The paper derided Julie Bishop as a "complete fool" using a term that defies neat translation but could be construed even more harshly. The personal attack raised eyebrows in the diplomatic corps in Australia and abroad, where Ms Bishop is widely considered to be the most competent Australian foreign affairs minister since Gareth Evans.

When reports emerged that tens of thousands of children had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border by themselves since October, Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, proposed legislation to freeze most U.S. foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where the majority of the children come from, and also Mexico for letting the children through. Joined by 11 other members of Congress, Weber said the bill would hold these countries accountable for the unprecedented number of undocumented children flowing north into the United States. 

Roger Kittleson, Brazil expert and Professor of History at Williams College, is interviewed by Bryony Inge about his new book; The Country of Football: Soccer and the Making of Modern Brazil. In this podcast he discusses the relationship between soccer and Brazilian identity, and whether the Brazilian government is likely to use sport as a tool to achieve its policy goals. 

Boko Haram’s horrifying abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria ignited universal calls for help to “bring back our girls.” President Barack Obama responded with urgency, but lost in the story is that one tool the United States would like to have at our disposal is hampered by the absence of U.S. ambassadors in neighboring Cameroon and Niger.

America is still sore after its World Cup dreams came to an end last week. Aside from the humiliation, it has another reason to be upset – it owed pancakes to the Belgians. In the diplomatic heartland of London, a bet was made this month between U.S. Ambassador Matthew Barzun and Belgian Ambassador Guy Trouveroy. “Since we are both soccer (football) fans and our two countries’ teams face each other tonight in the World Cup, I thought I would offer up a friendly wager,” Barzun wrote. 

The United States officially ended one of the most ineffective and widely criticized programs of the last decade aimed at undermining the Cuban government, the State Department revealed Monday. Foggy Bottom's inspector general released a report showing that AeroMarti, a multimillion-dollar boondoggle that involved flying an airplane around Cuba and beaming American-sponsored content to the island's inhabitants, quietly ended in April. 

The safe return of 46 Indian nurses from Iraq is the result of astute diplomacy and a calibrated exercise of soft power by multiple agencies of government. While External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj engaged her counterparts at the political level in West Asia, including Foreign Ministers of the six oil-rich monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council, sound tactical leadership seemed to have been provided by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. 

The Australian Embassy in Seoul on Tuesday launched the “Australia-Korea Friendship Tree” art project to celebrate 125 years of contact between South Koreans and Australians. The project will explore the connection between the two nations through old and new artistic mediums. Smartphone users will be able to scan posters around Seoul to access a digital model of a tree, where they can view 125 images of Australian-Korean friendships, watch music videos from both countries, and even upload their own selfies.