The award recognises and encourages its bearer to improve social, economic and cultural relations with Cameroon. The Honorary Consul of the Federation of Russia in Douala, Dr. Jean Marie Tchuissang, received the Russian "Pouchkine" medal of distinction issued by Russian officials for the award.

Israel is planning to demand an apology for a controversial cartoon that appeared in the British Sunday Times, Israel’s ambassador to London said Monday, while one minister mulled steps against the paper.

U.S. Department of Commerce General Counsel Cameron F. Kerry and U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer will lead the discussion topic for the meeting: “Recent Developments Regarding Implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.”

In honor of the New Year (both West and East), I would like to share a relatively new lens for viewing relations in public diplomacy. Many may have heard of the terms individualism, which privileges the individual, and collectivism, which favors the collective or group. What they may not have heard about yet is relationalism, which privileges personal relations. At the time of this writing, relationalism literally “isn’t in the dictionary” – at least the most prominent one in the English-language.

When the Prime Minister bumped into Boris Johnson in Davos last week, the Mayor, resplendent in woolly hat, assured him that he had been acting as his unofficial envoy at the World Economic Forum. Yes, Boris had a few mischievous things to say about the “rhetoric of austerity” while he was in town. But – he reassured the PM – every time he met a senior European politician, he was praising his speech: “Bien joué, David Cameron, n’est-ce pas?”

The Mahinda Rajapaksa government has been outstanding in fighting terrorism at home but has fared disastrously in diplomacy. This is in marked contrast to the Chandrika Kumaratunge government whose record in fighting terrorism at home was an absolute disaster but was outstanding in its efforts diplomatically getting the LTTE proscribed as a terrorist organisation by most of the important Western nations.

President Jakaya Kikwete has underscored the need for increased transparency and accountability in the health sector in order to make the world a better place. Speaking at a dinner hosted in his honour by Global Health Diplomacy (GHD) on Thursday night, the president said transparency had helped in the distribution of ARVs and treated mosquito nets.

While referring to the recent border row between India and Pakistan, a panel at the Jaipur Literature Festival blamed the media for feeding people with "petty prejudices" instead of playing a positive role. The panelists, while holding discussion in the session 'Neighbours: Walls and Bridges', appealed to work on the "commonalities" present in the two countries.