The Spanish institution Casa Africa and SAMRO Foundation has announced the 'Johannesburgo Vis a Vis' initiative, the first music contest and business meeting between Spanish music producers and South African musicians. From Thursday, 11 to Saturday, 13 April, Johannesburg will be the City for a new edition of 'Vis-a-Vis' to promote a greater presence of African music on Spanish stages.

Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as his political nemesis, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, asked him to intervene in the dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands. There was no immediate comment from the Vatican as to whether the Argentine-born Francis would accept her request, which was made during his inaugural audience with a visiting head of state on the eve of his installation as pope.

Supermodel Bar Refaeli was recently hired by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to appear in a pro-Israel PR campaign to boost the country’s image around the world. Refaeli’s international modeling success, recent Superbowl commercial, and appointment as Maxim’s Sexiest Woman in the World make the gorgeous Israeli a smart choice as the face of her native Holy Land… except the Israeli Defense Forces argue that she’s not a true Israeli.

Obama will not carry with him a detailed proposal for how Israelis and Palestinians might resume talks, such as the one he offered in 2010. He instead plans a listening tour in Jerusalem and in Ramallah to solicit views on what the two sides want and to explore what may be possible.

As the U.S. observes the tenth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, a key question remains: Why was there almost no accountability for journalists and pundits who went along with George W. Bush’s deceptions. The answer can be found in the cover-ups of the Reagan-Bush-41 era, writes Robert Parry.

As a well-regarded ambassador once explained early in my foreign service career, diplomacy is about persuading people to do what you want them to do; it’s not about getting along and mouthing pleasantries. The danger with many “celebrity ambassadors” is that they do not understand the distinction and often arrive on their self-appointed mission with no plan for follow through and little conception of the overall complexity of the situation.

The fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones has long enthralled movie audiences, taking on assorted villains in quests to find mythical treasures, with some limited help from the government. Minus any bullwhips, the real-life U.S. State Department works with other federal departments in a journey to protect important archaeological sites and ancient treasures in the face of conflict, according to professional archaeologists Morag Kersel and Christina Luke in their new book "U.S. Cultural Diplomacy and Archaeology: Soft Power, Hard Heritage" (Routledge, 2012).

Marc Coleman is under the illusion that Brazil could become Ireland's 'El Dorado' (Sunday Independent, March 10, 2013). He states that '47 per cent of Brazil's 100 million population is middle class'. The census of 2010 gives Brazil's population as 190.8 million, not 100 million. It is absurd to think that this growing middle-class 'are crying out for what we (Ireland) want to export'.