The Chinese martial artist-turned-movie star is starting a taichi school...Mr. Li said he wants it to one day be as cool to practice taichi as it is to watch American movies. The actor’s new venture could indeed give a boost to China’s efforts to export its culture, which have involved investments in the billions of dollars but have been criticized as unimaginative.

What started in 2003 as a U.S. public health campaign has now become a full-fledged global movement with homegrown versions of a "cut out meat one day a week" program in 21 countries. This rapid global growth isn't the result of a big-budget NGO or a federation...it's driven by committed advocates from all walks of life...who share the belief that eating less meat is good for our health and good for the planet.

As anticorruption crusader Anna Hazare put an end to his 13-day hunger strike on Sunday, tens of thousands of citizens celebrated what many described as the triumph of his anticorruption movement. Bollywood also joined the celebrations. From superstar Amitabh Bachchan toBollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar, Twitter was flooded with posts congratulating the 73-year-old Gandhian activist.

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has used her time in Scotland to visit the global headquarters of a charity which specialises in landmine removal. The Jolie-Pitt Foundation has provided "hundreds of thousands of pounds" worth of financial support to Halo, funding humanitarian mine clearance teams in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

In a sphere often dominated by celebrities and lighter fare, the presence of a prayer campaign is a bit unusual. At the heart of the #prayforlondon tweets is the Evangelical Alliance, the largest body serving Evangelical Christians in the UK. It called for a prayer vigil in the Gaumont State of London at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Christians were invited to join in prayer for those afflicted by the riots shaking the country.

As a supporter of the 100,000 Strong Initiative and to highlight the overall importance of educational and cultural ties between the United States and China, will.i.am will direct a concert in Beijing later this year to benefit the Initiative. The Beijing concert will celebrate U.S.-China educational and cultural exchanges and will include performances by will.i.am and other American and Chinese pop stars.

Who deserves credit for bringing the Republic of South Sudan into existence as the 193rd country in the United Nations? One strong candidate for acclaim is the phenomenon of celebrity activism led by Hollywood's paramount leading man, George Clooney. As might be expected, there continue to be ripples of outright dismissal of Clooney's efforts from the usual suspects.

Clooney, who's traveled to Sudan to raise awareness about the southern conflict and the separate humanitarian crisis in Darfur, co-founded the satellite project in October with John Prendergast, a longtime Sudan activist. The project combines satellite imagery with eyewitness accounts...