t’s a wildly popular website laden with unlicensed songs and Hollywood movies, a prime exhibit of the digital piracy that affects the music industry in Asia and eroding legitimate online sales around the world. But a few clicks inside the free-to-download bonanza that has pushed Vietnam’s Zing.vn into the globe’s top 550 websites reveals a surprising presence, the American government, which maintains a bustling social media account on the site.

If not for a lottery on the micro blog of the Italian embassy's culture office, Wang Yueyue, a fan of traditional Chinese operas, may never have thought of listening to an Italian one. "I haven't watched any foreign operas because I'm afraid my local ears can't get used to them. Besides, you know, anything foreign in China costs too much," said Wang, a Beijing resident in her 30s.

Interview with Charmaine Crooks, a Canadian athlete, five-time Olympian and member of the “Champions for Peace” club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport. Ms. Crooks believes sports to be a very powerful opportunity to put the spotlight on peace.

In what experts describe as an unusual form of public diplomacy, U.S. colleges have created State-Department-funded “American Cultural Centers” in partnership with Chinese host universities. “Their primary purpose is to expose Chinese audiences to the depth and breadth of U.S. culture,” said Erik W. Black, an assistant cultural affairs officer at the American embassy in Beijing.

Turkish municipalities are developing sister city relations with their counterparts in Balkans, as the two sides aim to boost economic, cultural, educational and people-to-people contacts to foster mutual understanding and co-operation.

An agreement has been reached between Nepal and China to establish a Chinese Cultural Center in Nepal. Secretary at the Ministry of Cultural, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Yagya Prasad Gautam and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yang Houlan on Thursday signed the agreement at the Ministry.

Think of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and soft power does not immediately spring to mind. But the Kremlin has resolved to change the country’s image when thousands of tourists flock to the Black Sea resort of Sochi to watch the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The last place that the Polish Ambassador to the United States Ryszard Schnepf might have been expected to appear in his first two weeks in Washington was the opening performance of Our Class, the searing play about a dark episode in Poland's history