There is no doubting Korea’s rich culture and fascinating history. But are they the factors that will captivate the international community and boost growth? With other global powerhouses like China and Japan in the neighborhood, it will be a challenge for Korea to set out its unique selling points.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is not only leading his country's biggest ever trade mission to India, including Rolls-Royce and BP, he is also showing how to mix business and politics by announcing faster business visas, lifting of limits on Indian students and promoting cultural links. In the federation that is Australia, our biggest missions are now led by state premiers and while the numbers are great, the political level lacks real clout.

From the research, we extrapolated a report, Voices of the People, which we hope will stimulate more collaboration in the arts and creative industries between the UK and the region. Our objective is to use this report as an action plan, in partnership with the UK arts sector and artists from the Middle East.

A number of tipping-point events of the most tremendous political significance in Kenya have begun by being under-reported by the media. And then they have gathered momentum, acceleration, reached critical mass, and changed the course of history. Perhaps the best-known such event happened in early 1983 at Kisii, when the then President Daniel arap Moi cryptically announced that there was a plot afoot to undermine his then five-year-old regime, which had survived a coup attempt only the previous August.

That's what happened to Michelle Obama when new photographic evidence emerged that proved — no paperwork needed, no investigative journalism, no shoe-leather reporting — that she has bangs. SHE HAS BANGS! If this were an old black-and-white movie, this would be the part where you'd suddenly see people madly running to telegraph machines and reporters hurrying to the phones to call their editors, and you'd hear "beeeeep-be-deep-deep-beetle-deep-deep" as the news began to spread.

A new study commissioned by VisitBritain and its partners in the GREAT campaign suggests that global perceptions of ‘Welcome’, Britain’s ‘Overall Nation Brand’, and the UK’s sporting and cultural credentials, have significantly improved thanks to the hosting of the London 2012 Games.

It will be the first of the BBC's news channels to air from New Broadcasting House, the corporation's central London headquarters extensively refurbished at a cost of £1bn, and will feature new presenters including Jon Sopel in a new show and Afghanistan-born Australian Yalda Hakim.

Masterpieces by Rembrandt, Poussin and Velazquez are among a collection of over 40 works from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg which will travel to Britain for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at one of this country’s finest historic houses, Houghton in Norfolk.