Valued at $2.6 billion, with a promise by Wanda to invest an additional $500 million to update facilities, the deal seems like a win-win for the current owners and employees of AMC, as well as for Chinese investors intent on learning the business of movie distribution and extending China's soft power.

Rita, however, with her striking beauty and bubbly demeanor, has emerged as an unexpected bond between ordinary Iranians and Israelis—part cultural ambassador, part antiwar spokeswoman. A picture of Rita with the banner, "Iranians we will never bomb your country," is posted on her Facebook page.

The chain of light began long before darkness reached the UK. As twilight fell across the Pacific, New Zealand, Tonga and Australia took turns to start the relay of 4,200 beacons lit to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee.

At a time when Congress is skeptical about public diplomacy, the survey’s findings underscore the very substantive value of cultural connections. U.S. cultural diplomacy is robust and merits greater support from policymakers, and the British Council’s successes offer ample reasons for providing such support.

Nearly everyone likes cultural diplomacy in principle, but some remain skeptical about its value. It is seen by many as soft power at its softest, safe and fuzzy, with more aesthetic rewards than diplomatic ones.

For those of us committed to using cultural diplomacy as a significant force in advancing the national interest, that kind of condescending view is aggravating and we always welcome solid evidence that it is wrong.

The United States intends to use its public diplomacy efforts in Pakistan to bridge the differences between the people of the two countries, newly-appointed US Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine said on Friday. She was speaking to a gathering at Kinnaird College University during her day-long visit of the city.

The latest matters at hand kicked off with the burlesque. Norwegian-Iranian satirist Amir Asgharnejad, a sort of Norwegian version of Borat, claimed he was stripped and forced by Azerbaijani policemen to step on an Iranian flag in the Baku airport, Norwegian media reported. Norway reportedly nearly pulled its Eurovision contestant, Tooji, out of the contest over the incident and a diplomatic exchange is ongoing.

It's a story that's so fantastic, so full of twists and turns, that it would be hard to make up. Manjiro left Japan for his first fishing trip at age 14, but was swept away from the coast and shipwrecked, Preus explains. After surviving for five months on an island, he was picked up by an American whaling ship and brought to the U.S., where he studied and had many adventures.