[...] American ambassador to the Dominican Republic in November 2013, Wally Brewster got [...] advice from the Vatican’s envoy [...] “If you keep your private life behind the walls of your embassy, you’ll be O.K. here" [...] He meant that Mr. Brewster, to be an effective diplomat, would be wise to keep his husband, Bob Satawake, out of sight in a country where prejudice against gay people remains widespread.

The students at the District’s H.D. Cooke Elementary School, in Adams Morgan, are learning Arabic as part of a State Department-sponsored exchange program that places teachers from China and Egypt in classrooms throughout the United States to teach their native languages — languages U.S. officials say will be increasingly important as the country competes in a global economy.

Seventeen-year-old Muslim student Usman Nawaz was nervous about coming to the United States. [...] Usman is a high-school student ambassador from Pakistan who arrived in Winona last August through a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs youth exchange and study program. 

Country branding is the process of building (and managing) the way a country is perceived by the rest of the world. It is an important component to national development given its effect on global trade, investments, tourism and diplomacy. It also has a profound influence on our sense of identity and national pride.
 

ometimes immigrant chefs can’t obtain favorite ingredients in their new home so they look for substitutes. Or they discover in America new types of food and improvise. Often their creations introduce other Americans to their native cuisines. And sometimes chefs adapt their favorites to appeal to the tastes of their new countrymen.