The Great British Beer Festival is exactly what its name implies. It’s a festival, it’s great, there’s beer — enough of the stuff to soak an entire city — and it’s a proud celebration of brewing traditions that no one else upholds quite like the British...Except, it seems, the Americans.

Sushi's humble beginnings in Tokyo are of only passing interest to University of Wollongong academic Matt Allen and colleague Rumi Sakamoto...the academics' real interest lies in its culinary colonisation of the world in the past 20 or so years and how this has been influential back in Japan.

Seoul City’s internship program draws 45 students from 17 countries...the Global Internship Program, which was launched in 2008 as a government project to help foreign students understand Korea better while working as interns. The program is in its fifth year.

Eager to show itself as an “all-weather friend” of Pakistan — a position currently held by China — and not just an ally in the ‘global war on terror’ (GWOT), the United States is making its presence felt in the international support extended to the strife-ravaged country as it battles the worst flood in this region in 80 years.

The US military is using manga-style comic books to promote to Japanese children its view on the importance of Washington and Tokyo's half-century security alliance...The United States is publishing the Japanese-language comic as both nations mark the 50th anniversary of their security treaty, and two days before the 65th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

During the most violent years of the Iraq war, American commanders believed that neighboring Iran was behind insurgent attacks, as a way to keep the country unstable. As U.S. forces slowly depart Iraq, officials say Iran is moving toward a more soft-power approach, trying to influence politics, social services and the economy.

We may soon all become as familiar with the Chinese voice as we are with CNN and BBC. Last month one of China's largest state owned media, Xinhua News Agency, launched a 24-hour global English TV News channel. It's the strongest sign yet of China's determination to push its soft power and increase its influence worldwide.