It is a blow to Syria’s soft power as well as its fledgling entertainment industry. With an extremely small theater and cinema scene, the Muslim dramas are the country’s primary cultural export. They have sparked debate at home and are enormously popular across the whole Arab world, broadening Syria’s cultural reach.

The Obama administration of has not changed its China policies, and it continues to apply the carrot and the stick through its “smart power” diplomacy because it wants to find a way to perpetuate its position as the leader, even if it is unable to cooperate or reach compromises with China on major global issues.

The United States announced an additional $20 million to help Pakistani flood victims on Tuesday amid growing concern over the political, economic and security ramifications of the disaster. The new aid brought to $55 million the amount of funds committed by Washington so far to flood relief efforts in Pakistan, along with U.S. military helicopters that have been airlifting survivors trapped by the worst floods in 80 years.

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.