One of the crowning glories of Benjamin Netanyahu’s “media blitz” last week, following his speech at the United Nations General Assembly was an interview with the BBC’s Persian service. In an attempt to characterize the interview as historic, the prime minister’s bureau pointed out that this was the first time Netanyahu had given an interview to a Persian-speaking media outlet, addressing the Iranian people directly.

The French are checking their pockets and searching their souls. The problem is the in-your-face presence of a few thousand Roma immigrants, mostly from Bulgaria and Romania, who are blamed for petty thievery, begging, camping illegally on public lands, sleeping under bridges or on grates in the city street and a host of minor crimes that the French authorities seem unable to control.

If Tolstoy had written a history of foreign corporations in China, it might have started something like this: “Companies that succeed in China do so for similar reasons; every company that fails, fails in its own way.” It’s not because the businesses were incompetent. Many of the biggest failures belong to the Fortune 500: Mattel, eBay, Google, Home Depot. All of these have thrived in markets around the world, but not in China. Why?

The third Nepal-Africa Film Festival is being organised at the Russian Cultural Centre of the Capital from 18 to 20 June. A total of 14 films (both Nepali and African) would be featured during the festival. Director of Nepal-Africa Film Festival, Dr Manju Mishra, said at a press meet that the festival would highlight Nepal and Africa's art, culture and positive developments.

Rawalpindi Arts Council in collaboration with Saraiki Students Federation, Federal Urdu University, Islamabad organized a Saraiki Cultural Program featuring the promotion and introduction of regional cultural with each other. Waqar Ahmed, Resident Director from Rawalpindi Arts Council and Ahmed Ali Dhareshak from federation were the guests of honor at the ceremony.

Describing cultural appreciation as the key to lasting relations between nations, an eminent Pakistani scholar has called for initiatives in various fields of arts to help Pakistanis and Americans better understand each other. Dr. Zulfiqar Kazmi told a gathering on the Capitol Hill that the best way to promote friendly and cooperative relationship between the United States and Pakistan would be to build bridges through encouragement of more and more cultural exchange programs.

A first step is to resist the convention to distinguish “art” from “culture,” which has served to cut off domestic arts policy in the U.S. and elsewhere from broader appreciation of the cultural challenges that cross cut international affairs. Especially for applied arts NGOs working with international counterparts. A second step is to recognize and interrogate our own assumptions about the purpose and value of “art.” A third is to re-inscribe “art” back into its encompassing local and transnational settings of social engagement and meaning.