The Shaq show came to Havana on Sunday as NBA great Shaquille O'Neal put on a basketball clinic for local youngsters, becoming the latest emissary for American outreach to the people of Cuba. The 2016 Hall of Fame inductee and four-time NBA champion led star-struck kids in layup drills and coached scrimmages while onlookers cheered from the sidelines, part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored visit to foster people-to-people exchanges with Cuban citizens.

Private efforts at gastrodiplomacy have also sprouted, including metro Detroit's own Peace Meal Kitchen, a newly launched pop-up dining and education series that highlights cultures from countries with which the U.S. is in conflict.

Call it the return of basketball diplomacy. The State Department on Friday named hoops legend Shaquille O’Neal the first ever “Sports Envoy to Cuba” and said he’d visit Havana on Saturday to hold basketball clinics for the island nation’s youth. The trip is a part of the Obama administration’s broader effort to increase cultural exchanges between Washington and Cuba after the two nations restored diplomatic ties last year for the first time in five decades.

The coincidental timing of the exhibition at the OAS’s Art Museum of the Americas in Washington may have a healing effect: “In mounting this exhibit, we’re conscious of the value of artistic expression to communicate both the intentions and views of the artists and to speak more generally about social change and political engagement in the hemisphere,” said James M. Lambert, secretary for hemispheric affairs at the OAS.

When Tony Stark uses a Chinese smartphone, China's clout in Hollywood becomes crystal clear. In "Captain America: Civil War," the billionaire hero who builds his own hologram interfaces and super suits chooses to wield a transparent concept phone by Vivo, a brand sold only in China. It's just the latest example of how Hollywood is appealing to China in the midst of a major box office boom.

Led by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the Representatives sat down on the chamber floor, chanting “No bill, no break,” and calling for a vote. The beginning of the dramatic protest was captured on C-SPAN’s livestream, but then the video cut out. House Republicans had called a recess, triggering the shutdown of the cameras C-SPAN uses in its broadcasts, effectively cutting off public access to the protest. However, Representatives quickly turned to Periscope and Facebook Live to stream their own video.

Consulting Director of Chinese Programs from American Councils for International Education (ACIE) Mr. Anthony J. Kane visited National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in southern Taiwan on June 22, to strengthen partnership and promote public diplomacy between Taiwan and the United States. [...] They also discussed the possibility of seeking the support from NCKU’s alumni in Taiwan and in the US to support ACIE’s projects.

How would you explain Donald Trump to a foreign audience? Could it be done in a coherent way? Could it be done at all? To citizens at home, this may be merely an intriguing exercise. But to our country's diplomats it is a daily challenge. As part of their jobs, especially if they are public diplomacy officers, as I was, they are charged with "telling America's story to the world," and this includes describing the leading figures and issues in an election year.