A blood bank in the Pacific Northwest has developed a kit for transfusions in remote places that it says "takes the banking out of blood banking." [..] Linda Barnes, chief operating officer at Bloodworks Northwest in Seattle, says the military was the model for what is, essentially, a walking blood bank. Barnes has done a lot of international consulting about strengthening blood systems in places such as Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ukraine and the Caribbean islands.

For Seattle’s Asian community and beyond, public events for the Lunar New Year allow individuals to explore these questions for themselves. Between the Vietnamese festival Tết in Seattle at Seattle Center, a Lunar New Year Gala at the University of Washington and the Chinatown International District’s Lunar New Year festivities, there are plenty of opportunities for community members to get involved with the holiday and its traditions.

The Ethiopian Football Federation and representatives of one of America's leading professional women's soccer teams, the Seattle Reign, met today in Addis Adaba and took the first steps in forging a strategic partnership aimed at forging international linkages and strengthening Ethiopian women's soccer.