Iran’s Cultural Attaché in Moscow Reza Maleki stressed the need to further promote relations between the Islamic Republic and the Russian Federation, saying enhanced cultural ties between the two nations will pave the ground for closer political relations. “Relations between Iran and Russia should not be confined to the level of the governments,” Maleki said in a meeting about cultural relations and their impact on political ties held at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of World Studies.

Multilingualism and the ability to understand cultures helps in solving global crises such as climate change and military conflicts, said Obama administration official Mohamed Abdel-Kader May 10 as part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies’ Distinguished Speakers Series. Abdel-Kader, an Egyptian-American who speaks fluent Arabic and basic Spanish, said that although learning a foreign language is often considered a luxury, it is in fact a highly marketable skill in the modern job market.

A trio of Shepparton Ace College students is looking forward to the opportunity of a lifetime after being selected by Westside Circus to be a part of the National Treasures youth exchange program. Telaah Donnelly, Adam Eleftheriou and Kyrone Black will be training under the best acrobats at a week-long youth exchange in Melbourne in November, before travelling to York in the United Kingdom for another exchange experience. The students will also meet young people from Brazil, Sweden and the UK during the program and learn about their cultures.

The World Bank Board of Directors today approved $100 million in financing to support Sri Lanka’s higher education sector. This new initiative will help increase enrollment in priority disciplines, improve the quality of degree programs and promote research and innovation in the higher education sector. Building on experience in the higher education sector since 2003, the new Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) operation is the first in Sri Lanka to use the World Bank Program for Results lending instrument. 

Aamir Khan may have staged a soft power coup in China. His earthy, grassroots advocacy in Dangal of gender rights, set in semi-urban but aspirational India, has struck an emotional chord with a young, curious, tech-savvy generation of the “Middle Kingdom”.Netizens have already set alight Weibo — the Chinese equivalent of Twitter — with fulsome praise of Mr. Khan, and the breezy, non-condescending, but powerful messaging of his film. One viewer has praised the actor as India’s national treasure.

The Nigerian government on Friday said it aims to launch "cultural diplomacy" with the South African government to end incessant xenophobic attacks on citizens of the west African nation in that country.[...]More than 100 citizens of Nigeria had been killed or injured in xenophobic attacks across South Africa since 2013, according to the Nigerian government. The government spokesman said cultural diplomacy was an effective tool that would end xenophobia and strengthen the understanding between the two countries.

A cultural diplomacy is the need of the hour to correct the West's misconceptions about the Arab world, said panelists at a session on the second day of the Arab #Media Forum in Dubai on Tuesday. During the session titled 'The Arab Image in the West' moderated by Saudi journalist Faisal Abbas, Nathan Tek, US State Department spokesman for the Middle East and the Gulf; Mark Donfried, executive director and founder of the Berlin Institute for Cultural Diplomacy; stressed the need for innovative efforts to change the negative image of the Arab world in western media.

On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Sri Lanka to take part as the chief guest in International Vesak Day celebrations — the most significant day in Buddhist calendar — Chinese President Xi Jinping was giving final touches to the first Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a super-massive infrastructure project connecting China with Europe and Middle East. 30 world leaders have flown to Beijing to take part in Sunday's maiden forum.