It may be that the process is so unruffled that many people won't notice, but the woman who has presided over a major shift in United States foreign policy — Hillary Clinton — has left her job. Not only has she left her position as US secretary of state, she has also left with a stunning personal approval rating of 69%.

The White House-appointed board overseeing government-funded broadcasts to 100 countries is a dysfunctional mess beset by “acute internal dissension” revolving around a longtime friend of former President George W. Bush, according to a new inspector general’s report obtained by the Daily News.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's trip to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia underscores that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) remains the cornerstone of Japan's Asian diplomacy. Before cutting his trip short to deal with the kidnapping of Japanese nationals in Algeria, Abe commented, "Open seas are public assets and Japan will do utmost to protect them by cooperating with ASEAN. China's economic rise is definitely a plus for Japan but it is important for China to act responsibly as part of international society."

A number of tipping-point events of the most tremendous political significance in Kenya have begun by being under-reported by the media. And then they have gathered momentum, acceleration, reached critical mass, and changed the course of history. Perhaps the best-known such event happened in early 1983 at Kisii, when the then President Daniel arap Moi cryptically announced that there was a plot afoot to undermine his then five-year-old regime, which had survived a coup attempt only the previous August.

Crater Lake National Park may soon have a sister park in southeast China's Fujian Province. Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman and Carolyn Hill, executive director of the Crater Lake National Park Trust, are working with Chinese officials as well as the Oregon Legislature and others to create a sister-park agreement between Oregon's only national park and the Mount Wuyi World Heritage and Cultural Site in Fujian Province.

Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander has been honoured with the US State Department's inaugural Medal of Arts for her "outstanding commitment" to the "Art in Embassies" programme. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conferred the award on Sikander at a ceremony in Washington, the Daily Times reported. With an eye on cultural exchange and visual diplomacy, the "Art in Embassies" creates permanent and temporary art exhibitions in over 200 diplomatic venues worldwide.

A proposed new Afghanistan-Iran university to undertake joint research and engineering projects, announced by the two governments last month, is being seen as part of a broader Iranian strategy to counter its international isolation brought about by Western economic sanctions over its nuclear programme. Collaboration in higher education, research and science is a key part of Iran’s ‘soft power’ strategy, with a large number of cross-border projects in the pipeline, in particular in Islamic countries

That's what happened to Michelle Obama when new photographic evidence emerged that proved — no paperwork needed, no investigative journalism, no shoe-leather reporting — that she has bangs. SHE HAS BANGS! If this were an old black-and-white movie, this would be the part where you'd suddenly see people madly running to telegraph machines and reporters hurrying to the phones to call their editors, and you'd hear "beeeeep-be-deep-deep-beetle-deep-deep" as the news began to spread.