Pakistan announced last week that it received a $1.5 billion grant from Saudi Arabia, which it termed a “friendly gift” and an “unconditional grant." Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long had warm ties, but the no-strings-attached gift sparked immediate concern from Pakistani journalists, security experts, and opposition politicians, who question whether the grant is part of a behind-the-scenes deal for Pakistan to provide weapons for Syrian rebels.

Barack Obama may recall a tricky moment when he first met King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia five years ago. Bending to shake hands with the octogenarian monarch, the taller American appeared to bow deeply. Republican snipers in America gleefully blasted the president for “kowtowing” to rich Arabs.

It was a big family reunion as more than 300 people from Chinese and US sister cities and sister provinces and states got together on Wednesday evening at the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC. Participants came from all parts of the two nations, such as Qinghai province in Northwest China and Fort Worth, Texas, for the US-China Sister Cities Conference in Washington on March 26-28.

One significant feature in U.S.-Chinese relations in recent years has been the establishment of Confucius Institutes in many American universities, where faculty from China provide instruction in Chinese language and offer programs on Chinese culture to American audiences. Just as some view China’s increasing global power with trepidation, many also see the spread of these institutes in an ominous light.

The world has a new epidemic on its hand: drug-resistant tuberculosis. We're not talking about the kind of TB that doctors can cure with a few weeks of standard antibiotics. This disease is way more dangerous. It outwits the best medicines we have against it and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to kill in a single person. Drug-resistant TB is on the rise around the world. And it's even cropping up here in the United States.

More than just politicians and diplomats using Twitter and Facebook, digital diplomacy allows countries to project their power beyond their borders. However the fledgling field is already experiencing a crisis of credibility in the wake of the NSA scandal, writes Antony Funnell.

U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders presented a unified front Wednesday against Russia’s annexation of Crimea, promoting transatlantic trade as an antidote to Russia’s influence in the region and a way to help Europe become less dependent on Moscow for energy.

In the wake of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, public concern about Russia has increased, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Even so, when given the choice, more describe Russia as a serious problem but not an adversary (43%) than say it represents an adversary (26%). Just 22% say Russia is not much of a problem.