Allow me to sidestep the Mediterranean Noir topic for just a moment.

While scouring the web this morning in search of things global, I came upon a really interesting post from the online edition of The Daily Mail, a daily newspaper out of Islamabad. China is delving head first into supporting translation programs as well as publishing new works of translation and reprints of older translations. The article may seem thick with stats and committee titles, but the bottom line is that China, long seen as isolationist, is supporting global literature and foreign works which can only be seen as optimistic. Maybe the U.S. could take a lead from China on this one.