Judith McHale, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, is expected to announce as early as Tuesday that she will be leaving her post in June to return to the private sector in New York, sources said.

President Barack Obama paid a joyful visit Monday to the small Irish village where his great-great-great grandfather once lived and worked as a shoemaker, endearing himself to the Irish populace, and in turn perhaps to millions of Irish-American voters in the United States.

Despite Germany's economic clout, Berlin has failed to place German officials in top jobs at the EU and key organizations such as the IMF. The country's global influence is suffering as a result. A dearth of suitable candidates, domestic politics and Angela Merkel are to blame.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak went to Japan's disaster-struck region to express their sympathy to residents and to kick off a new period of cooperation in a region beset with both long-playing historical grievances and recent geopolitical squabbling.

With Malaysia making its mark as an affordable and sophisticated healthcare hub, the Health Ministry is aiming to attract more than 437,000 tourists to experience what the local healthcare industry has to offer, by bringing in significant players to galvanize its efforts.

An information technology hot spot for more than a decade, with a focus on investment and innovation, South Moravia is working strategically to bring in businesses and ideas that fit its research-led vision.

US President Barack Obama says the US has opened a "new chapter" in diplomacy after the Arab Spring uprisings People in countries across the Middle East have been giving the BBC their reactions to his speech.

Still Obama allied America with those Arabs and Iranians thirsting for freedom, and he did so in a subtle but remarkable way. He invoked, as he so often does, the civil-rights movement. Not World War II, where American power served the cause of freedom.