A recent poll showed that the majority of the Japanese public are not looking favorably on their neighbors China and South Korea amid Japan's political turmoil and deadlocked diplomacy. Experts warn there may be greater damage to people-to-people ties between the neighbors, as Japan's mid-December general election may further fan the flames of nationalism.

The famous China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra made its India debut to a thunderous applause from a housefull audience at Mumbai’s Ravindra Natya Mandir on Friday. The performance, as part of the India-China Music Festival 2012, will be repeated at the Siri Fort auditorium in Delhi on November 27.

Though many in the international press corps believe that President Obama was treated disrespectfully in Cambodia on Friday, it may be Obama who gets the last laugh.

Issues including whether the humanities have a place in 21st-century nations will be among those discussed at the British Council's Going Global conference next year, it has been announced. The conference, which will be held on 4-6 March in Dubai, will have the central topic of universities' role in creating knowledge economies.

The Trey McIntyre Project will bring its unique style of contemporary ballet to Kingsbury Hall this week. It’s easy to see that this isn’t a company that rides on its laurels: All three of the ballets on the program were choreographed in 2012, including "The Unkindness of Ravens," which premiered earlier this month at New York’s highly acclaimed Brooklyn Academy of Music.

In bizarre news of the day, the U.S. Department of State of has named Andrew W.K. the Cultural Ambassador to the Middle East. "This is a tremendous invitation," W.K. said in a statement on his website. "I'm very thankful to the Department of State for giving me the opportunity to visit a place I've never been before."

The U.S. Ambassador labored to get Congress to ratify a trade treaty that would grant “favored nation” status to Russia. Washington’s leading newspaper harshly criticized Russia for human rights violations. Russia’s secret police were reading all the Ambassador’s mail. The Czar was convinced that Washington was fomenting democracy rebellions inside his empire.

Indonesia was not on US President Barack Obama’s Southeast Asian itinerary as he made his first trip abroad since winning reelection. But like many visitors to Southeast Asia, he might have enjoyed a brief respite from worries back home when he was in our region.