The Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) Mehdi Mostafavi announced that the organization is ready to hold a joint literary festival of Iran and Armenia in a border city in September.

We all know Japan and the United States share close cultural ties. What I had not realized as a young American academic taking up my first job in Britain in 1996 teaching Japanese art history at the University of East Anglia is that Japanese-British cultural relations are in fact much deeper.

Many countries are willing to go that extra mile to impress the Chinese, but the Danes may have topped them all. On Sunday, Denmark unveiled its well-known statue of the Little Mermaid at the unofficial opening ceremony for its Shanghai Expo pavilion.

In exactly one week, the countdown clocks in Shanghai will all finally hit zero. This is because this year May Day will also be Opening Day for the 2010 World Expo, an event that has been largely ignored in the United States (at least until very recently)...

A delegation of dignitaries from Shinagawa, Japan, will arrive in Portland today for a five-day celebration of a sister city relationship that began more than 25 years ago. Although Portland has three other sister cities -- Cap Haitien, Haiti; Mytilene, Greece; and Archangel, Russia -- Shinagawa was Portland's first.

The Ottawa-born Rowswell is famous throughout China as a comedian and television commentator and he's one of Canada's secret weapons in its bid to create a buzz at what is almost certainly the largest nation-branding event ever staged.

A cultural tit-for-tat is happening in France as Namaste France picks up steam. It follows hot on the heels of Bonjour India which saw French cultural events highlighted across 18 Indian cities. Now the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indian Embassy in Paris has even outdone the French.

American country and pop singer/songwriter, Kareem Salama will depart the U.S. for Cairo to begin a seven-country, one-month tour of the Middle East. Salama will be accompanied by three other accomplished musicians: Dan Workman, JJ Worthen and Michael Whitebread.