Buddhist associations from both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland were involved in a gesture heavy with symbolism on Thursday. Taiwan’s Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society brought a Tara Guanyin statue to Putuo Mountain, one of China’s four Buddhist mountains. A total of 27 monks and 374 pilgrims from Taiwan accompanied the statue which is a smaller version of Ling Jiou Mountain’s iconic Guanyin statue. It will be placed in Putuo Mountain, and the gesture marks deepening exchanges.

His integration into American life was helped by a group of Ethiopians, who invited him to join their game of football at a local park. He would meet them again at Jefferson High School, where his journey to MLS would begin in earnest.

Mexicans are much more likely to have a degree before going north than they were seven years ago, and the number of years of schooling of 15-19-year-olds is now pretty similar to that in United States. If more educated workers emigrate, it raises their earning capacity, which gives them and their families even more chance of rising up the ranks of the middle class when they and the money flow back to Mexico. In which case, even fewer will need to go to el Norte. That is real progress.

English tends to be conceptualised as a monolithic entity, more like a planet than a galaxy. We talk about ‘the’ English language, ‘the’ grammar of English, and ‘the’ vocabulary of English, as though it was all one neat system. But linguists have long understood that this is no more than a convenient fiction. In the 21st century, the global diversity of Englishes and uses of English is revealing that the fiction can be rather inconvenient on many levels, especially in parts of the world where native speakers are scarce.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd (BTMU) Chennai Branch, supported by the Consulate General of Japan in Chennai, donated furniture and stationery items as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, to the Sriperumbudur Girls Higher Secondary School.

‘Cultural diplomat’ awarded writing residency in Hawai‘i Former diplomat, magazine columnist, Pacific historian and poet Leilani Tamu from Auckland will spend three months in Hawai‘i writing about "Cultural Diplomacy" for a book of the same name, as recipient of the 2013 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency.

The Campbell River Twinning Society hosted its annual Japanese Cultural Fair on Saturday, celebrating the 30th anniversary of being sister cities with Ishikari, Japan. On hand for the event at Spirit Square were the Uminari Taiko Drummers from Victoria, KAEDE Japanese Chorus singing group, martial arts demonstrations by the CR Judo Club, CR Aikido, Yo-Gi Jyuku Jujitsu and Araki Muninsai Ryu Iaido demonstrating swordsmanship.

First, that the combined power of the crowd can accomplish anything. Second, that it takes critical networks of communication and collaboration to activate that crowd. While the revolution eventually led to the collapse of a 30-year old regime, it has also had a lesser-chronicled impact - becoming a catalyst for a growing movement of technology start-ups booming across the country.