Chinese film director Feng Xiaogang left his handprint in cement outside the TCL Chinese Theatre on Friday as groups of Chinese onlookers snapped photos of entertainment stars' names on the Avenue of Stars. "Hollywood is a place of sunshine, beach, dreams coming true and endless creativity and innovation," Feng said at the ceremony. "I'm honored to join the people who have left their handprint at the theater."

The United States is withdrawing troops from Afghanistan having lost its battle against the country’s narcotics industry, marking one of the starkest failures of the 2009 strategy the Obama administration pursued in an effort to turn around the war. Despite a U.S. investment of nearly $7 billion since 2002 to combat it, the country’s opium market is booming, propelled by steady demand and an insurgency that has assumed an increasingly hands-on role in the trade.

There were high expectations after President Obama and Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, talked on the phone in late September. Those hoping for a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear standoff were excited that a breakthrough was imminent; meanwhile, some American allies, like Israel and Saudi Arabia, expressed deep skepticism over a potential American rapprochement with Iran.

On Monday, over 10,000 Iranians protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. World News reports the disruption occurred due to the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the building, which permanently severed ties with the country and the U.S. Fifty-two hostages were taken captive in Iranian hostage crisis that lasted 444 days.

The deteriorating security situation throughout much of the Arab world underscores the need to urgently search for nonviolent methods of achieving stability. At the heart of the current unrest are not only political issues but also economic failures that are wiping out the vestiges of hope that remain after the region’s recent revolutions. In conflict situations, public diplomacy must be employed carefully. Sometimes the swirl of violence becomes so pervasive that it sucks up the oxygen needed for peaceful enterprise to survive.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived on an unannounced visit to Egypt as he begins a tour of countries in the region. Mr Kerry, the most senior American official to visit Egypt since the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi in July, will stay only a few hours. The visit comes at a time of tension between Washington and Cairo. Mr Morsi is due to go on trial on Monday.

How do Israelis who have moved to the United States and made their lives there ensure that their children - and their grandchildren – remain connected to their Israeli identity? That’s the question that Israeli-American community leaders, activists and educators - together with representatives of the State of Israel - were setting out to tackle Sunday as they gathered in New Jersey.