The U.S. Embassy India is celebrating September as the month of U.S.-India friendship, and the diplomats are busy showcasing their respect by reciting Indian poems and taking road trips. The last two weeks have been busy for U.S. diplomats in India as they were learning Indian languages such as Hindi and Urdu to recite the poems of Ghalib and Dagh.

Chef Outta Water presents a series of food events from Thursday, Sept. 28, to Sunday, Oct. 8, that are an exchange of flavors, friendship and business opportunities between Australia and Oregon. Australian Chef Michael Brine from Townsville, North Queensland, will be the ‘chef outta water’ teaming up with Astoria’s Chef Chris Holen as part of a local makers and food producers tour though Astoria, Portland, Hood River, Bend, and McMinnville. Brine will use his skill to pair ‘down under’ flavors with Oregon produce.

This International Peace Day a striking 84% of people in the UK, US and Germany agree that ‘human beings have the right to live in peace: free from conflict’. [...] Peacebuilding is often an invisible sub-sector of international development. There is no one definition of the term, but it is considered by the United Nations and those that work in the field as a process which goes beyond ending violence to establish the conditions for durable peace and prevent the recurrence of violence.

At a time when disinformation and fake news corrupt communication channels, delivering the truthful and authentic American message is needed now more than ever. American public diplomacy, our nation’s outreach to peoples around the world, is the prime channel for communicating this message. It is essential to this country’s national security and should be vigorously championed by the president and Congress.