The advance of gay rights across the United States is spreading into Puerto Rico, making the island a relatively gay-friendly outpost in a Caribbean region where sodomy laws and harassment of gays are still common.

Dennis Rodman’s bizarre North Korean jaunt has dominated headlines in both countries for days, but the U.S. State Department has no comment on the matter — as deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell made very clear in his daily press briefing on Thursday.

The State Department, which is ultimately charged with approving or denying TransCanada's plans to build a 1,700 mile pipeline from Canada and through the U.S., has released a draft report that details the potential environmental impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Two Afghan teenagers -- Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz -- whose film 'Buzkashi Boys' was recently nominated at the Oscars, capturing the attention of Hollywood for their impressive acting, look up to Indian superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Sunny Deol as their idols.

Sunday night, Argo—the Ben Affleck film portraying the rescue of U.S. Embassy staffers from Iran—won best picture at the Oscars. Iran may have boycotted this years’ Academy Awards by pulling its film submission, but it certainly didn’t ignore Argo’s Oscar win. The biggest winner may have been U.S. public diplomacy efforts, given Argo’s recent underground popularity in Iran.

Set aside some funds that the Government of Sri Lanka is wasting on a lobbying firm in Washington to install a person to represent the media to engage in public diplomacy and strategic communication to raise issues connected to the U.S. foreign policy, 'Global War on Terrorism' and national defense-related issues.

The Saharawi case represents a unique example of women's inclusion in state-building for an Islamic government-in-exile. Palestinian activist Randa Farah suggests that Saharawi women have traditionally possessed great autonomy despite being Muslim:

Upstate New York jazz combo the Arch Stanton Quartet will be touring Egypt in late March, performing at the 5th Cairo International Jazz Festival, the American University in Cairo (AUC), and in Alexandria as part of a jazz diplomacy program cosponsored by AMIDEAST/Egypt, the U.S. Embassy in Egypt, and the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) at AUC.