Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague is in Ottawa to announce an agreement between the two countries that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says will start with embassies in Haiti and Burma, and will allow civil servants to consider doing so in more countries as the need arises.

Over the past few years, Korean popular culture, often abbreviated as “K-pop,” has gained immense popularity in many countries. Following the initial surge of interest in Korean television dramas and popular music, nowadays all things Korean ― from food, movies and dances to fashion and language ― are quite the rage.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has left for the U.S. to pursue a crowded agenda that focuses on connecting with mainstream Americans including those who are part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. For a seventh successive year, the Iranian President will address the General Assembly session, which commences on September 25. Mr. Ahmadinejad will also represent the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) as its rotating President.

South Korea will rev up a public relations drive on social networking sites worldwide for its easternmost islets of Dokdo to counter Japan's claims to the islets, a high-ranking government official said Monday. Diplomatic tension between South Korea and Japan remains high following the unprecedented Aug. 10 visit to Dokdo by President Lee Myung-bak, who cited Tokyo's unrepentant attitude over its brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula as a key reason for the trip.

Is there anyone who still believes that the Noda government decision to “nationalize” the Senkaku islands (claimed and by China as their “sacred territory” andcalled Diaoyudao) was not a gigantic blunder? I would venture that by now–as they watch the spreading anti-Japanese protests in China, recently including attacks on Japanese diplomatic missions and pillaging of Japanese businesses–defenders of the government’s move in Japan are a small and still diminishing minority.

The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index is a major annual study which since 2005 has polled a sample equivalent to 60 percent of the world’s population on its perceptions of other countries. It shows that South Africa’s 2010 World Cup, although it was a resounding success, damaged the country’s standing quite severely.

As South Korea and the United States mark the 130th anniversary of establishing their diplomatic relations this year, South Korea plans to stage a month-long campaign to burnish its image among the American people, a related government agency said Sunday.

Poland placed 20th in the Top 100 Most Valuable Nation Brands prepared by the London-based Brand Finance, and showed the highest percentage growth rate in 2012 at 75%, the daily Puls Biznesu reported on Friday.