New York State is now the yogurt capital of the nation. The state’s chief yogurt promoter, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, claimed victory on Thursday in the battle for national yogurt supremacy, citing state data that showed New York topping California in production for 2012. Hoping to milk the announcement for all it’s worth, Mr. Cuomo’s office issued a nearly 2,100-word statement celebrating New York’s triumph.

The type of bomb used in at least one of the Boston attacks is one that many recent veterans are all too familiar with. It was fashioned out of a pressure cooker. The devices are common in kitchens around the world. Instructions for turning them into bombs are distressingly easy to find. But I hope that their misuse as devices to wound and kill won’t obscure their value for bringing people together.

Australia should work harder on its official and unofficial diplomacy to strengthen its ties to India, after a new survey revealed Indians had a mixed perception of the two countries' relationship. The nationwide survey of 1233 Indians, conducted in seven languages, found that Indians generally have a positive image of Australia, seeing it as a good place to get an education and raise a family.

Almost 315 years after Russian Czar Peter the Great’s first visit to Holland, six Russian students and six of their Dutch counterparts are tenaciously working on a joint cultural project dedicated to the bilateral year between the two countries.

Social media have become one of the few places where young people from Armenia and Azerbaijan can meet. Yet, not without risks. While it might be nearly 19 years since a May 1994 ceasefire put the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh on hold, analysts are increasingly viewing the situation on the Line of Contact (LOC) with alarm.

China's Cultural Minister Cai Wu has urged the government to manage the cultural realm with adequate space and freedom given to the commercial market. "Traditional culture is essential in our cultural exchange with the overseas, but modern and pop arts should also be high on the agenda in cultural export efforts in order to strengthen foreign people's understanding of the current China," Cai said.

Following significant critical acclaim and audience enthusiasm for its Pakistan and Morocco seasons, Caravanserai: A place where cultures meet returns for a third installment featuring artists from Turkey. Caravanserai is an innovative cultural exchange program produced by Arts Midwest on behalf of its fellow U.S. Regional Arts Organizations.

A. Iain Johnston has the lead article in the latest issue of International Security. It's available for free right now, and it's quite the doozy. Entitled "How New and Assertive is China's New Assertiveness?", Johnston picks apart the claim made by many (including your humble blogger) that China's post-2008 foreign policy represented anything all that much out of the ordinary.