There was no ceremonial meeting between officers of the Indian and Chinese armies on the Independence Day today at the strategic Nathula border amid the continued standoff at Doklam, but personnel from two sides exchanged sweets.

Hiroyoshi Takeda is not a typical Japanese man. Instead of a suit and tie, the 39-year-old Tokyoite wears T-shirts with technicolour caricatures of a mustachioed south Indian movie star. Rather than bowing, he dances. He doesn’t ride the metro, but travels the streets in a gaudily adorned autorickshaw imported from Tamil Nadu.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), in association with J&K Academy of Art Culture and Languages organized the screening of world famous play ‘When We Dead Awaken’ written by Henrik Ibsen and directed by India’s most celebrated internationally acclaimed theatre director Ratan Thiyam here at Abhinav Theatre Jammu.

Women in India have been posting photographs of themselves enjoying a night out on social media in response to a politician who said a woman who was chased in her car by two men "should not have gone out so late at night".

The cultural ties and bilateral trade growth between Canada and India is growing stronger by the day and it is important to realize the role art and culture plays in expanding the socio-economic balance of a country. [...] An international project celebrating 150 years of Canada and 70 years of India’s Independence marked on August 15th, 2017 is being planned by way of a unique exhibit which will travel to India and back home to Canada – collecting culture stories through the creative process and travels.

The Soft Power 30 Report suggests that national leaders influence their nations' brands. Nation branding scholars have also examined this relationship, noting that the two brands can begin to merge as the qualities of a leader become associated with that of the nation. At its extreme, the leader’s brand can eclipse the national brand causing a “halo effect”.