Dalian Wanda Group, the world's biggest owner of movie theatres, is in talks with leading Hollywood studios to co-produce films and is looking to buy and build hotels in major U.S. cities as the Chinese firm eyes a $10 billion (6 billion pounds) 'soft power' spending spree.

Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy of NATO, Ambassador Kolinda Grabar, gave a talk on NATO and Public Diplomacy activities to young Turkish diplomats who recently joined the Ministry and attending basic and preparative training program, on 13 December 2012.

Speaking to FNA, Lieutenant Commander of Basji Force Colonel Nasrallah Seif said that rapid reaction forces of Basij will stage the 'Towards Beitol-Moqaddas (Jerusalem)' drills throughout the province on Thursday and Friday (December 20-21). He announced that 20 similar exercises have so far been held throughout Iran to promote Basij forces' hard, semi-hard and soft power in confrontation against potential threats.

These days we often hear international traders referring to the delta as China's "workshop to the world". This year, 20 years later, China's newly elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Xi Jinping, chose Guangdong and the delta as his first inspection tour destination. He seemed determined to emphasise continuity in China's opening up and reform policy, and its modernisation and innovation drive.

Last weekend I partied in Romania. I had been invited there by a game developer, eRepublik, to attend an event celebrating the fifth anniversary of their game (also called eRepublik). eRepublik is one of my favourite consulting clients, so I was happy to be invited to participate in the festivities in downtown Bucharest and see what they had been up to.

The goal of the author of Citizen Ambassadors of Nigeria is to bring to the forefront a theory called track two diplomacy by which non-officials like businessmen, academics, retired civil and military officials, public figures, and social activists engage in ambassadorial works targeted at improving the image of a country.

The India-China “battle for Buddha” has now reached Myanmar, with New Delhi sponsoring an International Conference on Buddhist Cultural Heritage in Yangon over the weekend, while Beijing has since last year been trying to leverage the legacy of “Shakya Muni” to connect with the religious majority in its south-western neighbour.