The Festival of the Americas brings together the University of Iowa and Colombian students to learn from each other and grow as pianists. [...] The festival has new and returning students from two different cultures in which students learn from each other, not only about music but also about culture, like when one another normally eat, work, and practice.

Russia President Vladimir Putin denies meddling in U.S. politics — though he sometimes suggests, with a wink, that “patriotic” Russians may have done so. But there is one point that he always insists on: that the United States does the same to others. He has charged that the U.S. government interfered “aggressively” in Russia’s 2012 presidential vote, which Putin won after a year of protests against him. He claims that Washington “gathered opposition forces and financed them.”

“I hope we have made Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan proud,” Azizi said. Of that there was no question. The Afghan ambassador, Hamdullah Mohib, said greeting the robotics team at Dulles International Airport was the “proudest moment of my career”. He described the girls as symbols of a new Afghanistan emerging from the shadow of America’s longest war.