"It was the best week of my life!" said Emma Rainoff, concert-mistress of OCYS and a senior at Monroe-Woodbury High School.....
As a cultural exchange program, the students from the Jan Hanus Music School received a grant from the Czech government and are coming to perform with OCYS.

US President Barack Obama has made a rare visit to Puerto Rico, marking the first official trip to the island by a sitting US president since 1961. The visit is being seen by some as an indirect bid for Puerto Rican votes in the swing state of Florida in 2012.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she is concerned by Chinese aid and investment policies in Africa. "We are...concerned that China's foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international norms of transparency and good governance...,” she said.

One of the nation's most prolific art collectors is the U.S. space agency. For nearly a half-century, NASA has commissioned artists to document its missions and projects. Seventy of the 3,000 works in its collection are in a traveling exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

The problem facing the Administration is that international impatience with the stalled U.S. peace process has reached a point where more photo-op diplomacy won't suffice. The world wants to see progress on a two-state solution, and believes Israel has to be pressed on the matter.

The blistering farewell speech to NATO by U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates warning of a "dim, if not dismal" future for the Alliance drew the Western public's attention to a longstanding debate about the state of the transatlantic relationship, with prominent commenters voicing concern about much more than just a two-tiered defensive alliance.

The relationship between the two countries has deteriorated amid mistrust and misunderstandings into a purely transactional relationship. Money is paid when there is something that Washington wants and Pakistan is only too willing to take the cash.

One of the greatest lessons in social media is that everything begins with listening and such is true for any form of leadership. Governments and their administrations have much to learn. Not only are new media channels rich with insight, they are also interactive. There are people on the other side who have expectations of recognition, acknowledgement, and engagement.