Currently, I am working for the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NaHHA), a non-profit organization that promotes a greater presence of Hawaiian culture in the tourism industry. NaHHA works “to connect the Hawaiian community and the tourism industry” through “consulting and educating, developing and implementing effective communication tools.” As a contractor of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), NaHHA is the lead agency for State of Hawaii’s initiative to promote Hawaiian culture in tourism.

Two recent books on China and India have highlighted the rising importance of public diplomacy within the foreign policies of these rising Asian giants. Taken together, U.S. academic David Shambaugh’s China Goes Global and Indian writer and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor’s Pax Indica reveal some telling differences between the way both governments approach the pursuit of soft power. Both books suggest quite divergent outlooks for the two governments in their search for global influence through PD in the coming years.

No one's saying, 'Move over, Bretton Woods, Brics is here'. But Brics nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - certainly grabbed eyeballs at their Durban summit by firming up plans for a new development bank to fund infrastructure and a $100 billion contingency reserve arrangement to provide themselves financial succour in times of trouble. The dressing on the side is a business council with great potential to boost trade and investment.

Stories of rape, gun crime, police brutality and obscene levels of violence flashed across the globe, overshadowing the country's breathtaking landscapes, stunning wildlife and the joy of the 2010 football world cup. “South Africa's seemingly untouchable reputation started to wane,” said Dion Chang, founder of Flux Trends analysts. “The death of a Mozambican taxi driver at the hands of the police invoked apartheid style brutality, and Oscar Pistorius brought South Africa the harshest form of unwanted publicity.”

The positive side of Pakistan is often overlooked in favour of negative news, the Pakistani Consul-General says as expatriates from that country celebrate their National Day today.The Embassy of Pakistan, the consulate and community organisations prepared a variety of programmes to mark National Day.

With the neutrality status declared after gaining independence in 1991, Turkmenistan started to implement a distinct foreign policy strategy. In this way, Ashgabat attempted to preserve its stability in the state-building and nation-building processes, keeping its distance from current regional and global problems. Under the leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmenistan gave the sign that Ashgabat will be more active in the international area with its new foreign policy concept, adopted for the period 2013-2017

Sri Lanka once again takes its rightful place in South Asia after suffering decades of terrorism on the world stage, both in terms of its economic potential and political profile. We want the world to take note of what is being accomplished in the country and the hand of friendship, support and understanding to be extended to our people, Sri Lankan Ambassador in Germany Sarath Kongahage said.

Qatar has become an example of peaceful co-existence within a multi-cultural society that hosts a large number of nationalities, a senior security official has said. As a clear indicator of this, Qatar assumed a leading position – for the fourth consecutive year - in the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2012 for Middle East and North Africa (Mena) - Qatar got the first position at the Arab level and 12th internationally, he said.