China is not squeamish about putting a price and index on its culture. In a quirky development last month, China launched its first cultural industry index at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange... The OCT Index, which as of now hasn’t generated much notice, does signal a shifting trend - China’s determination to change its growth model.

Even as Korean tech giant Samsung turns Sony into a has-been, Japan’s erstwhile colony is also beating it in the pop culture sphere: A decade after journalist Douglas McGray famously calculated “Japan’s Gross National Cool” and awoke the country to the potential of capitalizing on the global infatuation with its anime, games, J-pop, and manga, the concept of “Cool Japan” is under assault.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. A. J. Nicholson, says Jamaica will continue to stand in solidarity with Cuba, in its effort to promote regional integration in the Caribbean.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said India would like to see a “strong, stable and prosperous” Pakistan and that he was happy to see democracy flourish over there as he received a Pakistani parliamentary delegation. Mr Singh also told the delegation led by Senate Chairman Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari that closer relations between parliaments in the two countries was necessary for strengthening bilateral ties.

The National Hockey League (NHL) lockout has put a damper on the winter of most hockey fans. However, it ended up turning out pretty well for Ben Newman. The Little Falls senior met several locked-out NHL stars, visited historic landmarks and met with top-level government officials recently, all part of a sports diplomacy trip to Russia with a group from USA hockey, Oct. 4-14.

In 2004 Chinese-American rapper Jin released a song titled Learn Chinese. The hit song, which peaked up to 29 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales, prophesied that "Ya'll gonna learn Chinese."

As a way of entrenching the values in culture into the lives of Nigerian children at early stage, the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) on Thursday hosted its annual Children’s Cultural Festival at National Theatre, Lagos.

It makes sense that the film Hyde Park On Hudson was directed and produced by Brits, despite the fact that it's about one of America's most celebrated presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his intimate relationship with his 5th cousin Daisy and the King and Queen of England's historic visit to FDR's mother's house in upstate New York in 1939, a visit that forged the "special relationship" between America and Britain and marked America's entrance into World War II.