A collaboration between USC Annenberg, the David and Dana Dornsife College and Price School of Public Policy sent a group of USC students to study shifting political, social and economic landscapes in Cuba for the second consecutive summer. Under the direction of Journalism Professor Roberto Suro and USC Dornsife Professor Pamela Starr, 25 students from an array of disciplines — public relations, public diplomacy, specialized journalism, strategic communications and international relations — spent one month immersed in research and investigation of all things Cuba.

The first same-sex weddings have taken place in New Zealand after the country became the first in the Asia-Pacific region and 14th in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. Thirty-one same-sex couples had been due to marry on Monday, according to the Department of Internal Affairs. It comes after New Zealand's parliament passed a bill in April amending the country's 1955 marriage act.

On November 21, 2004, the first Confucius Institute opened its doors in Seoul, South Korea. The placement was by design, like every aspect of this public diplomacy endeavor by an increasingly confident Chinese government. The Korean peninsula, for example, has a long history of adhering to the Confucian system of thought, society and governance. Even more symbolically, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5, Korea was a part of China’s traditional cultural empire. In fact, it was the last part to fall.

Forty teenage girls from the Middle East are visiting P.E.I. as part of a special language and cultural exchange program. It's a partnership between UPEI, the International Language Institute, and the Abu Dhabi Education Council. The 16- and 17-year-old girls are from the United Arab Emirates, and are living in residence at UPEI. Serena Lambert, academic advisor for the International Language Institute, said the program is highly competitive.

Even after 18 years, I never really knew where I stood with the English. Why did they keep apologizing? (Were they truly sorry?) Why were they so unenthusiastic about enthusiasm? Why was their Parliament full of classically educated grown-ups masquerading as unruly schoolchildren? Why did rain surprise them? Why were they still obsessed by the Nazis? Why were they so rude about Scotland and Wales, when they all belonged to the same, very small country?

Angola faces a serious struggle with landmines, as well as unexploded bombs, mortars, and other munitions buried and abandoned across the country’s 18 provinces, a tragic legacy of the country’s war for independence and nearly three decades of civil war that finally ended in 2002. Surviving the Peace: Angola, a film produced by our non-governmental organization (NGO) partner the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), captures the challenges facing the people of Angola and how the United States is taking action to help.

A new campaign by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to promote President Xi Jinping's new slogan, "the China dream," around the world is unlikely to succeed, analysts said on Friday. China's deputy propaganda minister Cai Mingzhao recently called on propaganda officials at all levels to "deeply understand the weighty meaning of the strategic thinking around the Chinese dream, and to...do everything in their power to preserve its values."

The upcoming Winter Olympics has put Russia's anti-gay laws in the center of the coverage of the games. The best way to get more attention is for this conversation to keep going all the way through next February, not by boycotting the games. In the latest development, a spokesperson for the United States Olympic Committee clarified an earlier statement by his CEO that American athletes were expected to comply with local laws during the Olympics.