The fact that the Syrian authorities have given the green light for leading opposition figures to meet openly may be unprecedented, but it is not the sign of progress that many might hope for...the conference appears to be nothing more than part of a public relations exercise by a regime that is intent on showing the world it is serious about reform, but without actually being serious.

The decision by the International Football Federation (FIFA) to grant Qatar the world's most watched sporting event came as the crowning of a policy of "sports diplomacy" initiated nearly two decades ago. Its neighbors in the United Arab Emirates...are also involved in sports diplomacy. Sports diplomacy reaches European countries in the form of the purchase or sponsorship of top soccer teams.

This week’s NexGen IT Entrepreneurs Boot Camp is a five-day training event in Cairo to help budding Internet technology businesses. It is part of a broader American initiative to help develop Egypt's economy, particularly in the wake of the Feb. 11 revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

If Facebook were a country, its membership would make it the third most populous in the world. As its “population” continues to grow, the social network finds itself adapting to, and navigating within, a global sphere in which the importance of public diplomacy has also grown.

Proposals to reorient European policy have come from the European Commission and..European External Action Service...through advocacy of a “Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity” and...to create a European Endowment for Democracy and a Civil Society Facility...

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and global education advocate Shakira visited the Max Rayne ‘Hand-in-Hand’ School for Bilingual Education in Jerusalem yesterday, meeting with students to talk about the power of education.

A computer application called “The 3rd Intifada” has been removed... from App Store for iPads and iPhones.Israel's Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, Yuli Edelstein, had sent a letter to Apple, pointing out that the application called for an Arab uprising against the State of Israel and asking that it be removed.

CPD Director Philip Seib will be speaking at the Strategic Communications Conference in Los Angeles, June 23rd to 24th, on social media in the Middle East and its effects on foreign policy.