If she would get her hands dirty, she’d rather do so by planting trees. Or so said reelectionist Sen. Loren Legarda, who spiced up a recent informal meeting with INQUIRER editors and reporters with random bits and snatches of what she called her unknown causes, notably climate change and indigenous culture.

The United Nations Club of Southern Oregon University and Ashland Peace House sponsored a two day conference Wednesday and Thursday entitled “Debunking the ‘Clash of Civilizations’: Understanding Islam, Islamophobia, and the Middle East,” a conference that featured speakers from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.

Amid growing global unease at China's rise, the role of public diplomacy is becoming more important. How is China's public diplomacy developing? How can a Chinese style of public diplomacy be formed? Several scholars discussed these questions at a recent round-table symposium held at the Charhar Institute, a Hebei-based independent think tank on diplomatic policy.

President Vladimir Putin, introducing a new concept of Russia’s foreign policy that relies more heavily on ‘soft power,’ expressed confidence that the country’s influence in the world "will continue to strengthen." In dealing with these global hot spots, Russia will make an active use of economic diplomacy and the so-called “soft power practices” in its foreign policy, the Russian leader said.

The hazy heat of Jakarta is a far cry from the cool climate of Bandung, where ceramic artist Rifky Effendy was trained. But after 10 years of living in the concrete jungle, he is going out with a bang, curating Indonesia’s first exhibition at the prestigious Venice Biennale 2013 before his planned move back to the West Java capital.

Israel’s greatest strategic challenge, its gravest strategic failure, its grimmest strategic danger is the (mis)conduct of its public diplomacy...It is difficult to overstate the gravity of Israel’s public diplomacy debacle, and to grasp the ongoing official disregard of the strategic dangers that its continued neglect is creating.

Journalists and U.N. officials on Wednesday hailed South Sudan's decision to be a pilot country for a United Nations initiative aimed at creating a free and safe environment for media workers. Journalist Elam Denis Ejulu welcomed Juba's decision to be the pilot country for the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists, saying it would help to protect "journalists against harassment."

Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO; Michel Jarraud, UN-Water Chair and Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); and Hamrokhon Zarifi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan today launched the International Year of Water Cooperation 2013 at UNESCO Headquarters, in Paris.