Watching the events unfold in Egypt over the past weeks has been akin to watching a slow moving train wreck as two powerful forces – the army and the Muslim Brotherhood – collide together. Both have strong wills, resources, and high stakes in the outcome. Whereas social media played a pivotal role in uniting the Egyptian public during the January 25 revolution in 2011, it appears that mass media may be playing the critical role in dividing the Egyptian public during the current events.

A collaboration between USC Annenberg, the David and Dana Dornsife College and Price School of Public Policy sent a group of USC students to study shifting political, social and economic landscapes in Cuba for the second consecutive summer. Under the direction of Journalism Professor Roberto Suro and USC Dornsife Professor Pamela Starr, 25 students from an array of disciplines — public relations, public diplomacy, specialized journalism, strategic communications and international relations — spent one month immersed in research and investigation of all things Cuba.

It’s high time for the United States to cut off its $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt as the military regime cracks down violently on protesters, Sen. John McCain argued Sunday. The Arizona Republican added the U.S. has lost its credibility in the region after failing to follow its own law that requires suspending aid to states overtaken by a military coup–though the U.S. has not officially described the recent regime change in Egypt as a coup.

On November 21, 2004, the first Confucius Institute opened its doors in Seoul, South Korea. The placement was by design, like every aspect of this public diplomacy endeavor by an increasingly confident Chinese government. The Korean peninsula, for example, has a long history of adhering to the Confucian system of thought, society and governance. Even more symbolically, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5, Korea was a part of China’s traditional cultural empire. In fact, it was the last part to fall.

These past two months the Chinese Navy’s Type 920 Hospital Ship, a vast 14,000 ton floating hospital called “The Peace Ark,” docked in major cities of South Asia providing key medical services and surgeries to local residents. Over the course of the next few weeks the ship will sail to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and Cambodia before heading back to China in October. During the five day visit to Pakistan, the ship’s staff clocked in 10 hour days totaling 2,029 outpatient visits and 28 surgeries.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has distanced itself from a series of obscene Facebook posts written by a senior official who is currently in charge of efforts by Israel to improve its image. Daniel Seaman, who was recently promoted to the post of head of Israeli public diplomacy on the internet, is the architect of a controversial new programme to mobilise hundreds of university students to write pro-Israel Facebook posts by giving them scholarships, and formerly served as director of Israel’s Government Press Office.