Basketball star Yao Ming, movie director John Woo and piano prodigy Lang Lang are among dozens of celebrities who will appear in television commercials later this year in a bid by China to boost its image abroad.

Saudi Arabia plans to block the messenger function on BlackBerry handsets from Friday while the United Arab Emirates has said it will definitely instigate a similar ban next month. Why has BlackBerry become the thorn in the side of the Gulf states?

It was in the book of Exodus, in the King James Version of the Bible, that Moses first called himself a “stranger in a strange land.” From then on up through Robert A. Heinlein’s 1961 novel of the same phrase, the “stranger in a strange land” genre has been (and remains) a staple of song, film, and literature. It seems that a sense of cultural disconnect has long plagued – and fascinated – humankind.

In addition to the enjoyable festival experience for the students, the organizers have set additional goals – branding Israel as an attractive tourism destination for students, improving Israel’s image among this target group and facilitating multi-cultural encounters for students from Israel and European countries.

In addition to state diplomacy, there are also many other dynamic activities to accelerate relations between enterprises from Vietnam and Africa, and between Vietnamese and African people in the fields of culture, sports and education.

In countries as far flung as Germany, South Africa, Malaysia and Russia, Indian classical dances - Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam and Mohiniattam - are not only making an impression but also getting a new, bold twist, thanks to foreigners passionate about these dances.

This summer, various events in the heart of Seoul invite locals to explore the colorful arts and culture of the Black Sea region...The Black Sea Cultural Festival will take place beginning Thursday through Sunday at the National Theater of Korea, near Mt. Nam, downtown Seoul. The event will showcase the arts and traditions of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine through dance performances, exhibition and lectures.

Newt Gingrich, his doctorate notwithstanding, has offered us an illogical and ahistorical context to the ugly dispute about building an Islamic cultural center and mosque near Manhattan's Ground Zero