The setback was so striking that President Vladimir Putin picked up the phone at 4 am on Thursday and ordered a surprise drill of 36 Russian Navy ships in the Black Sea. The political goal was to flood Russian TV news with images of pretend naval heroics in the Black Sea. Ideally, this would distract attention from Russia’s real defeat in the neighboring Mediterranean Sea last week, when the financial currency controls froze as much as $30 billion in Russian deposits on the island.

The deadline for cable TV digitization to complete its phase in 38 cities will end on Monday, even as cable TV operators in many cities hope for some leniency from the central government. According to The Hindu, many cities have still not switched to digital service and operators need time to complete the process. The delay in switching from analogue service to digital service is due to lack of sufficient set-up boxes and labour power.

After nearly three years of political tension, diplomatic maneuvering, and back-channel negotiations, Israel has formally apologized to Turkey for the killing of nine Turkish citizens onboard the ship Mavi Marmara in 2010. On behalf of the Turkish people, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted Israel’s apology.

As the political leadership adapts to new public diplomacy strategies, citizens will acquaint themselves more and more with new technology.... Social media tools become what we make of them. At the moment, neither the South African government nor the public are using social media as vigorously as elsewhere.

Israel is making the most of President Obama's visit to get the word out about the challenges the country faces, and the “unbreakable relationship” between Israel and U.S., says Danny Seman, Deputy Director in the General Ministry of Public Diplomacy, in charge of social media for the group. Social networks are the new global “water cooler” where people exchange ideas and opinions, and it's important for Israel to make its voice heard in these forums, in order to ensure that people know what this country is facing."

A delegation of university students, comprised of members of the Jewish, Arab and Druse communities, has just returned to Israel after a week-long outreach tour of Canadian universities, timed to conclude just before the start of Israel Apartheid Week on North American campuses. The trip, organized by WordSwap, a nonpartisan public diplomacy project, brought the students specifically to Canada.

Mark McDowell, counselor and head of the public diplomacy department at its embassy in Beijing will soon be Canada's first ever full time ambassador to Burma, Canada's foreign affairs ministry has said. Given the fact that Burma enjoys favorable relationship with Beijing, Canada has apparently chosen its Beijing officer to lead its embassy in Burma as he is not just familiar with the Chinese politics but is also said to be familiar with the ongoing contemporary issues in Burma.

Russia on Saturday called for "maxim responsibility and restraint," after North Korea declared it was in a "state of war" with South Korea and warned Seoul and Washington against any provocation. "We expect all sides to show maximum responsibility and restraint and that no-one will cross the line after which there will be no return," Grigory Logvinov, a Russian foreign ministry pointman on North Korea, told the Interfax news agency.