The American Center at Moscow’s Rudomino All-Russia State Library of Foreign Literature has become the latest in a long line of American cultural institutions to be shut down as the political confrontation between Russia and the West widens.

Watch Pharrell Williams as he gets to know "the most powerful generation of Africans in history."

With his feel-good tours of Boeing, Microsoft and a local high school complete, Chinese President Xi Jinping departs Washington state Thursday for the other Washington, where tougher discussions on cybersecurity, intellectual property protections and human rights await.

America is still sore after its World Cup dreams came to an end last week. Aside from the humiliation, it has another reason to be upset – it owed pancakes to the Belgians. In the diplomatic heartland of London, a bet was made this month between U.S. Ambassador Matthew Barzun and Belgian Ambassador Guy Trouveroy. “Since we are both soccer (football) fans and our two countries’ teams face each other tonight in the World Cup, I thought I would offer up a friendly wager,” Barzun wrote. 

Australians retain warmer feelings to other English-speaking nations than to their neighbors in Asia, according to a new poll. But Britain rated only third, behind the United States and New Zealand, in the Lowy Institute poll, the results of which were released on Tuesday. The poll by the Sydney-based institute asked respondents to nominate Australia's 'best friend' from a list of six countries.