MANILA, Philippines — The Asian Conference of Religions for Peace, in collaboration with the University of Santo Tomas (UST) recently held the Asian Women Forum, an international, inter-faith gathering of global women leaders and women of faith in a dialogue on the primordial role of women in peace building.

The forum aimed to promote awareness of the potential of women as peacemakers and agents of development; to share experiences and best practices on women empowerment especially in ecologically sustainable development processes; and to create synergy and strengthen the Asia and the Pacific Women of Faith Network in its advocacy and interfaith initiatives.

The day-long activity began with a peace ceremony and interfaith prayers, followed by messages from Secretary Sonny Coloma from the Office for Communication and Operations, Office of the President; Rev. Kim Tae Sung, asst. secretary general, Asian Conference of Religions for Peace (ACRP); Msgr. Juanito Figura, secretary general, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines; and Lourdes Mastura, president, Religions for Peace Philippines.

European scholarships open to Filipinos

Scholarships for graduate studies, postdoctoral fellowships, and student exchange visits in European universities are now being offered to Filipinos and other Southeast and South Asian nationals.

Dubbed “Exchange by Promoting Quality Education, Research and Training in South and South-East Asia (EXPERTS II),” the scholarships funded by the European Union through the Erasmus Mundus Action 2, offer the opportunity to study in any of the seven European EXPERTS II partner universities.

The European study posts are Georg-August Universität Göttingen in Germany, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, Masaryk University in Czech Republic, Politecnico di Torino in Italy, Universidad Santiago de Compostela in Spain, University of Turku in Finland, and Uppsala University in Sweden.

Applications will be accepted until Feb. 10, 2012. About 100 scholarships will be awarded in June in time for enrolment. Interested parties may visit the www.expertsasia.eu.

St. Mary’s Caloocan holds homecoming

St. Mary’s Academy of Caloocan city will hold a grand alumni homecoming titled “Balik Eskwela Gracean-Marian Iisa Sali ka na!” on Jan. 21, 2012, 3 p.m.

Registration is at the Audi gym of the campus. For details, call Cynthia David at 3456070 or 09239127694.

Digitel DSL for schools and families

Digitel DSL comes up with the DSL Student Plan with speeds of up to 512 Kbps bundled with a landline is available for only P777 a month.

To enhance the service and create a Wi-Fi zone through the Digitel Wi-Fi modem router, one only needs to add P350 to the monthly subscription fee for three consecutive months.

For families, affordable plans are at at P999, P1199 and P1799 at fast speeds of 768 Kbps, 1.0M bps and 2.0 Mbps, respectively.

For inquiries, visit The Sun Shop or Digitel Business Center, or call (02) 395-2000.