressing ahead with plans to build the world's tallest building despite the global meltdown. Kingdom Holding Co. said it selected Dubai-based developer Emaar Properties to oversee development of the more than 3,281-foot Kingdom Tower and Kingdom City. The $27 billion twin projects in the western port city of Jeddah are billed as among the largest ever undertaken in Saudi Arabia.

NEW WEB SITE PROMISES ANSWERS

A new Web site launches today with the aim of supplying users with computer-generated advice on thousands of lifestyle and consumer questions: What should I get dad for Father's Day? Which George Orwell book would I like? Rather than scouring the Web for information like Google or collating opinions like http://www.Amazon.com, http://www.Hunch.com computes answers by comparing what it knows about its users — gleaned from an exhaustive personality test — to what it knows about people with similar tastes.