China's new leadership has been following a new pattern of diplomacy that features increasing softer elements and a down-to-earth manner. President Xi Jinping's just-concluded trip to Australia serves as a good example. During the state visit, the two Asia-Pacific giants lifted their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and concluded their nine-year-long bilateral free trade talks.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has a won a prize in the inaugural Australia-China achievement awards.  The orchestra won in the arts section of the awards, which are administered by the Australia-China Council at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Never before has Australia been more at the heart of global affairs. Here in Brisbane we have finished our year as G20 President, with the G20 leaders presenting their communiqué.

Young Australians travelling overseas to take up arms with the militant group Islamic State have naively bought into a fictional fantasy fuelled by social media, a human rights activist says.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the close of the G20 in Australia on Sunday, said that China was confident it could fulfill its role as the chair of the 2016 summit, after Turkey in 2015.

Indian officials are scrambling to find a solution to a German language problem in Indian schools that is fast becoming a diplomatic problem with Germany. 

The United Nations Saturday called on G20 leaders to intensify their response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in west Africa, warning of a major food crisis if they fail to act.

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.