海角大神

In the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, one need is to keep kids from feeling like spare parts as they're passed from place to place as cities repair damaged schools. That means protecting them from a sense of upheaval, experts say.聽

China is increasingly talking as if it wants to be a world leader 鈥� but what kind? To much of the world, China's permissive approach to North Korea represents a failure of leadership. China has a different view

Just as hurricane Harvey showed Americans鈥� incredible capacity to help, hurricane Irma showed their capacity to cope, with millions of people fleeing south Florida for hotels, makeshift camping sites, and Alabama peanut festivals.

In its 13 years, the Cassini spacecraft tasted the salty geysers of one frozen moon, sent a small probe splatting into the methane-soaked surface of another, and brushed its fingertips through the clouds of Saturn itself. This is its聽ecstatic epitaph.聽

Technology is bridging the seeing and visually impaired worlds. New apps are giving blind users a boost while also revealing to sighted people just how capable the visually impaired are. 聽

According to a global ranking, Myanmar (Burma) is one of the most generous countries in terms of donating and volunteering, a result of a type of Buddhism practiced by a majority of Burmese. Yet this expression of outsize giving is not the image of Myanmar lately portrayed by its military鈥檚 harsh treatment of the minority Muslims. Is there a way that Buddhists in Myanmar can extend their compassion to the people of another faith?

The simple answer is yes, at least according to the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet鈥檚 Buddhists. On Sept. 8, he said those persecuting Muslims in Myanmar 鈥渟hould remember Buddha,鈥� who 鈥渨ould definitely give help to those poor Muslims.鈥�

Yet such advice is still not being widely heeded in Myanmar. On Sept. 11, the United Nations accused the military, which controls key parts of the civilian-led government, of carrying out 鈥渁 textbook example of ethnic cleansing鈥� against Muslims, who call themselves Rohingya. Since late August, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled the country. The latest exodus is the result of an assault by the armed forces after a new militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, attacked government outposts, killing more than 100.

Many of Myanmar鈥檚 Buddhists, who have long feared that their faith is in jeopardy, consider Muslims to be 鈥渢errorists鈥� or a social threat. They make little distinction between the vast majority of Rohingya who espouse peace and the violent few who have lately turned to fighting discrimination and oppression. A few monks as well as the military have fed off this prejudice to create a brand of 鈥淏uddhist nationalism鈥� that mixes the country鈥檚 religious and civic identities.

The solution, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group, is for Myanmar鈥檚 civilian government to reframe the place of Buddhism in a democratic society and to set forth a 鈥減ositive vision.鈥� This means that the civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her National League for Democracy party, must offer a higher moral alternative to young people than that promoted by Buddhist nationalists. These radicals gain support by providing youth with 鈥渁 sense of belonging and direction in a context of rapid societal change and few jobs or other opportunities...,鈥� the ICG report states.

Many Buddhists in Myanmar see their faith as inherently peaceful and non-proselytising. But they also then see it as susceptible to oppression by more aggressive faiths, the ICG points out. This feeling is compounded by Myanmar鈥檚 colonial history and the rise of militant Islam around the world.

While Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi commands respect and support, she is widely seen as backing liberal ideas promoting minority rights without doing enough to protect the Buddhist faith. Dealing with the historical fears of Buddhists 鈥� even though they are more than 80 percent of the population 鈥� might help reduce their fears of Muslims.

鈥淚n Myanmar鈥檚 new, more democratic era, the debate over the proper place of Buddhism, and the role of political leadership in protecting it, is being recast,鈥� the report states.

The more the government can give people control over their economic destiny, in other words, the less they will look to Buddhist nationalists or cheer military suppression of the Rohingya.