The new channels can be broadly classified into two categories –– lifestyle and news & current affairs. BBC, Discovery and Fox will bring channels on lifestyle, while media houses from Canada, the US, the UK, France and Japan will come up with news and current affairs channels.

Russia's leading independent media company, today announced the launch of the CTC-International channel in Israel... Anton Kudryashov, Chief Executive Officer of CTC Media, commented: "The launch of CTC-International in Israel is in line with our international expansion strategy and follows the introduction of the channel in the U.S. at the end of last year..."

WASHINGTON -- A recent “pivot” of U.S. sanctions policy toward Iran, Sudan and Cuba was discussed in detail this morning by a senior State Department official.

Alec Ross, Secretary Clinton's Senior Advisor for Innovation, said the new policy is designed to promote access to global education and culture by permitting certain telecommunications equipment and services to flow to those countries. Export of those equipment and services had previously been blocked by U.S. sanctions.

In a meeting with reporters, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale said that it was critically important in today’s complex world for the US and Arab people to learn more about each other and debate on issues.

BBC Monitoring is reporting that Israel is considering establishing its own 24-hour news channel...The plan would, say its supporters, help disseminate Israel’s news to the wider world.

To keep up, the embattled government has done everything in its power over the last year first to stanch the flow of stories and then to make the stories that inevitably leak out impossible for outsiders to verify.