Rita Csapó-Sweet grew up a first-generation Hungarian-American. Her parents came to the United States after World War II. Because of her ethnic background, she felt a little out of place growing up in America. But a college trip to Hungary remedied her feelings of alienation and carved out a path that saw her become a cultural ambassador of sorts.

Public diplomacy analysts say a difference in perceptions dating back to the Cold War era could hamper U.S. and Russian efforts to deal with the ongoing civil war in Syria.

A new, three-minute ad by Coca-Cola, “Small World Machines,” starts with a relatively straightforward premise: India and Pakistan do not get along so well. It ends with the promise of peace: “Togetherness, humanity, this is what we all want, more and more exchange,” a woman, either Indian or Pakistani, narrates as the music swells. Sounds great. How do we get there? By buying Coke, of course.

Learning from the American experience, governments around the world have developed national innovation policies and programs to accelerate their economic prosperity and to help their citizens and companies compete globally.

The History Project, comprising excerpts from three Indian textbooks and nine Pakistani textbooks, provides students an illuminating comparison of the ways that key historical events – leading up to partition – are taught in schools in both countries.

Referencing a mix of history and personal experience, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny exhorted 4,395 Boston College graduates today to “let go, let fly.” In his speech, Kenny touched on the deep ties between the United States and Ireland, forged over centuries.

US President Barack Obama will visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania in June, the White House has said. Mr Obama is expected to meet lawmakers as well as business and civil society leaders and youth on his trip.

The ability to talk is not the same as the ability to communicate. That was the advice from USC’s Nicholas Cull at a public diplomacy conference here. Asked what advice he would give to the new Secretary of State, Cull said he would first ask a question: “What’s possible? Am I going to waste my time talking about projects that can never see the light of day?”