Earlier this week, a group of ten of the nation’s top scientists including James Hansen, James McCarthy, and Raymond Pierrehumbert, sent a letter to the State Department calling for “a serious review of the effect of helping open Canada’s tar sands on the planet’s climate.” They are rightly asking that this happen as part of the environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry polluting tar sands into the United States from Canada.

To meet the challenges of the 21st century, the approach to public diplomacy will increasingly focus on smart networks of influencers who can convene, connect and mobilize communities. This collaborative approach will support and aggregate the impact of smart, committed individuals around the world. Secretary Clinton’s article in the New Statesman articulates the art of smart power, recognising the ‘novel range’ of tools required when facing complex problems.

US ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena mixes counseling with diplomacy while speaking at any important public forum in Dhaka. His words are usually a blend of advice and compliments, the latter pointing to possibilities on the horizon for Bangladesh.

How to win hearts and minds in the international political arena? Use social media. From Facebook to Twitter, social media extends the shelf life of government-funded appearances by U.S. artists deployed to such diplomatically sensitive areas as Libya, Iraq and Pakistan.

Ambitious students are spending the hottest part of the summer drafting, redrafting and perfecting their applications to higher educations’ most elite scholarships. The deadlines aren’t until September or early October, but the clock started ticking when application forms went live months ago.

Earlier this year, the US Department of State issued its detailed report on the status of "Trafficking in Persons" in every country of the world, Albania to Zimbabwe, it ranks each country as Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3.

"We recognise that countries such as China, India and Brazil are gaining influence less because of the size of their armies than because of the growth of their economies," Clinton wrote in an oped in 'New Statesman' published yesterday.

Clinton's itinerary included stops in nine nations: France, Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Egypt and Israel. It focused on two interrelated US foreign policy objectives. The first is the elaboration of Washington's counterrevolutionary strategy for asserting hegemony over the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.