The Marshall McLuhan Prize, named after the world-renowned Canadian communication scholar...Launched in 1997, the prize aims to encourage investigative journalism in the Philippines, underlining Canada’s belief that "a strong media is essential to a free democratic society."

...carefully consider who was offering to pay for it. The money would come from the Hanban, an arm of the Chinese government...That’s the same government...that jailed Nobel-prize winner Liu Xiaobo for 11 years...and the same government that employs 50,000 citizens to scour the Internet in search of dissent.

Since the fall of communism, nations around the globe have worked not only to distinguish themselves, but to market themselves as well. Now cities are the new nation-states, and competition for markets and dollars is fiercer than ever. Urban centres face enormous opportunity – and pressure – to sell what makes them unique.

Carleton is the only university in the world to have a full-fledged India-centric Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy. Set up last year with Indian assistance, the Centre of Excellence aims to raise awareness about bilateral studies and public diplomacy...

India is planning a big cultural centre in Toronto along the lines of the famous Nehru Centre in London – the first of its kind in North America. The new cultural centre will be ready by next year to cater to the North America Indian diaspora. It is part of India’s thrust to use culture as a tool of its foreign policy.

The number of people using Facebook during May fell in the US, UK, Canada, Norway and Russia, according to new data. The slowing growth in user numbers may indicate that Facebook has hit the limits of expansion in the countries where it was first successful – and perhaps even that some early adopters from those countries have stopped using it.

In the downtown theater, the Goh Ballet Youth Academy was debuting its latest production, Lamour, a three-act ballet that the troupe will be taking to China in late August and September for a series of shows to promote friendship and cultural exchange between the two countries.

Portugal is more pro-multilateral, emphasizing soft power and persuasion rather than picking fights, argued Jez Littlewood, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University. This, he argues, is actually similar to the position Canada used to take when it sat on the council.