Press reports of Secretary of State Kerry’s description of the Western Hemisphere as “our backyard” overlooked the next words, “[our] neighborhood … I think there are relationships we could improve.” [1] The focus on “our backyard” caused President Evo Morales to announce on May 1, 2013 that he was expelling the USAID mission from Bolivia because, among other accusations, it reminded hemispheric leaders of U.S. relations toward the hemisphere during the Cold War.

Internet freedom is a foreign policy priority for the United States, and has been for many years. Our goal is to ensure that any child, born anywhere in the world, has access to the global Internet as an open platform on which to innovate, learn, organize, and express herself free from undue interference or censorship. Indeed, during his time in Congress, Secretary Kerry worked closely with then-Secretary Clinton to make certain that we could effectively promote long-standing values of openness and human rights in a networked world.

Tina Turner did it. So did Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin. And Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. They all renounced their US citizenship. It doesn’t happen all that often–maybe a thousand a year. But it looks like the pace is increasing. According to the Wall Street Journal, more Americans gave up their US citizenship in the the first half of this year than in all of 2012 .Host Marco Werman talks with Marylouise Serrato, of American Citizens Abroad, about the trend.

Japan’s public diplomacy hovers between the ludicrous and the sinister. In recent months, the country has specialised in foreign policy gaffes that seem designed to give maximum offence to its Asian neighbours while causing maximum embarrassment to its western allies. Last week provided another example.

In December 1988, when Ashok Bajaj opened the Bombay Club here, the city was gearing up for the inauguration of President George H. W. Bush. For Washington, that’s pretty much where the celebrating ended. That year the District of Columbia had surpassed Detroit as the country’s murder capital, with a record 372 killings. The city was not, to put it mildly, recognized for its hospitality, and it extended little welcome to the newly arrived Mr.

Community workshops dubbed "hackerspaces" originated in Germany more than a decade ago. After a slow start, they're now appearing in cities around the world, including United States. In North America, the word "hacker" most commonly refers to someone who illegally breaks into computer networks. But hackerspaces are social clubs for activities that include tinkering, machine tooling, and 3-D printing.

This month TPR sat down with Stephen Cheung, the Mayor of Los Angeles’ first Director of International Trade, to discuss the purview and capacity of the new position, which coordinates between the Port of Los Angeles, LAX, and City Hall. With trade being a central component of the LA regional economy, and with the infrastructure of trade constantly evolving, Cheung works for goods movement, logistics, storage, and transportation to operate as smoothly as possible to retain customers doing business in and through LA.

Why are the immigration debates in the United Kingdom and the United States going in opposite directions? Part of the answer is in the chart above: During a time of economic trouble, Britain saw a surge in foreign workers that the US did not. How did the US and UK part ways in the way they think about immigration? You can blame the difference on the European Union. Between 1995 and 2005, the US and the UK increased the foreign-born share of their population at about the same rate.