“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.

In order to determine whether Sesame Street is a form of public diplomacy, we must first establish which lens to view public diplomacy through.If public diplomacy is citizens—or in this case Muppets—acting on behalf of a political body to establish interpersonal connections, then no, Sesame Street is not a vehicle for public diplomacy. However, if public diplomacy is measured by outcome, and not intention, then I dare say that Elmo and friends are cultural ambassadors.

A troupe of 50 Chinese disabled artists will have a special performance at the Hanoi Opera House on December 2. They will perform their worldwide famous dance entitled “Goddess of Mercy with hundreds of arms and thousands of eyes” and a dance play entitled “My Dream”, which have become famous worldwide.

Ask many Americans to name the bloodiest war since World War II and chances are that most would not know the answer. If you told them it was in Africa, they might guess Rwanda or the ongoing conflict in Sudan. They'd be wrong. By far, the deadliest conflict was in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1998 to 2003.

Tourism is as much a political terrain as a cultural practice. It has been promoted as a route to economic development for poor nations and wielded as an instrument of political leverage between nations--as the U.S. embargo against travel to Cuba or the recent easing of tourist-visa requirements between Russia and Brazil demonstrate.