The leaders of Moscow's 1.5 million strong Muslim community say they desperately need more places of worship. But a plan to build a new mosque has run into local opposition which is being fuelled by nationalists calling for a "clean Moscow" without Muslims and foreigners.

Although one year has passed since Turkey and Armenia took a major step and signed protocols in Zurich to improve relations, they have both failed to approve them. Despite the official stalemate, civil society contacts and projects have been active on both sides of the closed border between the two countries.

Diplomacy and outreach can't just be left to our government," Clinton said during a 75-minute speech and onstage interview sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. She spoke of the State Department's new "emphasis on technology and innovation.

The Clinton Global Initiative and Qatar Foundation International (QFI) have a unique idea for bridging the American-Arabic cultural gap: An online project aimed at bringing American and Qatari teenagers together through crowdsourced translation exercises.

A group of 1,000 Japanese youngsters will be visiting the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai from Oct 27 to 30, another step toward restoring soured bilateral relations. Originally scheduled on Sept 21, the trip had to be postponed due to the rift between the two countries caused by a boat collision and consequent diplomatic rows.

In particular, we need to take advantage of this anniversary to revitalize the Peace Corps so that it makes more progress in advancing its timeless mission of making the world more peaceful and prosperous.

Rarely has the power of a celebrity to draw attention to an issue exerted such a pull as on Tuesday, when White House reporters called an end to the daily briefing by press secretary Robert Gibbs to catch the actor George Clooney as he left a meeting with President Obama about the crisis in Sudan.

The Chinese government continued its vilification campaign against the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed dissident, Liu Xiaobo, by canceling another meeting with Norwegian officials and lambasting the award as an affront to the Chinese people and a ploy to try to change the country’s political system.