Yangon: It was a day of religious diplomacy by India as External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday inaugurated a three-day international conference on Buddhism followed by unveiling of a 15-foot statue of Gautam Buddha.

Across America, anticipation is running high for next month's U.S. release of Downton Abbey season three. To celebrate, we held a Downton-themed party on Thursday evening at the Ambassador's Residence in Washington.

Rocker Andrew W.K. made headlines recently with the quest that ultimately wasn't—his initiative to bring positive partying to Bahrain on behalf of the US State Department. A case of rockers being held down by the man (isn't that what sparked the punk movement?).

The United States, along with a host of other nations, has refused to sign the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR) put together by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) at the World Conference on International Communications (WCIT) in Dubai this week.

On Wednesday morning, Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata stood in front of Michelangelo’s David-Apollo in an atrium of the National Gallery of Art. The sculpture last graced the museum in 1949 as a post-World War II sign of friendship between the two countries. The statue — one of the master’s many unfinished works — was not the only unfinished project in the room.

As the phenomenon known as the Korean Wave, or "Hallyu" in the native tongue, grows in popularity throughout the world, South Korea is hoping to use its pop culture's recent fame to promote public diplomacy, especially in Latin America where the Asian culture is truly beginning to be embraced.

A mixture of native Chinese and Americans, we hope to accomplish an ambitious set of goals: to gain an understanding of how public diplomacy is thought about and engaged in academic contexts as well as how it is innovatively used in practice—through film, at airports, over the Internet, in media, and by corporations.

APDS Blogger: Sarah Myers

In January 2013, a group of nine Masters’ of Public Diplomacy students will embark on a trip to Beijing, China. A mixture of native Chinese and Americans, we hope to accomplish an ambitious set of goals: to gain an understanding of how public diplomacy is thought about and engaged in academic contexts as well as how it is innovatively used in practice—through film, at airports, over the Internet, in media, and by corporations.