U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech in Jerusalem this week was without question the strongest ever made by a senior American politician on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was plainly designed to speak directly to the Israeli and Palestinian peoples over the heads of their political leaderships. It was an exercise in public diplomacy par excellence, intended to change the tone and atmosphere, and public perceptions of Obama himself

During previous elections, the diaspora has, for the most part, remained silent. Today, with the Internet, social media, and live coverage of the election and its aftermath, information has become more widely available, allowing the diaspora to not only be more informed and connected, but more involved.

"...you know, the United States and Canada has arguments once in a while, but they’re not the nature of arguments that can’t be solved diplomatically.” The President's strange comparison caused a new hashtag on Twitter: #TheCanucksAreComing, and right-wing pundits tore a strip off Obama for failing to understand either relationship properly.

For all the drama of President Obama's stirring speech Thursday in Jerusalem, the most encouraging thing about it may have been the applause from the audience. "Remarks of President Obama to the People of Israel," the White House called the speech -- and, like President Reagan, Obama went soaring over the heads of officials, elites, and pundits, directly to Israel's citizenry. In that may lie the nub of a second-term approach to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking that could prove more fruitful than the frustrations of the first.

Eleven German journalists visited the BBG yesterday as a part of the RIAS Berlin Commission’s spring exchange program. The participants met with IBB Director Richard Lobo and attended a VOA editorial meeting. They then met with VOA Associate Director of Language Programming Rebecca MacMenamin and discussed topics such as finding foreign audiences, the federal government’s role in US international broadcasting, and how the agency creates new language services.

Obama was accompanied on a leisurely tour through Petra's steep red-rock formations by a University of Jordan tourism professor, with all other visitors kept well away -- except for a few stray cats. Soon after his stroll through arid the landscape, renowned for its colorful interplay of light and shadow, the president is due to return to Washington, DC.

This past January, as part of an economic diplomacy initiative, our embassy organized a campaign designed to deepen U.S.-Lao business ties and promote the newly-established Lao chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). The economy of Laos has emerged as an attractive investment opportunity for American businesses.

Just outside Lima, Peru, a billboard provides drinking water to whomever needs it - mainly, its neighbours. The panel produces clean water from the humidity in the air, through filters. Researchers at the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima and advertising agency Mayo Peru DraftFCB joined forces to launch it.