The Provost accepted the Graduate Student Government Senate’s request for USC to become a member of the Institute of International Education’s Syria Consortium for Higher Education in Crisis. […] Among USC’s other efforts in providing educational opportunities to endangered scholars, as mentioned in the statement, are its membership in Scholars at Risk and the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund.

More than 1,700 chefs in 150 countries are conjuring up French feasts in bars, restaurants, embassies and even a prison as a part of the “Good France” festival, a massive diplomatic push to promote the country’s famed gastronomic culture.

After more than five decades of touring, the Rolling Stones will finally bring their music to Cuba Friday night for the first time. The performance is billed as the first open-air concert in Cuba by a British rock band. The concert marks a milestone as rock 'n' roll was considered subversive and decadent by the Castro regime no too long ago.

BigBang and CL turned out to be the only South Koreans in the pool of 127 candidates of the online poll, along with U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Hollywood star actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Somali refugee Mariam Ibrahim Yusuf campaigns for greater awareness of asylum seekers, despite being homeless and destitute herself. [...] In addition to her public speaking, Mariam is a member of Women Asylum Seekers Together (Wast), a group of women across nationalities that bands together to raise awareness about immigration injustice and the underreported problems that force women to seek asylum.

As part of its marketing, Sodastream created a campaign to show the cooperation between Arabs and Jews in the factory. In its initial phase, the company posted several untranslated versions to Facebook. But after requests from the Swedish and Jordanian embassies – which wanted to use it for their public diplomacy efforts – Sodastream translated the clips to English and Arabic and paid for their promotion.

The Nationals have expressed interest to MLB about playing the Cuban national team, while the country’s baseball commissioner has openly welcomed the Nationals to play in Havana next spring. [...] Baker feels the baseball team in the nation’s capital would carry extra significance, especially with thawing relations between the two countries.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Dr Maleeha Lodhi said the concert is an effort to project Pakistan’s soft image and present the country’s rich culture. ‘Public diplomacy is the most effective way to win hearts and minds’ and this aims to do just that.