Multiculturalism just doesn't work in Germany, according to Chancellor Angela Merkel. Speaking to the youth association of her Christian Democrat Union party (CDU), she said that the "multi-kulti" concept that "we are now living side-by-side and are happy about it ... this approach has failed, utterly." Merkel described this as living in "parallel societies" similar to the Chinatowns of New York and San Francisco or the Little Italy in Philadelphia.

Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday urged greater efforts to reform the nation's cultural system to boost China's "soft power."