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.Such evidence comes now from the British Council...

More broadly, the assumption underlying most efforts at public diplomacy seems to be the belief that anti-Americanism around the world is a failure of marketing. If we just do a better job of selling what we do around the world ... then Pakistanis won't mind our launching drone strikes on their territory and will give us a free pass when we kill a bunch of border guards by accident.

The United States has cut funding to a popular Pakistani version of the children’s program “Sesame Street” amid allegations of fraud and abuse, a US official said Tuesday. The program, run under the umbrella of the US-based Sesame Workshop by a local theater group, had been awarded some $20 million in funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Is this “superpower” model going against the very fundamentals of India’s “soft power”? Three characteristics distinguish India: a 5,000-year-old extant, unbroken, well-documented, civilisational, cultural heritage; an overwhelming population of no less than 1.2 billion; and a living laboratory for pluralistic development without a common spoken language.

A new Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine — the first of its kind established with the cooperation of a foreign medical institute — is expected to open in September, said Gao Sihua, president of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.

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.