It’s been 15 years since the people of Ireland approved the Good Friday Agreement, and President Obama called the achievement -- and the progress that followed it -- extraordinary. “For years, few conflicts in the world seemed more intractable than the one here in Northern Ireland. And when peace was achieved here, it gave the entire world hope.”

Beijing has unveiled a basket of initiatives to deepen economic, cultural and social exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, following a high-profile meeting last week between President Xi Jinping and Wu Poh-hsiung, the honorary chairman of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang.

India’s primary cultural diplomacy agency is suffering from a funds crunch and faces the ignominy of scaling down events at a prestigious European fete, which focuses on India, even as it puts on hold expansion plans for Indian cultural centres abroad.

The festival's incorporation into the forum - held in the provience's Xiamen city - highlights cultural ties between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, according to organizers. The forum opened on June 15 and will last through Friday.

Landing a job at a summer camp or at an amusement park is a rite of passage for many young Americans. Those jobs also appeal to foreigners participating in a cultural exchange using J-1 visas. But with U.S. youth unemployment at 25 percent, Congress is now taking a close look at the J-1 visa exchange program.

The United States seeks to support the people of the Middle East and North Africa as they work to realize their aspirations for greater dignity, justice, and opportunity. So said Tara Sonenshine, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum.

A provision in the immigration bill now being considered by Congress could change things. Bill Gertz, CEO of the American Institute for Foreign Study, the organization that sponsored Davies, says the proposed legislation could kill these exchange programs.

Scores of hand-woven carpets were laid across the plaza—a sea of red surging over the steps to the library in Mary. A Turkmen drill team, in white uniforms fringed with green, paraded on the sidewalk in preparation for National Carpet Day. The plastic sheeting stretched across the steps forced us to pick our way up the granite siding to the entrance.