For those of you who may not be familiar with the VSFS, it is a U.S. Department of State program that allows students to intern virtually with the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) domestic offices and overseas posts as well as others offices within the U.S. government. Although it makes getting coffee for the office a little difficult, it harnesses the interconnected reach and utility of technology and provides a rich experience for the intern and the office alike.

Both my academic and professional careers were hugely influenced by my volunteering experiences. I have always worked with ethnic minority communities, who have often been marginalised from the wider and dominant culture of society. I have actively participated in projects focused on advocating for the rights of women who had no recourse to UK public funds and were experiencing domestic violence. This influenced my decision to apply my knowledge of social work principles, techniques and practices to complex cases and community issues in international development.

The president of Myanmar has promised to release all political prisoners by the end of this year and said he thought a nationwide ceasefire was possible in the coming weeks for the first time in six decades...Activists had protested his two-day talk with British Prime Minister David Cameron, taking issue with the Asian nation's human rights record.

For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened?

China’s increasing dominance offers something of a surprise: It suggests that Colbert’s philosophy could actually work better than long believed. But it also offers a cautionary lesson for China, and perhaps an encouraging one for its Western rivals. The experience of France suggests that the most important resource of all—human capital—may be, paradoxically, very difficult for a centralized state to capture.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has reemerged as the Middle East’s most powerful influential country, Richard Spencer said in article published in the UK’s The Telegraph. “The Saudis are our brothers,” said Sayed Sami Hassan from a tent in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “They are Muslims, they believe in God. [Egypt’s ousted Islamist] President Mursi, now he was an agent of America and Qatar, but the Saudis are helping us.”

Over the last eight months, a series of surprise rulings at the international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has sparked extraordinary controversy in the staid world of international law. Critics say the decisions weakened World War II-era precedents that hold commanders responsible for war crimes. Supporters say their impact is being exaggerated and the judge associated with them is being unfairly maligned.

WHEN Barack Obama went to Africa this month he presented his hosts with cheques worth $7 billion for power-generation equipment. He didn’t expect much in return. Yet he doubtless took a lot of trinkets back on the plane with him. Among the gifts foreign dignitaries have lavished on him since arriving in the White House are a red and white vase with purple and pink flowers (from the president of China), a Bauhaus chess set (from a German protocol chief) and an ornamental sword with the engraved legend “Fight Against Corruption” (from the attorney-general of Qatar).