Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers could continue right up to Tuesday’s deadline, U.S. officials said Sunday, as the two sides sought to hammer out the outlines of a final deal. The officials pointed to several unresolved issues in the negotiations, including the phasing of suspension and then lifting of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran, and the activities Tehran will be able to engage in during the final years of an agreement, which is now expected to last 15 years. 

Thousands of Singaporeans braved torrential rains on Sunday for a final farewell to the country’s founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, whose funeral drew a long list of leaders and dignitaries from across the globe.

It is also perhaps a demonstration of Obama’s very challenging efforts to establish an “equilibrium” between Shia and Sunni forces throughout the Middle East region, especially in the Gulf. Obama explicitly made such equilibrium a strategic aim in the region in his famous interview with The New Yorker’s David Remnick 14 months ago.

For the first time ever, Chinese cinemas have taken more at the box office than American cinemas, - a development that has significant percussions for the international film industry, says DW columnist Frank Sieren.

Beijing has spent several years trying to persuade Western nations to join its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which will soon open its doors and begin handing out billions of dollars in development loans to fund roads, ports, water and sanitation systems, and telecom projects across Asia. 

One key legacy of Vietnam was growth of anti-Americanism which undercut US prestige and soft power. This legacy is important for US policy today as the country continues to recover from the unpopularity of the Iraq War.

That’s the case some Democrats are making, complaining that GOP lawmakers are eroding U.S. soft-power overseas by refusing to back the key international institutions where the U.S. has long exercised intellectual, political and economic leverage.

While American negotiators maintained tight secrecy at the nuclear talks here, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran took to Twitter late Thursday to describe a letter he sent to President Obama and other world leaders justifying Iran’s positions.