Diversity characterizes this week’s global activities as shown in our op-ed article on the calendar of events starting today.

There’s the commemoration of sword swallowers and that for colored women and even seals.

Call it part of the Leap Day celebration, but this diversity shows the wide range of concerns people are getting into this week, not really underscoring the novelty of celebrating one’s birthday only once every four years – if one’s born on Feb. 29.

The Bacolod business mood gets more vibrant once more with the soft opening on Friday of 888 Chinatown Square, which introduces the concept of the ‘tiangge’ in a mall’.

Our centerspread feature looks into how its management looks at the prospects of this type of business and also on the business experiences  of William Ong, its president and CEO,  who spent almost 40  years of his life in the highly-competitive business sector in Metro Manila.

British national Robert Harland is making a record of sorts when, at 61, he enrolled in a special culinary arts program at St. La Salle. Our first-person feature gives us a glimpse of the writers’ discoveries and delights as he pursues an interest that will provide him an opportunity for an internship either at Buckingham Palace, a cruise ship or a top hotel in Metro Manila.

Our ‘Focus’ this week includes opening-day photos  of the 61st PAL Interclub Golf Tournament, the fourth time the competition is hosted in Bacolod City in about 10 years, apparently a proof of the potentials of sports tourism in Negros Occidental which has remained vastly untapped year-round despite the availability of facilities around suited for both national and international events.

We were checking our files, lately, trying to sort potential back-cover features when we stumbled into a collection of cards from a university in Hong Kong. The cards, depicting art works, focused on our sense of spirituality, truly great food for the soul.