A diverse crowd of more than 500 lovers of art, culture, and intercultural exchange converged on Monday evening at ADC Contemporary & BUILDING BRIDGES International Art Exchange at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. The evening celebrated common bonds between Los Angeles and Qatar.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee came out swinging this morning in its hearing titled “Broadcasting Board of Governors: An Agency ‘Defunct.’” Chairman Ed Royce laid the groundwork in his introductory remarks, offering an overview of the BBG’s legislative origins and the proud history of U.S. government broadcasters that helped the West win the Cold War. The point – much like the hearing’s title – was not subtle, but it was important: The salad days of U.S.

The friendship and cooperation between California and Jiangsu started in the 1980s, and the two sides made it an official sister-state relationship in July 2011. The cooperation covers science and technology, education, economy and trade, two-way investment, culture and tourism.

Four years after briefly stopping off in Ghana on his way home from a Group of Eight (G-8) summit, US President Barack Obama lands in Dakar on Wednesday night at the start of his first extended visit in his current designation, to the continent of his Kenyan father’s birth. But he is expected to give Kenya a miss, as its president is under indictment from the International Criminal Court.

India’s answer to those in America who are egging on the Obama administration to get into a trade war with this country is going to be typically Oriental: New Delhi is to soon embark on a major mission to spread the country’s soft power in the US and capitalise on it.

The delegation, made up of Singaporeans from 14 to 20 years old, were specifically chosen for the trip as part of a goodwill mission on behalf of the US Embassy and had the opportunity to see first-hand the structure of the youth development programs in the US. The group visited American professional women's team Portland Thorns FC,in Oregon before making their way to California to explore San Francisco and meet with faculty members at Stanford University.

The United States today stressed on jointly working towards increasing skills of students to face future challenges and said this can be done through exchange programmes and partnerships between India and the US.

For the moment, Moscow appears to be holding firm against Washington’s demands. Within the United States, that’s prompted some alarm over not just Russia’s refusal – which is not shocking – but America’s apparent inability to force its will on the issue. From Washington’s point of view, Snowden is an American fugitive wanted on serious charges, hanging out at the Moscow airport, and we can’t even compel his release. Whatever happened to American power abroad?