Dozens of Taiwanese citizens who completed interviews for student visas to the United States attended the first "Student Visa Day" held by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in Taipei on Friday to promote people-to-people exchanges. [...] The AIT has conducted several events to attract Taiwanese students to study in the U.S. and Friday's activity was designed to connect education and studying in the U.S. with visa experiences.

Thaung and Cao, deputy head of safety techniques and the environment office for the Department of Industry and Trade in the An Giang province of Vietnam, recently completed a monthlong stay in Cedar Hill. [...] The two are among 46 fellows who visited cities all over the U.S. as part of a cultural exchange fostered by the International City/County Management Association, an organization that promotes greater understanding of how local governments function.

Sitting in class, studying for a bachelors’ degree in business at the University of Kansas, Heidi Rickels felt her heart beating faster every time the professors talked about developing economies or international issues. So, after graduation, she moved to Colorado and began working for a nonprofit based in Denver that collects donated medical supplies to send overseas. 

On May 26th, Gallup announced that the Russian people’s approval of U.S. leadership dropped to arecord 1%, which is the worst rating in the world and the lowest approval Gallup has ever recorded. According to an article written by Gallup analyst Julie Ray, the abysmal view of the United States in Russia is a reflection of the country’s “…increasingly tense relations with the U.S. since the crisis in Ukraine and the threat that many Russians, as well as residents of several former Soviet states, feel the U.S. now poses to their countries.”

If it wasn’t inevitable, the threat was clearly lurking on the horizon. And now, legislation that would eliminate the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) [...] and de-federalize the Voice of America (VOA) has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Blowing up the Board and converting the 74-year-old VOA into a non-governmental entity, the kind of drastic reform which one congressional aide reportedly described as “the nuclear option,” is now on the table.

When Duke head coach Robbie Church found out via email in late March that his team had been invited to Beijing for the seventh annual Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, he was not sure the Blue Devils would be able to participate. [...] But with the opportunity to be the first college women's soccer program involved in the conference—which brings political representatives from both countries together—Church quickly realized the chance was too unique to pass up.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington has sent its small ensemble, Potomac Fever, on a State Department-sponsored diplomacy tour to promote LGBTQ rights in Ukraine. This tour came about due to the success of our Cuba concert tour last summer. Earlier this year, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine called us up and said they loved what we did in Cuba, and would like us to bring that kind of diplomacy to Ukraine — a country that is deeply in need of unity on LGBTQ and other issues.