We're back at that old game of winning the hearts and minds of people who want to kill us. Except the problem is becoming a homegrown one. Faisal Shahzad may have had any number of motivations to detonate a bomb in Times Square, but his intent was harming his fellow Americans.

World Friends Korea, the local version of the Peace Corps of the United States, unveiled a plan Wednesday to use taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art, to promote peace and friendship in underdeveloped countries around the world.

Three hip-hop performers from the US will conduct training programmes in Ha Noi, Hai Phong, HCM City and Can Tho between May 9 and 22. Break dancer Brandon "Peace" Albright, rapper Chen Lo and DJ Scan will take part in the programme sponsored by the US Department of State and the US Consulate General in HCM City. The programme is part of a series of events which the consulate organises to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the people of the US and Viet Nam.

Perched on the stage of Al Hakawati, Jerusalem's largest theatre, four authors from the Palestine Festival of Literature shared turns reading excerpts from their texts...For patrons and participants, the idea of the festival was clear: To bring foreign writers to Palestine, and to have them interact with a Palestinian audience.

America's new Iraqi Cultural Center occupies a slice of rented office space above an AT&T store, overlooking a Five Guys and a Hair Cuttery and a bustling Connecticut Avenue in the capital of the country that scuffed and dinged some of Iraq's antique furniture during its 2003 invasion and resulting tenancy. Washington: Capital, also, of Irony.

A workshop of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Vietnam demonstrated the growing international importance of contemporary and classical Chinese culture. At a recent international cultural workshop held in Vietnam, almost all participants, ranging from officials to NGO workers, from artists to cultural experts, found themselves engaged in projects related to China. "Chinese art and culture are becoming more and more fashionable. There is great interest in China on all levels," says Airan Berg, former artistic director for the performing arts of the European cultural capital, Linz, Austria 2009.

Haitian artists and cultural professionals have been conducting informal salvage operations for the past four months. But the Americans are bringing conservation expertise — there are few if any professionally trained art conservators in Haiti — and special equipment, much of it paid for by private money.

The Department of Arts and Culture will host a Cultural Diplomacy conference on 21-22 May 2010 in Pretoria, South Africa...The theme is "Redefining the Role of Culture in the 21st century". The main focus of the conference is to open opportunities to share ideas and exchange knowledge with prominent thinkers on issues of cultural diplomacy.