The objective of culture is no longer only to create art or literature. "Cultural Diplomacy" is increasingly being used as a vehicle to promote liberal democratic values and to foster "democracy and participation", says Dutch Liberal member Marietje Schaake (ALDE), who last week presented her report on cultural diplomacy. We spoke to her and asked her about her report.

British Council’s new Country Director Tony Reilly who assumed duties just over a month ago stressed in an extensive interview with Daily Mirror Life that he wanted the British Council’s cultural relations programme to make a sensitive, but meaningful contribution to Sri Lanka’s socio-economic development...

Tehran has held a festival in an attempt to introduce Syrian culture and traditions to Iranians and boost cultural ties between the two countries. The festival was opened during a ceremony at Tehran's Bahman Cultural Center on December 4, 2010. Syrian ambassador to Iran Hamed Hassan attended the event along with a number of Iranian officials.

There is an old American public diplomacy maxim that states: “To know us is to love us.” But in Taiwan, gastrodiplomacy—the promotion of Taiwan abroad through its cuisine—has served up a mouthwatering variation on this theme: “To taste us is to love us.”

Madonna, always the tough girl, did not let the news of drug-fueled beheadings and butchering in Mexico scare her off. The pop queen inaugurated her Hard Candy Fitness gym in a posh Mexico City neighborhood on Monday night, with Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard in the crowd.

“Come and see the settlers, 50 shekels from my roof!” This is the offer increasingly made to tourists who visit the divided West Bank city of Hebron. Islam and other Palestinian youths like him are turning occupation into opportunity.

For the second time in six months England have been left crushed by the World Cup. After the humiliation of this summer's 4-1 defeat to Germany in South Africa came another resounding rejection for football's mother country.