A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
Rice Tweets: Israel, We’re Mad As Hell And Not Going To Take It Anymore
Judith Martin, the popular American columnist better known as “Miss Manners”, advocates restraint when responding to insults: “I don't believe in answering rudeness with rudeness”, she once said in an interview. In extreme circumstances, however, – such as when a man asks a woman whether she’s expecting – Martin does permit to “defend one’s own honor.”
In The Scripted World Of Diplomacy, A Burst Of Tweets
On his first anniversary as secretary of state on Tuesday, John Kerry celebrated by reactivating his Twitter handle. “It only took a year but @StateDept finally let me have my own @Twitter account,” Mr. Kerry tweeted with the hashtag #JKTweetsAgain, as if to suggest he had been held hostage for the last year without a BlackBerry.
Cuban Doctor Defects In Brazil Over Pay, Plans To Seek Asylum
A Cuban doctor working in Brazil has sought political asylum in the office of a conservative party complaining that Cuba's communist government takes too big a slice of her pay, a party official said on Wednesday. Ramona Rodriguez, 51, entered the office of the center-right Democratas party leadership in the lower chamber of Brazil's Congress on Tuesday afternoon and slept the night on a sofa, the official said.
15 Signs That Russia Is Not Very Ready For The Olympics
The winter Olympics kick off in the Russian city of Sochi on Thursday, whether Russia is ready for them or not. And it increasingly appears that Sochi might not actually be all that ready. Here are 15 signs – some of them superficial, some legitimately alarming – that the Olympics could get off to a bumpy start.
Smart Development: How Colombia, Mexico, and Singapore Beat The BRICS
The past two decades have been all about the BRICS: a group of five countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) that soared to economic superstardom and gradually won geopolitical influence. But now, with their economies slowing down, those days seem to be over. What’s more, by some measures, the BRICS have squandered their years of plenty.
Iran’s Hardliners Just Tried To Muzzle Hassan Rouhani
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's battle with hardliners in his own government broke out into the open Wednesday, with the head of the country's state-run television company temporarily preventing him from giving a live interview in Tehran.
British Politician Wants UK Muslims To Denounce Parts Of Quran
A far-right UK Independence Party (UKIP) politician reiterated on Tuesday his belief that a declaration denouncing specific parts of the Quran must be signed by Muslims living in Britain. Gerard Batten, an MEP, renewed his suggestion first proposed in 2006 while speaking to the British daily news website the Guardian, adding that Europe made a huge mistake by allowing “an explosion of mosques across their land.”
Fighting Egypt’s Crackdown On Press Freedom
Journalists are never supposed to become the story," wrote Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste in a letter that was smuggled out of Tora Prison in Cairo, where he is currently being detained. "Apart from the print reporter's byline or the broadcaster's sign-off, we are supposed to remain in the background as witnesses to, or agents for, the news; never as its subject.
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