In recent weeks, business deals between Australian and Chinese media groups have raised concerns over potential Chinese government influence in the Australian press. But according to a report in the Australian Financial Review, the media is not the only institution that has recently received Chinese government money as part of a soft power push by Beijing.

A US-led push for India to join a club of countries controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology made some headway on Thursday as several opponents appeared more willing to work towards a compromise, but China remained defiant.

Traditional allies driven to act as their rivals step up efforts to win over their friends. "If China feels that US effort to contain China is getting severe and intense, China will make the strategic move to invite Kim Jong Un to Beijing as an international warning to the US," he added.

The focus this year has been selected with the theme of "ASEAN-China education exchange year", Derry added. As such, he said, there will be more efforts to increase cooperation in the education sector, people-to-people exchanges and promoting awareness between the two peoples. 

The asylum application is the first step towards relocation or reunion, neither of which is working. The reunion programme is limited to spouses and minors, otherwise families are prohibited from reuniting for five years, so that English teacher Thenna must choose her husband in Germany or her sons, aged 18 and 20. Ireland has received just one family and blamed “low take up” on refugees who had not wished to complete the first step of applying for asylum. Well, you try applying for asylum by Skype when you have no internet and no passport!

No one at the high-level United Nations conference devoted to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 denies serious scientific and financial challenges remain, but cultural sensitivities may prove the toughest stumbling block on the way to achieving that goal.

At its core, the exhibit offered a window into how Arab cultures create identity using social codes and physical structures, while also highlighting how people and artists must take care to change their behavior in certain regimented contexts. "Art is a part of Iranian culture, and in the process of researching this show..."