Experts told lawmakers on June 23 that new approaches are needed to counter the Islamic State in cyberspace [...] the State Department's efforts to counter the message by the terrorist group is "inadequate" and "falls on deaf ears," mainly because it has the State Department logo attached to everything and therefore is easily ignored as government work. The public diplomacy efforts, he added,  "have really been pretty much a bust, dysfunctional."

Led by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the Representatives sat down on the chamber floor, chanting “No bill, no break,” and calling for a vote. The beginning of the dramatic protest was captured on C-SPAN’s livestream, but then the video cut out. House Republicans had called a recess, triggering the shutdown of the cameras C-SPAN uses in its broadcasts, effectively cutting off public access to the protest. However, Representatives quickly turned to Periscope and Facebook Live to stream their own video.

Now, acting as the US State Department's Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Stengel sat down with AJ+ presenter Dena Takuri on Wednesday to discuss the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). The gathering brings together more than 1,000 young innovators, investors, and government officials with the goal of establishing socially and environmentally conscious businesses around the world.

How would you explain Donald Trump to a foreign audience? Could it be done in a coherent way? Could it be done at all? To citizens at home, this may be merely an intriguing exercise. But to our country's diplomats it is a daily challenge. As part of their jobs, especially if they are public diplomacy officers, as I was, they are charged with "telling America's story to the world," and this includes describing the leading figures and issues in an election year.

The Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Kaoru Yoshimura, has inaugurated a Japanese language and cultural centre at the Mary Star of the Sea International School at Kasoa in the Central Region. [...] He noted that one important area of Japan’s diplomacy was cultural diplomacy in the form of cultural exchanges, which he said played an important role in bringing understanding and contributing to peace and security in the world.

While Denison said that the Japanese government’s continued desire to clamp down on piracy demonstrated the soft power value of Japan’s anime industry, she also said that viewing methods had changed considerably over recent years.

Three political parties and two independents running in the Australian federal elections set out their human rights priorities in response to a Human Rights Watch questionnaire, Human Rights Watch said today. The parties gave their positions on a range of domestic and foreign policy human rights issues, including whistleblower protection and offshore asylum policy, in advance of polls on July 2, 2016.

Thailand’s delegation signed three major agreements during the visit, including an action plan for cultural exchange and two MoUs; between Nagaland University and Chiang Mai University for further cooperation in education, and between India’s Axis Bank and Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank.