US President Barack Obama took to the stage at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, on a day which had the soles of your shoes melting.(...) President Obama hit all the signature tenets of US public diplomacy and foreign policy - freedom of speech and internet freedom, democratic values, gender equality, minority rights, rights for LGBTI persons.

China will contribute $40 billion to set up a Silk Road infrastructure fund to boost connectivity across Asia, President Xi Jinping announced on Saturday, the latest Chinese project to spread the largesse of its own economic growth.

"The success of South Korean brands has a lot to do with Chinese consumers copying the style of South Korean soap opera and music stars," Rudd told CNN. "They'll even go so far as to get the particular products being used by these stars. The stores will try to get in the exact shades that South Korean actresses are using."

The Japanese defence ministry reports that in the first half of this year it has had to scramble jets more than 230 times in response to Chinese incursion into its airspace. Chinese and Japanese military aircraft have been flying dangerously close over these waters in recent months, sparking fears of a major international ­crisis should they collide.

The festival has struck a multi-year deal with the Japan Foundation’s recently created Asia Center to help it bring in Asian films and film-makers to Tokyo and also to expand Japanese cultural influence in Asia.

Australia, Indonesia and South Korea skipped the launch of a China-backed Asian infrastructure bank on Friday as the United States said it had concerns about the new rival to Western-dominated multilateral lenders.

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker recently returned from Ukraine and Turkey, and she heads next to Japan and South Korea. NPR's Scott Simon talks to her about practicing commercial diplomacy.