Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, in his first public comment about US President Barack Obama's upcoming visit, said the trip was very important to underline the strong US-Israeli ties at a time of a raging regional storm.

The Chinese table tennis player who was instrumental in the pingpong diplomacy that paved the way for President Nixon's groundbreaking visit to China has died. Zhuang Zedong was 73. Zhuang, a three-time world champion, was a major sporting figure in China. Photographs of him with Cowan created a stir because of poor relations between their two countries.

As befitting a celebrated poet at the height of his powers, Robert Pinsky strides toward an interview in the company of a striking flame-haired woman in black. At 72, Pinsky comes close to fulfilling Hollywood's fantasy of what a poet ought to look like: trim and fit, with a full head of steel-gray hair and a profile eerily reminiscent of another Massachusetts poet, Robert Lowell.

In response to the release of Reporters Without Borders’ 2013 World Press Freedom Index, Radio Free Asia’s President Libby Liu said the survey’s findings show little signs of improvement in Asia with the exception of Burma.

Voice of America Director David Ensor has categorically denied allegations contained in a Chinese state television report, which blames VOA broadcasts for encouraging self-immolations in Tibet.

As John Kerry began his term as the new Secretary of State, the US said people-to-people and public diplomacy relations with India are extremely important going forward. Kerry had yet to make any calls to his Indian or Pakistani counterparts, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland reporters Monday. But a senior official was in New Delhi to highlight the breadth and depth of the US-India people to people relationship.

APDS Blogger: Shaocong 'Amanda' Hu

On Jan. 19th, the USC MPD Beijing Delegation attended a roundtable themed “The Present Situation and Prospects of China’s Public Diplomacy” sponsored by the Charhar Institute, a leading public diplomacy and international relations think tank in China.