Addressing ambassador and experts at the Digital Diplomacy Day, Foreign Affairs minister George Vella said that diplomacy is a mixture of innovation and tradition, with its basic aspects dating back to practically the dawn of civilisation, but its needs changing as technology has progressed and continues to progress so fast.

A new election campaign brings about new stereotypes. It is now very common to hear that Israel does everything to maintain a policy of status quo with its neighbors, including the Palestinians. Looking at Israeli public opinion in the last twenty years, however, tells us that the opposite is true. If one takes election results as reliable indicators, it is possible to identify three characteristic phases in the mood of the Israeli public. 

The United Nations is holding its first ever Social Media Day at its New York Headquarters today, in an event featuring social media professionals, digital diplomacy practitioners and academics who are sharing their experiences, discussing trends and proving insights into their work.

In the realm of influencing relations between nations, digital media has suddenly unpinned the power to communicate from the almost exclusive control of the state. Thanks to digital platforms such as social media, state actors must now compete with non-state actors for a voice in the international arena as well as for legitimacy in the eyes of the public—including their domestic one.

WHO welcomes the appointment of the new United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Tuberculosis (TB), Dr Eric P. Goosby, M.D. Dr Goosby’s extensive and high-level experience in global health and diplomacy give him the perfect background for this critical role. (...) WHO looks forward to working closely with Dr Goosby in our shared effort to raise the profile of the fight against TB and to attain the ambitious new targets agreed at last year’s World Health Assembly.

This week U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to India and Pakistan. Although there is little he can do to resolve long-standing tensions between these nuclear-armed neighbors, Kerry should take advantage of a recent development in Pakistan to reduce the near-term likelihood of war on the subcontinent.