Capitalizing on the immense popularity of the ALS ice bucket challenge, an Indian woman has conceived of the rice bucket challenge as a way to encourage charity for the poor. Unlike the ice bucket challenge, which requires the participant to dump a bucket of cold water over their head, the rice bucket challenge asks that participants simply donate a bucket of rice to somebody in need.

Bercovici may be relatively new to Twitter, but she has quickly come to appreciate its value and utility.  “It is especially useful at a time of crisis such as we are in now, when the appetite for information is insatiable.”

Four female diplomats in Ankara have expressed their support for women in diplomacy, saying they are hopeful that the number of female diplomats will increase worldwide in the future. Nina Vaskunlahti, the Finnish ambassador to Turkey, said in an exclusive interview with Sunday's Zaman that there are a greater number of female ambassadors in Finland than there were in the past.

In a creative approach to upgrade advocacy efforts by civil stakeholders against violence in Lebanon – particularly domestic and gender based violence (GBV) – ABAAD called on Syrian refugee girls to reproduce on dummies their personal stories of violence and discrimination. A public exhibition displaying the puppets is organised today in Taanayel in Lebanon’s Bekaa region.

A generation ago, Canada was perceived to be an exemplary global citizen by the rest of the world: it took the lead on a host of international issues, including the Convention of Child Rights, freedom of information, acid rain, world peacekeeping, sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime, and humanitarian and development assistance—much of this under conservative leadership.

The American director of the chilling Indonesian documentary “The Act of Killing” has won dozens of awards so far for the film and could add one of the movie industry’s most coveted honors Sunday at the Oscars. But so far, the director, Joshua Oppenheimer, has not succeeded in accomplishing what he considered a greater goal — jump-starting a debate in Indonesia that will compel the government to finally open a formal inquiry into one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century.

He can still dunk like a butterfly, but in the personally tragic case of former basketball pro Dennis Rodman in North Korea, the embrace of Kim Jong Un and his policies sting like a bee. Rodman is only the most recent example of sports diplomacy gone awry. And with the Sochi Olympics a few weeks away, it is inevitable that a new cadre of unpredictable athlete diplomats will make it to center stage.

When negotiations over the future of Iran’s nuclear program broke down last week, the question of why they did loomed in everyone’s mind. In response, Secretary of State Kerry offered some weak explanation that Iranian negotiators had to get approval from higher ups back at home. Kerry’s comments were a deflection from blaming the French for putting the kibosh on the agreement. Rather than deflecting from the French, Senator John McCain, in a rare move for a conservative Republican, complimented the French for their bravery in stopping the agreement, proclaiming, “Vive la France!”