The Associated Press, in collaboration with LiveU, today announced the launch of AP Live Community, the first live video content and service exchange platform for global newsgathering. [...] Combining AP's global news network with LiveU's technological expertise, the innovative online platform expedites live coverage of breaking news and events in any location by connecting live video publishers and contributors around the world.

In an age of 24/7 information, where there’s pressure to stand out, and a general expectation that we should react to news in real time, we need to say something as quickly and emphatically as possible – so we say it with gifs. In a medium where words might be limited, the emotional impact of gifs should be similarly direct: “They’re lingua franca,” says Dr Sarah Thornton, a San Francisco-based sociologist of culture, “They’re not determined by linguistic boundaries, and they are so simple that a child can understand them.”

Digital diplomacy, a priority for the State Department under the Obama administration, appears to be at a crossroads. [...] The department is particularly challenged now, Cochran said, "because there are not enough leaders in the building." "What you need is assistant secretaries, you need undersecretaries, you need deputy secretaries,” he added. “You need a team of people telling the crew, where's this ship going."