In her well-received remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton let slip a statement that immediately sent the inter-American affairs semantic fashion police scurrying. She referred to the on-going threat posed by Mexican drug cartels and their allies to Mexican society as an "insurgency."

British Muslim activists plan to burn the U.S. flag outside the U.S. embassy on September 11 to voice anger at plan by a U.S. Christian pastor to burn copies of the Koran the same day, a hardline Islamist said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama warned Thursday that an obscure U.S. Christian pastor's plan to burn the Koran on September 11 could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings, and Asian countries urged Washington to prevent the act.

China's Communist Party finds itself in a bind. Although it still views cinema as an ideological tool and maintains a tight leash on local productions, it also wants the domestic film industry to develop into a global commercial player.

On August 31st, little noticed outside naval analyst circles, China’s first purpose-built hospital ship left port on her inaugural mission... Peace Ark’s deployment marks the start of a new phase of Chinese soft power: medical assistance to win hearts and minds.

In the western Balkans and the Middle East, Turkey is already an important force and an influential actor with considerable “soft power”. It is important both politically and economically in Iraq, and in working with the EU to persuade Iran to meet international concerns on its nuclear programme.

As it now stands, this law remains harmful to the intellectual and cultural exchange between nations that is crucial to fostering growth, tolerance, and progress. It is particularly vital for those countries with significant cultural and political differences to learn about one another...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared Wednesday that "a new American moment" had arrived in international relations--"a moment when our global leadership is essential, even if we must often lead in new ways."