Diplomats and scholars now have the opportunity to gather and analyze vast quantities of data. Data has allowed us to explore how social media users responded differently to a variety of international broadcasters in the wake of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the actions of conservative cyber-activists in Iran.

Norwegian Muslims plan to form a “ring of peace” around a synagogue in Oslo this Saturday as a gesture of solidarity with the Jewish community in the Scandinavian country.

The enlisting of digital diplomacy in Russia's national propaganda efforts has caused some diplomacy scholars and practitioners to wonder if Russia isn't ruining digital diplomacy for the rest of us.

China plans to spend 360 million yuan (HK$454 million) on expanding its overseas cultural centres this year - nearly double last year's amount - amid government efforts to bolster its soft power abroad. But observers are sceptical whether the centres, which are different from the Confucius Institutes, can improve the nation's image overseas, especially given similar efforts have attracted criticism.

As his fame as an author and humorist grew, Mark Twain increasingly gained access to the most glittering palaces and persons in the world.(...)He was, as he was fond of saying, “not an American, but the American,” and during his many trips abroad he functioned as a one-man diplomatic corps, employing his characteristic blend of self-deprecation and understated wit on foreign people everywhere.

The Foreign Ministry has been called on to advance its diplomatic role in promoting Islam as a tolerant religion amid growing global concern over the Islamic State (IS) organisation, which has sparked hate crimes against Muslims.  The country's soft approach has been said to have contributed to false perceptions of Islam, which holds the basic value of rahmatan lil alamin (grace for all people). 

President Barack Obama said he wouldn’t decide whether to supply weapons to Ukraine until European leaders exhaust one last diplomatic effort to resolve the conflict there, setting aside for now trans-Atlantic differences on the best way to get Russia to relent.  Mr. Obama announced his decision after a White House meeting Monday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that followed days of sometimes testy exchanges between U.S. and German officials.

The United States will send more economic help and "other kinds" of assistance to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russian-backed rebels, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday. Kerry said he could not provide any details of possible military equipment that the United States might send to help Ukraine fight the rebels.