Guess who’s learning Sanskrit? The Chinese

Peking University in Beijing has launched a programme to train more than 60 Chinese students in Sanskrit  to create a research team to translate ancient Buddhist scriptures found in Tibet and elsewhere. [caption id=“attachment_10995” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“China is fostering learning in Sanskrit. Photo by Rex Pe”] [/caption] The Sanskrit programme at Beida, as the Peking U is called, owes much to the effort of Indologist Ji Xianlin, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2008 and passed away in 2009. More on the latest Sanskrit initiative at Beida   here, and more on Ji Xianlin   here. Trial of Mumbai 2008 terror plotter opens in Chicago The trial in Chicago of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, accused of helping co-accused David Coleman Headley to scout targets for the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba ahead of the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, began in Chicago on Monday. Details here – and our report, offering a preview of the trial here. …but a juror would rather watch Oprah Winfrey There was, however, a curious twist to the tale of the Rana trial.  It appears that a potential juror wants to be excused from jury duty – because she would rather watch the taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, for which she had a ticker. Was her request granted? The answer here. AFP reports that this is the second time in as many weeks that such a request has come up from potential jurors. Last week, another woman who also had tickets to the same Oprah show was granted a scheduling exception in order to attend the show.