The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Sports United Division is hosting the first Pakistan and India dual country soccer exchange.This Sports Visitor program will bring 18 young female soccer players and two coaches from the South Asian countries to the United States from September 11 to 22.

Lagos State Government will introduce Mandarin, or Chinese language, in public schools’ curriculum as from next session, Olayinka Oladunjoye, Lagos State Commissioner for Education, said in a statement on Monday.The commissioner made the disclosure after a meeting with the delegation from the Chinese Confucius Institute, University of Lagos.

The county has just embarked on a bold plan to have all its children fully bilingual — in English and Mandarin — by the time they graduate from high school. In recent weeks, children from pre-kindergarten through third grade began mandatory Mandarin classes, part of a curriculum that in three years will include middle school and high school students.

Under the partnership, the Confucius Institute will train the six district teachers in Chinese language and culture and provide three instructors from China to assist those teachers in their own language training and in their first year teaching Chinese to students in Columbia Public Schools. Later, more teachers will be trained.

I have always been intrigued by the desire of countries to convey their cultural, political or social values as part of their public diplomacy mission. On the surface, it is appealing. However, in practice, it is fraught with challenges and is something of a paradox.

In recent years it often looks like diplomacy has moved from the “smoke filled rooms” of international gatherings to the touchpad screens – so much has been said about the new dimension of public diplomacy labelled e-diplomacy, twiplomacy, etc.

Move over, all you Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger wanna-bes. Here come Chicago’s Rick Bayless, Tony Mantuano and Art Smith, along with 87 other renowned chefs, willing to perform a little kitchen diplomacy on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. They are members of the American Chef Corps, part of a new program known as the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership.

The Turkish International Co-operation and Development Agency (TIKA) has been conducting important restoration projects throughout the Balkan countries, which were under Ottoman rule from the 15th to the 19th century, to preserve cultural and historical heritage.