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). 

On January 21, Andrew Lack, the media titan who at different times has headed Bloomberg, Sony, and NBC News, was sworn in as CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency that oversees the five official US government-supported broadcasters, including the Voice of America. (...) In recent years, the BBG has devolved into a widely acknowledged mess: bloated, demoralized, and inefficient. Reviving this tool of public diplomacy will be a major challenge for Lack. 

The two countries that share peacetime borders with Israel, Jordan and Egypt, are dealing with a historic challenge presented by Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and its local extensions.

The Islamic State militant group said on Friday that its last known remaining American hostage, female aid worker Kayla Mueller, has been killed by a Jordanian airstrike against extremist targets in Syria.According to SITE, a group that monitors online jihadi messages, the Islamic State reported on Twitter that Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, “was killed when she was buried beneath the rubble of the building.” 

Investigators say ISIS is reaching into American homes to find their newest recruits and their next victims. Of all the weapons used by terrorists one of the most dangerous is social media.

Congressional support built Wednesday for increased U.S. military assistance to Jordan following a video purporting to show Islamic State militants burning a captured Jordanian air force pilot to death.

The brutal slaying of the two Japanese hostages by the Islamic State (Daesh) is a reminder, if one were needed, that the group remains impervious to universal condemnation of its methods, but also that Japan's ability to influence the group's actions is as limited as that of any other nation.