This month’s summit, held in Beijing, certainly moved the bloc further in that direction. Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to double Chinese trade with the Celac countries over the coming decade and to invest $250 billion across the region. Ecuador’s Rafael Correa left the summit with more than $7 billion in new Chinese aid and credit, while Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro received much-needed pledges of investment from China’s state-run Bank of China and China Development Bank.

Architect Maya Lin and portraitist Kehinde Wiley are among the seven artists to be honored with the 2014 Department of State-Medal of Arts for their efforts to promote cultural understanding through art.

President Barack Obama asked Congress Tuesday to authorize military action against Islamic State extremists, saying the U.S. can defeat them without being “dragged into another ground war in the Middle East.”

With the stunning election victory of President Maithripala Sirisena, on a platform of change for good governance, the potential for brand Sri Lanka to strengthen itself has grown exponentially.

Korea plans to seek strategic cooperation with relevant countries including the United States and China as a means of paving a way toward unification as well as to denuclearize North Korea, the foreign ministry announced, Monday.

Government is willing and ready to engage investors and international partners to drive the economic development agenda of the country, a Ministry of Finance and Economic Development official has said.

Faiza A. el-Naga noted that the recent Ethiopian Public Diplomacy Delegation’s visit to Cairo was a complete success. Faiza Abou el-Naga further suggested both countries needed to tap more potential areas of cooperation incuding investment and trade.

 Iranian ambassador to Slovenia met with Slovenian Minister of Culture on Friday to discuss promotion of bilateral arts, cultural, religious ties.