The Foreign Ministry, always on the lookout for ways to make Israel’s image trendier, recently asked the supermodel Bar Refaeli, one of the country’s most famous celebrities, to lead an ad campaign promoting Israeli technology and innovation abroad. She agreed, free of charge. Apparently it was a success: “My Instagram feed has more readers than Israel’s most popular newspaper,” Refaeli bragged in a tweet.

Haiti is actively preparing to receive in Port-au-Prince from 23 to 26 April 2013, for the first time, the Fifth Summit of the Organization of Caribbean States (ACS), in which will participate representatives of 25 Member States (Heads of States and Governments), 5 associate members of the ACS and nearly 300 delegates (Ministers, Ambassadors and senior officials) around the theme "Revitalizing the vision of the Association of Caribbean States for a stronger and more united Greater Caribbean".

The Japanese government presented two former baseball players with the People's Honor Award recently, causing a sensation in the country. The two winners were Shigeo Nagashima in his late 70s and Hideki Matsui who has just retired. Once a player and coach of a famous Japanese professional baseball team Yomiuri Giants, Nagashima is one of the most celebrated baseball players in postwar Japan

Japan called on China to do more to restrain North Korea and its nuclear program during a visit to Tokyo by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday, a day after the American diplomat and Beijing leaders pledged to work together to restart talks with Pyongyang. Mr. Kerry shuttled between North Asian capitals over the weekend in a bid to avert a broader crisis in the region fueled by Pyongyang's threats to attack U.S. and allied targets in the Pacific.

The United States and Japan opened the door Sunday to new nuclear talks if North Korea lowered tensions and honored past agreements, even as the saber-rattling government rejected South Korea's latest offer of dialogue as a "crafty trick." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Tokyo that North Korea would find "ready partners" in the United States if it began abandoning its nuclear program.

On Saturday, Russian officials released a list of 18 American citizens who are accused of human rights abuses and will henceforth be banned from entering Russia. The list was made public a day after the United States released a list of 18 Moscow officials accused of human rights abuses in the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian citizen who died in prison four years ago.

On Thursday, Mursi announced that he will hold daily Twitter sessions with the general public, underscoring his perception that the mainstream media are deliberately misrepresenting him. Several anti-Mursi media outlets are owned by Mubarak loyalists, who would like to see post-revolutionary Egypt destabilised to such an extent that the military would seize control again.

Over a long day of diplomacy in Beijing, Mr Kerry warned Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping that the stakes were high as China's erratic ally North Korea threatens a missile launch that would extend a weeks-long crisis. The region has been engulfed by threats of nuclear war by Pyongyang in response to UN sanctions imposed over its recent rocket and nuclear tests, and Mr Kerry stressed that China has a unique sway over North Korea.