India is to set up a central foreign aid agency to prevent funds from being misused and delays in aid delivery. India's aid commitments have soared in recent years as the country seeks to improve its strategic, political and economic clout on the world stage, especially as China extends its hand.

Xinhua's U.S. expansion is seen as an effort to burnish the country's image and build its brands here. A Pew Research Center poll earlier this year found that 43 percent of Americans saw China as a "serious problem."

The Arab Spring encapsulates the failure of public diplomacy whose actions do not speak louder than words. The series of popular uprisings apparently partially resulted from the WikiLeaks exposure of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and stung the US twice -- once for supporting these autocrats, and again for failing to move quickly and decisively, choosing to remain on the sidelines.

In the cases of Indonesia and Pakistan, panelists argued that humanitarian aid appears to have a had a positive correlation with public views of the donor nation among citizens of the recipient countries.

Europe's far right wing parties, whose views have become steadily more mainstream.. have strongly rejected Breivik's actions. However the crimes are bound to unleash some soul-searching generally in the EU where the far-right has been growing, tapping into an anti-foreigner sentiment...

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will host over 125 participants for the inaugural Around the World in an Afternoon, a cultural and academic festival. This is the largest ever gathering of Study of the U.S. Institute participants who represent 30 countries. More than 115 undergraduate student leaders from 20 countries will share information about their countries and cultures.

We are supporting initiatives like Partners for a New Beginning, which supports economic opportunity, education, science and technology exchanges between the United States and Muslim communities worldwide...We are connecting entrepreneurs with Diaspora communities in the United States that are eager to help fund new projects in countries where they have family ties.

Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) Coordinator Dawn L. McCall travels this week to Seoul, South Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia to meet with social media researchers and senior Embassy officials to discuss social media trends, public opinion of the United States, and public diplomacy programs.