Soviet leader Joseph Stalin once described writers as “the engineers of the human soul.”  “The production of souls is more important than the production of tanks,” he claimed. Stalin clearly believed that literature was a powerful political tool—and he was willing to execute writers whose works were deemed traitorous to the Soviet Union.

The inspection arm of China’s Communist Party this week took a break from its historic investigation into the country’s corruption problems to highlight abuse of power from a fresh angle: the fictionalized depiction of crooked Washington shown in the television program “House of Cards.”

The American Association of University Professors is calling on universities to uphold principles of academic freedom by either terminating or renegotiating the agreements that have brought nearly 100 Chinese government-backed cultural and language programs called Confucius Institutes to campuses across the United States and Canada.

The American Innovation Center (AIC) teamed up with software giant Microsoft Corp.'s Taiwan branch Tuesday to jointly promote digital learning among Taiwanese young people. The AIC Taiwan is the first of its kind in Asia. It was established by the U.S. Department of State in January this year, offering over 70 courses designed to encourage young people to think innovatively.

Relativity Media is leaping into the business of distributing Chinese films in the U.S. and is taking on new investment from Chinese partners that will allow it to expand its annual release slate to over 15 movies by 2015-2016, the company announced Monday at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

The holiday on the third Sunday in June has always taken a back seat to its May counterpart—Father’s Day only became an official holiday in 1972—but it has in fact taken root, in one way or another, in countries around the world.

In the months leading up to the first round of presidential elections April 5, and again now in the run-up to the runoff vote, tens of thousands of Afghans have been meeting up in schools, police stations, homes, public parks, women’s prisons, shelters and other communal spaces in villages throughout the country to watch and participate in these mobile theater performances. They're aimed at encouraging Afghans to believe in the power of their vote — in the first democratic transfer of power in Afghanistan after 30 years of war — and to stand up to the Taliban.

An hour before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, LeBron James was talking about the World Cup. A couple of Brazilian journalists nodded excitedly as he spoke, perhaps in part because soccer’s signature event is being hosted in their futbol-mad country. Chinese journalists were there as well, logging every word that James was saying because of his enormous following in their homeland.