The Consulate General of Japan in Shanghai hosted a reception on December 1 to celebrate the 83rd birthday of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Akihito. Held at Okura Garden Hotel in downtown Shanghai, hundreds of guests, including officials from local governments, such as the city of Shanghai and Jiangsu Province,  business people, academia, artists and the representatives of the Japanese community attended the ceremony and reception.

Three West Papuans who entered the Australian consulate in Bali overnight have left the compound after being warned by the consul-general that the Indonesian army would be called, the group says. Markus Jerewon, 29, Yuvensius Goo, 22 and Rofinus Yanggam, 30, scaled the two-metre high fence of the Australian compound in Bali’s Renon district at 3.20am local time (6.20am AEST) on Sunday morning.

The use of social media for the purpose of public diplomacy has increasingly drawn the attention of U.S. diplomacy professionals, observers and political analysts especially after the recent attacks on the U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya that were triggered by outrage over an anti-Islamic video released on Sept. 11.

The US Consulate had planned to set up the centre for cultural exchange at the university but scrapped the same after sanctioning a sum of Rs 43 lakh to the OUCIP. “The decision was justified citing the politically charged atmosphere on the campus and the inaccessibility of the campus,” officials at the OU said.

Nicholas J. Cull, Professor of Public Diplomacy at USC was invited to the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles and delivered a lecture on public diplomacy and soft power... Professor Cull discussed the concept of public diplomacy, its new development and shared lessons.

He added that he wants to increase the number of Saudi students in Korea, and wants to see more vocational training programs for Saudi students. Last week, for instance, the Samsung Engineering Association established an engineering center in the Kingdom here to provide training to Saudi students. Likewise, LG has also established an IT academy particularly for women.

The Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, an official diplomatic office of the government of Israel, has launched a new public diplomacy initiative to utilize tablet and e-reader devices to streamline the distribution of books and official documents.