The first-ever Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Festival drew its curtains to a marvelous close yesterday at the Katara Esplanade providing visitors a window into the cultural identity of each of the seven participating Asean countries via a blend of performances, cuisine, handicraft and tourism products.

Even as the Narendra Modi government talks big about projecting India’s soft power, India’s main instrument for cultural diplomacy continues to wallow in severe fund crunch, forcing it to now open new cultural centres abroad only in collaboration with private organisations.

Even as the Narendra Modi government talks big about projecting India’s soft power, India’s main instrument for cultural diplomacy continues to wallow in severe fund crunch, forcing it to now open new cultural centres abroad only in collaboration with private organisations.

A bevy of big-screen luminaries including Luc Besson and Arnold Schwarzenegger descended on Beijing recently for a star-studded international film festival, but art-house directors raised the alarm as authorities block a wave of independent cultural events.

To the outside world, the rapport between India and Pakistan is characterised by the political tensions that have simmered, and at times boiled over, since partition in 1947. Yet contemporary art is an arena in which the two nations enjoy a more fruitful relationship.

In India as part of a cultural exchange, Shirzad and three of his countrymen, two chefs and an administrator, are at the ITC Maurya, in Delhi, for a 10-day festival celebrating Afghani cuisine, after which they return with a similarly assembled Indian team to the Inter-Continental in Kabul for a 10-day showcase of Indian food.

North Korea stepped out of its isolation as a last-minute participant, and there are signs that Turkey may use the occasion to reach out to the Vatican weeks after it recalled its ambassador to the Holy See over the pope describing the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

Expo Milano 2015 should encourage sustainable food production practices, as well as fight food waste and malnutrition, members of the European Parliament (EP) said on Thursday. In a resolution, MEPs sent a message to the organizers of the expo that "Global food security, fighting food waste and improving the sustainability of agricultural production are matters that require an urgent and international solution."