The cows were dying of hunger. Months of drought in northeastern Brazil left 34-year-old Natanael Melo and his 22-year-old wife, Vaniele Costa, with no option. They had borrowed money to buy food for their small herd, but that cash withered away like the crops. It was time to leave.

Tags: brazil, latin america, economy, protests

Glenn Rogers lives in Brooklyn. He’s from Australia. Most importantly, he has no affiliation with Rogers Communications. Yet none of those easily obtainable facts were enough to save the entrepreneur from being on the receiving end of a torrent of angry messages unleashed by Rogers customers in the throws of a collective Twitter fit Wednesday night.

Tags: social media, twitter, canada

The new editor of Granma - Pelayo Terry - is seen as less of a hardliner than his predecessor. He has a Twitter account and has spoken in favour of using social media to promote dialogue. The decision to replace the editorial command of the two papers was taken by the Communist Party's Politburo. Granma is the Politburo's official newspaper and Juventud Rebelde the daily of the Party's youth wing.

Tags: journalism, cuba, newspapers, communist party, granma, juventud rebelde

Should public diplomacy policy-makers turn to digital diplomacy tools for the future of practice? I ask this question to provoke some reflection among public diplomacy watchers beyond the quick criticism of tweeting ambassadors and social media campaigns. There seems to be some debate over whether or not digital media practices represent the future of US public diplomacy.

Tags: united states, public diplomacy, social media, digital diplomacy, technology

In his first-ever interview last week with the BBC Persian Service, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inadvertently elicited a combination of outrage and ridicule with an offhand comment about the aspirations of Iran's population. Responding to a question about the prospects for change under Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, Netanyahu dismissed Rouhani and the election that elevated him as incompatible with the true preferences of the Iranian people, if they could be freely expressed.

Tags: Cultural Diplomacy, public diplomacy, iran, israel, benjamin netanyahu, hassan rouhani, bbc persian service

When it comes to military-style computer video games, realism sells. In first-person shooter games like the top-selling "Call of Duty" and "Modern Warfare," players are virtual participants in realistic battlefield scenarios inspired by and often based on actual combat situations. But while the onscreen firefights, death, and destruction are not real, the decisions players make in order to "win" the game are another matter.

Tags: non-state actors, video games, war crimes, humanitarian law, international committee of the red cross

In late August, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, barely two months into his first term, sat down with several of the principals of the Creative Artists Agency at their Century City offices. The meeting was short, lasting a little more than 20 minutes, but that was all Garcetti needed to get his message across. He was there to pitch his plans for a citywide “rebranding” effort and wanted to use Hollywood’s most powerful talent agency as a sounding board for his plans, if not more.

Tags: city diplomacy, hollywood, city branding, los angeles, eric garcetti, michael bloomberg

The U.S. has put a hold on delivering tanks and fighter jets to Egypt, officials said Wednesday in an apparent show of Washington’s disapproval of a violent crackdown of protesters by its traditional Middle East ally. In a statement, the U.S. Department of State said certain “large-scale military systems” would not be sent to Cairo “pending credible progress toward an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government through free and fair elections.”

Tags: united states, egypt, aid diplomacy, us department of state, military diplomacy