Young girls and their families from across the Twin Cities gathered Tuesday night to hear from the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner. Malala Yousafzai, a 19-year-old Pakistani activist who has been targeted by the Taliban, shared her views on the world with those gathered at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Tags: malala yousafzai, non state pd, advocacy, women and girls empowerment, united states, education, pakistan, united nations, youth

In a bid to boost the art, culture, theatre, music and creative thinking sphere in the city, a group of industrialists, entrepreneurs and corporate executives has formed the Chennai International Centre (CIC).

Tags: city diplomacy, chennai, Cultural Diplomacy, cultural exchange, new delhi, art & culture, chennai international centre, music diplomacy

Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, has been awarded the title of the "2017 Culture City of East Asia" in a program established by China, Japan and South Korea in Beijing. [...] The three candidate cities were judged by an 11-member committee of experts in the fields of cultural exchange, cultural service system construction and intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance.

Tags: east asia, china, south korea, japan, changsha, city diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy, international exchange, cultural exchange, cultural heritage

Baum + Whiteman food consultancy recently chose Kimchi, Korea’s traditional fermented vegetable dish, as one of the top food trends for 2016. According to Google, Bibimbap was one of 2015’s top five ‘rising’ foods by search query volume. And T.G.I. Friday’s—the north star of mainstream Americana—has even experimented with adding Korean tacos to its menus.

Tags: south korea, thailand, gastrodiplomacy, kimchi, Cultural Diplomacy, government pd, soft power, k-food, Nation Image

Fourteen talented students and teachers from the United States will travel to Tokyo, Japan for the third annual TOMODACHI Toshiba Science & Technology Leadership Academy, where they will team up with Japanese students and teachers. The week-long program is designed to foster closer ties between American and Japanese participants...

Tags: STEM programs, international exchange, US, japan, education, Toshiba Corporation, science & technology, new technology

"I believe in sports as a true means of bringing countries and peoples closer. This is one of the most important segments of people-to-people diplomacy," he said. "You influence countries not by invading your neighbors but because of your soap operas, songs, sports and culture. This is what people now call soft power. This is as important as military power and much more lasting."

Tags: rio de janeiro, rio olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics, brazil, people-to-people diplomacy, sports diplomacy, soft power, cultural exchange

Twelve American high schools students, have traveled to China to participate in the U.S. China Student Leaders Exchange before they leave for college in the fall. [...] The program's goal is to foster understanding between the US and China by providing nationally recognized American teenagers with an opportunity to immerse themselves in Chinese education and culture.

Tags: yihai education, china, US, international exchange, yihai group, education, Cultural Diplomacy

An FBI probe will tell us more about the current email intrusion, although it will take time before we know exactly who (and if Russia) is potentially behind hacking into the DNC's network. But one thing is certain: The Russians have been perfecting the art of manipulating information in recent years to sway public opinion within Russia and around the world in the hopes of building up the stature of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tags: international broadcasting, public opinion, russian propaganda, hacking, election interference, Democratic National Convention, journalism, russia, united states