Still Obama allied America with those Arabs and Iranians thirsting for freedom, and he did so in a subtle but remarkable way. He invoked, as he so often does, the civil-rights movement. Not World War II, where American power served the cause of freedom.

If there was ever a time to move things along, this is it," said Philip Seib, the director of the Centre on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. "Obama must make clear, publicly and privately, that Israel must move forward now.

The name 'Amitabh Bachchan' does more for India abroad than other known symbols of India's soft power such as the Taj Mahal, curry or the Kama Sutra, according to Rachel Dwyer, an expert on Indian cinema and culture.

No amount of economic aid by the Obama administration has been able to ease Pakistani concerns over US counterterrorist policies and Washington’s ties with India, with opinion polls showing that Pakistanis now overwhelmingly view China more favorably than the United States.

Nearly 64 years after Harry Truman laid out the case for reconstructing Europe’s economies, in a speech that became known as the Marshall Plan, few diplomatic, economic and foreign policy accomplishments have garnered such residual feelings of goodwill and accomplishment in the United States.

Watched annually by more than 100 million people, Eurovision is the world's most-watched non-sporting event. Although viewership in Britain and Ireland has declined for several years, the backlash against Eurovision may finally be changing on the British Isles.

Summer festivals and concerts inject millions of pounds into the economy, employ thousands of people and make the UK a hot destination despite the weather, a UK Music report reveals. The report recommends more is done to attract further foreign music tourists to the UK.

While on a visit to Israel to collect a million-dollar award from Tel Aviv University, American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen said that they did not believe that boycotting Israel would solve political problems. The brothers' Jewish heritage is on display in a number of their films, most obviously in 'A Serious Man'.