Recently, the Confucius Peace Prize released the nominators for this year's prize, the awarding ceremony of which will be held on December 9. This prize has been sponsored by a Chinese non-governmental organization, the "China International Peace Research Center" since 2011.

More communication, exchange and interaction activities are expected between US students and disabled children in Shanghai in the future. The US-based NGO People To People International said it plans to have more than 1,000 US students visit China next year.

At the end of the Olympic Games she also found success in the diplomatic realm when she was elected to be a member of the Athletes’ Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – an achievement that the Slovak Olympic Committee President František Chmelár said was equal to winning “four or five gold medals”.

Diplomacy, until recently, was reserved for diplomats. As official ambassadors of governments, it has traditionally been the near-exclusive realm of diplomats to impose visa bans and financial sanctions, advise executives on how to defend national interests and ideals, persuade foreign governments to change behaviors, argue for international energy or trade deals, and negotiate treaties. Today, these activities are increasingly being undertaken by citizen diplomats who force the hands of governments on foreign policy issues, rather than follow their leads.

The U.S. Navy is spending more than $20 million each year sending ships to poorer nations in the Asian-Pacific region to provide cataract surgery, dental fillings and other medical care... "The image of American power going abroad and bringing benefits to people all around the world... It builds the image of American power, of American soft power..."

Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the Smithsonian Institution began a program to recover and restore artworks marred in the disaster. Now the Yale Center for British Art is hoping to create a cultural exchange program to teach Haitian artists restoration techniques that the artists can apply to damaged works in their home country.

Hoping her celebrity will bring attention to the widening Syrian refugee crisis, actress and U.N. envoy Angelina Jolie spoke of the horrors that children, many of them orphans, have witnessed in Syria..."The priority needs relate to health care, food aid, shelter, water and sanitation, and education..."

In reaction to a question on my Facebook and Twitter, the response to the prospects of Pakistan-Israel dialogue has been clearly positive. Out of a total of 76 feedbacks that I received, 90 percent were in support of the dialogue while less than 10 percent expressed concerns due to political reasons and clouded judgement...