Brazil’s jogo bonito is globally recognized as an ideal combination of sports, culture, and national personality. Given this backdrop, Cobi Jones and Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak, visited Manaus, Brasília, Fortaleza, Natal, and Recife as U.S. Department of State Sports Envoys to share more about their experiences off-the-pitch than on it.  The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs together with Mission Brazil partnered to implement the “Sports for All” strategy that uses sports to engender greater social inclusion, promote education, and teach job skills. 

If it is hard to measure power and harder to measure influence, how will observers be able to tell if and when China has eclipsed the U.S. as the world’s superpower?

While our foes are working 24/7 to demonize the United States, the management of our international broadcasting meets once a month. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton rightfully called U.S. international broadcasting “practically defunct.”

Every time the World Cup rolls around, the rest of the world likes to remind Americans that the sport is called football, not soccer. And while the United States' usage ofsoccer may seem as strange as its reliance on the imperial system instead of metric units, some of the hate might be unwarranted. A recent University of Michigan study traced the popularity of both terms for the sport and found that despite the prevalence of the word soccer in England between the 1960s and the 1980s, a lot of people consider it a uniquely American term and respond to it with "anger and frustration."

Tony Abbott has revealed a secret and unlikely admiration for the world’s most powerful leader, describing Barack Obama as an “extraordinarily gifted man” and a potential friend to rival past ­presidents. But as the PM headed into his first official talks with the US President in Washington today, he pulled no punches in saying he would aggressively push for a historic strengthening of US-Australian relations.

Liz Williams, executive director of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, and Ryan Hughes, who will be the chef at the museum's restaurant Purloo, have traveled to Moscow to build good will through good eats, reports the Advocate. Williams and Hughes are part of a delegation funded by the U.S. State Department that also includes musicians Donald Harrison Jr., Keith Frank and the KIPP McDonogh 15 Middle School marching band.

A statement from the Public Affairs Section of the United States Embassy said under a concluded agreement, USAID and GIZ would make available funds and technical assistance to PAC for the implementation of capacity building activities, advisory services, public hearings, and peer learning with public accounts committees of other West African countries.

The US is considering downgrading Thailand to a human trafficking blacklist, following revelations in the Guardian that slaves are being used in the production of prawns sold in leading American, British and European supermarkets. Washington will directly address allegations of human trafficking in Thailand's trade in prawns – known in the US as shrimp – in an imminent report that could result in economic sanctions against Bangkok.