Films and art are not designed to be a substitute for political strategies but can instead be used to challenge stereotypes and emphasise on the human experience even with a critical approach; thus they become a major cultural export in transcending prejudice, xenophobia and differences.

As an economy prospers, its culture perhaps begins to grow in appeal. Over the last 100 years or so – jeans, Coke, McDonald’s, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hollywood — about everything American had been lapped up as things of global cool. They still are. The 20th was entirely America’s century.

It was shot on a cheap camera by a man who goes by the pseudonym Kim Dong-cheol, a North Korean with a double life. In addition to his job as a driver for a company, Kim also works as a clandestine reporter for AsiaPress, a Japanese news agency that's taken advantage of the digital electronics revolution to get reports from inside North Korea.

Propaganda has been an art form in Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution. Back then, Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini rallied the faithful with these words: “Propaganda is explosive as a grenade.” The same applies today as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei makes his first official visit in a decade to Qom, the religious heart of Iran.

A tape of a man claiming to be Osama Bin Laden threatening France appears to be authentic, the French Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Bin Laden warned France to get its troops out of Afghanistan and not to oppress Muslims at home in a tape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network Wednesday.

The New York Philharmonic canceled a trip to Havana last year because the United States government refused to allow its wealthy patrons to go along, saying they would essentially be tourists. That violates sanctions banning most travel to Cuba.

Tommy Hilfiger has become one of the best selling international brands in India thanks to a little unexpected help from actor Shah Rukh Khan, says Mohan Murjani, who built the brand in the U.S. and brought it to India six years ago.

In the past, the United States has sent artworks abroad to leverage its soft power. Most famously sending Abstract Expressionist paintings to Soviet-threatened Europe as a symbol of American freedom during the Cold War. Now, instead of dispatching art, the State Department has announced that it will launch the artists themselves.