There are 82 Confucius Institutes and 39 Confucius Classrooms in 31 countries and regions in Asia. Despite great achievements, Confucius Institutes still face serious challenges. For example, there is the question of how to help Chinese volunteer teachers better adapt to the foreign environment, especially the living environment in developing countries.

South Africa’s Deputy Minister Dina Pule said that branding South Africa was not a matter of choice but of necessity. The International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC) can only achieve its goals if all stakeholders collaborate in positioning South Africa as a globally competitive nation.

As Kabul has begun to get back on its feet, returnees like anthropology student Siddique Ahmed, his two band mates and their like, have brought an infusion of new and old musical influences to the city of their birth and have begun forging a growing music scene.

It is designed to be the creative hub that catapults local film-makers towards the heights achieved by Hollywood animation giants such as Pixar and DreamWorks. China has opened a $4.5bn yuan (£420m) facility in Tianjin, near Beijing, aimed at producing films that can compete with the best of the west.

Before the world commemorates the centennial of the Titanic's sinking next year, Belfast has decided to celebrate the ship's launch, to remind people of its ship-building legacy. The residual sense of shame about the disaster is fading, replaced with a pride in the city's maritime history.

Britain's government has suspended the distribution of an animated film designed to stop young Muslims from becoming Islamic extremists. The short movie, called "Wish You Waziristan", is a cautionary tale about two British brothers who travel to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region in order to become jihadi fighters after seeing a racist beating.

The link between the pomp and glory of Hampton Court, a cellar in Liverpool and a copper works in Wales may be obscure. But according to the nation’s foremost historians, they are among the 100 places which define Britain.

Sarajevo announced plans to open a museum of its brutal siege by Bosnian Serb forces, saying the approaching trial of their commander Ratko Mladic made it all the more important to display the evidence. The collection includes an encyclopedia on the siege and 1,400 filmed accounts of witnesses.