As Taiwan celebrating the nation’s 100 years old birthday, President Ma, Ying-jeou, had delivered his national address in the name of “Empowering Taiwan and Invigorating Chinese Culture. He specially pointed out that the next 10 year is a critical moment for the nation to step into a more advanced stage.

Andreas Fuchs and Nils-Hendrik Klann of Germany University of Geottingen looked at 159 countries' trade patterns with China between 1991 and 2008 to see what effect a high-level meeting with the Dalai Lama had on bilateral trade.

It's hard to deny that His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet and the world's most famous Buddhist, is the also world's foremost expert on happiness. But what about other major religious traditions? Is happiness a good thing, or bad?

"There are many disputes in the world, let's make the 21st century a century of dialogue and solve these disputes. It will help bring peace to the world," said the Dalai Lama.

The announcement of the Norwegian Nobel Committee provided an upset ending for a week of public diplomacy by China in Europe. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had toured European capitals showering goodwill and lucrative investment deals for cash-strapped European economies.

The Dalai Lama is on Twitter, and he's taking questions. Or he was, at least. For 90 minutes today, the spiritual leader of Tibet, who joined the social networking site in February, held an online conversation with the aim of reaching people inside China via Twitter.