Pakistan's literary scene is seeing a spirited revival, with packed festivals attracting tens of thousands in a rock concert-like atmosphere that defies security threats in a growing cultural renaissance.  Events such as the raucous Lahore Literary Festival [...] are reclaiming the “cultural space” that has shrunk significantly in the conservative Muslim nation in recent years amid a raging Islamist insurgency.

Irfan Durmić sees the metro-east through the eyes of a visitor, but also of someone who truly feels at home. [...] At age 16, he would be a sophomore in his home country, but with his transfer credits, American schools place him as a junior. That means he will probably still be a junior when he gets home, but he’s okay with that because he is having so much fun learning about America.

Hollywood has long been a powerful shaper of global culture. [...] But increasingly films such as “Sivas” and other foreign-language movies, including those nominated for this year’s Academy Awards, are chipping at the edges of American dominance. 

The Los Angeles bid to host the 2024 summer Games was unveiled at sunset keeping in theme with the new slogan and features a winged angel as a symbol of the city. On the top floor of a USC skyscraper bid leaders and civic officials gathered to view the new logo with panoramic views of the City's 2024 Games venues, coastline and mountains as the backdrop.

160 years of Bangkok-Paris diplomatic relations are being celebrated this year. Life caught up with new French Ambassador to Thailand Gilles Garachon to discuss food, the AEC and cultural exchange. Political and economic diplomacy may be the core business of his job, but the ambassador puts emphasis on understanding culture.

It’s Saturday evening February the 13th and the Royal Danish Embassy in Bangkok has opened its garden for a night with Jazz on the Grass. An event that took off last year as an initiative by music lover and Danish Ambassador in Bangkok, Mikael Hemniti Winther. 

The number of Americans studying in Germany has risen sharply, recent figures show, driven in part by the low cost of higher education compared to the United States. More than 10,000 U.S. students are presently enrolled in the country's higher education programs. 

When President Obama and leaders of Asian nations meet here Monday they will feel the tug of history and a bit of glamour on an estate where Ronald Reagan wandered around in slippers, Frank Sinatra sipped drinks by the pool and Dwight D. Eisenhower suggested that the nine-hole golf course could use a few palm trees.