An exchange programme targeted at examining the role that journalists play in the society and the challenges they face while doing their jobs tagged Spring 2013 Professional Fellows Congress opens Wednesday in Washington, D.C., United States of America with 10 journalists from four countries in Africa – Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda – participating.

China has used various forms of soft power as a form of diplomatic currency in the past. There was the ping pong diplomacy of the early 1970s. There was also panda diplomacy. Now China is expanding its soft power diplomacy to luxury vehicles. According to the Wall Street Journal, last Friday, Beijing donated 20 Chinese-designed and manufactured Hongqi, or Red Flag, vehicles to the Pacific island nation of Fiji. The fleet of sedans is estimated to have cost around $2.3 million.

NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned European lawmakers yesterday that the European Union cannot rely on its vaunted soft power. Speaking before the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defence, Rasmussen warned against continuing cuts in Europe's defense capabilities.

Starting on May 3, the White House's petition website has become a favored landing spot for Chinese Web users, and the hashtag #occupytheWhiteHouse, and a variety of related memes, has recently appeared on Chinese social media platforms. The origin of this chatter provides a case study in censorship, Chinese netizen humor, American soft power, and the unintended consequences of a (sometimes) borderless Internet.

The US State Department has awarded PT Ganesha Aggies Jaya a contract for just under $3 million for communications support for the @america public outreach center in Jakarta. The firm will provide public affairs and PR support as well as diplomacy programming for the outreach center, according to a representative from the federal agency. The representative did not provide further details on the contract's length.

According to a recently released report, India is among the top-10 most powerful countries in the world. This is a first-of-its-kind study of "national power" by leading strategic experts and scholars from the Foundation for National Security Research (FSNR) in New Delhi. The study placed India at the eighth position among a group of the 27 most powerful countries in the world.

He may be no Black Mamba like Kobe Bryant, but Vice President Jejomar Binay unabashedly dribbled around Yao Ming, as if challenging the 7’6” former Houston Rockets center to a one-on-one. A shocked Binay welcomed Yao and his Shanghai Sharks to his Coconut Palace Monday morning, gaping at the giant and looking up to shake hands with the retired NBA player.