Here's a coffee shop in an out-of-the-way part of Baku where the walls are covered with illustrations from an early 20th century satirical magazine called Molla Nasreddin. The magazine represents a bygone era, when Azerbaijan was a font of new cultural trends in the Muslim world, pioneering such issues as female emancipation, anti-clericalism, anti-colonialism and labor rights. Although Azerbaijan was the birthplace of the magazine, arguably the country affected most by its essays and illustrations was Iran.

Around 160 events featuring French and Chinese cultural displays or performances will be staged across China during the near-three-month Sino-French cultural exchange festival, which opened here on Wednesday.

Around 20,000 visitors paid a visit to the African Fair, held the weekend of 5-7 April in Paris. The fair promoted business and cultural exchange and took the opportunity to celebrate a continent often misunderstood by Europe. The fair's creator, Marc Yao, says many Europeans think of Africa only in terms of stereotypes. "The African fair is a platform for African countries to show the wealth of resources they have to offer to Europe," says Yao.

The opening of Confucius Institutes this week in New York and Washington brings a key part of China's "soft power" initiative to the United States. On Tuesday, administrators at Columbia University will cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Confucius Institute at the Ivy League school in Manhattan. A day later, it will be George Washington University that does the honors, on a campus within walking distance of the US State Department and blocks away from the White House and Capitol Hill.

Americans are not allowed to go to Cuba for tourism but can obtain licences for academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange trips. The visit by the couple was authorised by the US Treasury Department and involved meeting Cuban artists and musicians, a children's theatre group, and going to several nightclubs where live music was performed.

Jet Tila has been appointed the first Culinary Ambassador of Thai Cuisine by the Royal Thai Consul-General in Los Angeles, tasked with spreading awareness nationwide and making official his unofficial -- and longstanding -- role as a guide to the cuisine. Tila was tapped for the position after a meeting with the Consul-General, who sought his feedback on promoting the cuisine last month. The chef's duties will include touring the United States on behalf of the Thai government, giving food demonstrations, making media appearances and coordinating events.

She was an unassuming young diplomat, only 25, who greeted journalists at the heavily fortified American Embassy gates in Kabul, escorting them to interviews and impressing them with her organization and her studied wish to build bridges between Afghan and American cultures.

As strangers lined up for white ribbons and American flags to show their support, family and friends of Anne Smedinghoff mourned the loss of a young diplomat who was determined to see the world — and possibly beyond. Her brother, Mark, recalled Monday talking to her after the U.S. landed a space probe on Mars last August and how excited she was about space travel.