The council will conduct a thorough review of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area and establish offices in each other's territories to serve the needs of businesspeople, students and the general public.

China launched its first cultural industry index on Friday to provide an indicator of how the sector is performing. Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Securities Information Co., Ltd. jointly issued the OCT Culture Index named after OCT group, a Shenzhen-based state-owned enterprise administered by the central government.

The 2012 Poland-China Tibetan Culture Week successfully concluded here on Sunday, after arousing strong repercussions in Poland. The culture week, the first of its kind held in Poland, included an exhibition of more than 200 photos taken by Chinese and foreign photographers and 46 traditional Tibetan Thangka paintings, Tibetan folk songs and dance performances, in addition to a series of discussions and seminars between locals and Tibetologists.

Act of Congress (AOC), an American acoustic band, wowed Manila’s band enthusiasts when it recently performed in Metro Manila and Bulacan. The band hails from Birmingham, Alabama, and is recognized for its invaluable experience in music education. Voted one of the must-see acts of Alabama, it was featured in the prestigious 2011 Year of Alabama Music.

The three controversies have exposed Uganda’s weak foreign policy and poorly articulated roles of cultural and military diplomacy in the conduct of our international relations. These diplomatic gaffes besides dirty cases of drugs trafficking and business deals have ruined our Foreign Service as the preserve for Uganda’s crème de la crème and relegated it to yahoos. I will focus on our cultural diplomacy on which Ugandans have knocked down Kagimu and have given big hugs to Kadaga as the ugly and the good cheeks of Uganda on the international stage.

The first phone call Barack Obama placed after Mitt Romney had conceded defeat late on Tuesday night was to Bill Clinton, to thank him for his sterling work as a campaigner on the Democratic candidate’s behalf. But the freshly re-elected president would have been equally justified in making that call to the other Clinton – Hillary, his secretary of state – who, against the odds, has proved to be the greatest asset in his administration.

The November 9 The New York Times, reporting about the impeachment motion against Sri Lanka's Chief Justice now before the parliament, gave enough fodder to the Subcommittee on South Asian Affairs of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee detrimental to the image of Sri Lanka.

From a brief online search, I gather the United States sent a string of chargéd’affaires to the Republic of Texas. Did the Republic of Texas ever send an ambassador to Washington? Was there ever an embassy?