US sends America's first Muslim country singer on Middle East tour - The National
"She describes a "very expensive" tour across Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Israel and Jordan hailing from this year's budget of US$11.5 million (Dh42m) - itself lamentably small but still an increase from last year's $8.5m. Directing cultural diplomacy and so-called "soft power" towards the region has topped priorities since the US president Barack Obama's Cairo speech last June and the promise of a "new beginning" in US relations with the Muslim world."
