The football tournament, which will be hosted by Australia for the first time, is expected to attract 45,000 visitors and have a potential television reach of 2.5 billion viewers. The Lowy Institute for International Policy, in a paper released on Friday, says the tournament will present a big opportunity for Australian businesses to network with Asian investors and consumers.

For an artifact with such an awesome legacy, the Cyrus Cylinder is remarkably unprepossessing. It looks like a small loaf of rye bread from which someone has broken off a chunk. Yet this nine-inch long piece of baked clay inscribed with cuneiform script — which begins a five-city tour of the United States in Washington this week -- has inspired religious and political thinkers from ancient times through the drafters of the US Constitution and the founders of modern-day Israel.

This week the International Council Of Museums' sold-out conference Working Internationally shows how museums are looking out beyond the shores of the British Isles. The big nationals are, of course, doing extensive international work. The V&A tours exhibitions to India, China, Japan and the USA, amongst others.

China continues to pursue a peaceful rise and cooperative relations, but it has to defend its territorial integrity and core interests. In the next five to 10 years, China needs to address domestic concerns and clear any misunderstandings the outside world may have about its peaceful path of development.

The Academy Awards’ “Best Picture” tells the story of the rescue of six U.S. diplomats during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-80. But, for all that it’s a movie about diplomats, it tells nothing of the men and women who represent the United States abroad, the challenges they face and how prepared – or ill prepared – they are to face those challenges, says Nicholas Kralev, an expert on international affairs and diplomacy and author of a new book, “America’s Other Army: The U.S. Foreign Service and 21st Century Diplomacy."

As interest in study abroad to non-traditional destinations continues to rise, so does the number of students interested in African languages and cultures. Despite the fact that there are somewhere between 1,000 and 2,500 languages spoken on the African continent (UNESCO, 2010), there are relatively limited options for students to focus on language study in Africa. New initiatives and programs designed to attract U.S. students to study in Sub-Saharan African countries focus students’ attention on a small subset of the most widely spoken African languages.

The recent death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez from cancer comes as no great surprise. The former military leader had rarely been seen in the public eye since December last year when he travelled to Cuba for surgery, and premature rumours about his death have been circulating for months. But his shadow now looms large over South America, standing with the likes of famous Latin American leaders like Che Guevara, Juan Peron and Fidel Castro.

When John Kerry took to Twitter on his first day as US secretary of state, he joined an army of diplomats using social media to reach out and connect directly with people around the world. "Exhilarating to walk into @StateDept today and get to work with remarkable team. Dad on mind! -JK," Kerry wrote in his first personal tweet.