News
By Anna Gawel
The Washington Diplomat

	New Zimbabwe Ambassador Faces Uphill Battle Machivenyika Tobias Mapuranga, who presented his credentials last month as Zimbabwe’s new ambassador in Washington, will have the monumental task of mending the strained and oftentimes contentious relations between his country and the United States…Read More
	Hong Kong Vows to Achieve Universal Suffrage—Someday Hong Kong is enjoying a booming economy, skyrocketing investment and accolades as the world’s freest economy according to rankings by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. But despite the promising economic forecasts, the news on the political front has not been as encouraging…Read More
	Latin Americans Poke Fun at Politics For a lighter look at politics from a Latin American perspective, head over to American University’s new Katzen Arts Center for “Comic Reality,” an exhibit of political cartoons hosted by the Association of Ibero-American Cultural Attachés, which runs through the end of January…Read More
	Embassies Continue Offering Katrina Assistance Embassies haven’t forgotten about the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina as they continue to offer their assistance and knowledge to the Gulf Coast region…Read More

	Russians Keep Christmas Celebration Going Reaching out to the Russian Orthodox Catholic community, Russian Ambassador Yury Ushakov and his wife Svetlana rang in the New Year with their traditional Russian tree festival called the Yolka, dedicated to the 500 Russian-born children in the Washington area who have been adopted by American parents…Read More
	Hungarian Rhapsody It didn’t take much for the Hungarian Embassy’s cultural attaché, Karoly Dan, to convince the ambassador that a classical concert would be the perfect way to begin raising the $5,000 needed to refurbish the embassy’s 20-year-old concert grand Steinway…Read More
	Jazzy Nordic January More than one Nordic ambassador has told me how hot jazz tunes keep them warm in their cold and dark winters back home. How appropriate then that the five Nordic ambassadors banded together in the middle of January to host D.C. Nordic Jazz, a weeklong festival at Georgetown’s legendary jazz venue Blue’s Alley…Read More
	Baseball Links Japan and U.S. Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato, an avid baseball fan, celebrated 130 years of baseball exchanges between Japan and the United States on Jan. 17 with a tribute to two of the world’s greatest baseball players: America’s Major League Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and Japan’s baseball legend Sadaharu Oh…Read More

A Golden Exhibit Don’t miss “The Spirit of Ancient Colombian Gold,” the important exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History that showcases 280 Colombian gold treasures that date back 2,500 years…Read More