Moscow seems to be placing high hopes on the new tool. The new draft of the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, signed by Vladimir Putin in February, states that "new information and communication technologies will be widely utilized" in order to "create an objective perception of Russia in the world" and "develop effective domestic means to exert informational influence on public opinion abroad."

After nearly four years of often testy relations with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama is about to try a different tack - going over the head of Israel's prime minister and appealing directly to the Israeli people.

Voice of America (VOA) has launched a new SMS news service that will allow mobile phone users to get up-to-date VOA news headlines and emergency messages through three of its major mobile providers in the country.

A growing electronic blitzkrieg by Beijing - blasted by Barack Obama as ''state sponsored'' hacking and now extending to the jamming of Australia's radio news broadcasts in Asia - threatens to derail delicate negotiations for the ABC to win television rights in China.

As part of its efforts to safeguard the country's heritage for future generations, the National Culture Fund (NCF) under the Ministry of Culture has organized a meeting here on March 15 to generate awareness about its role and the responsibility of the public and private sector in this regard.

If South Korea resorts to force to unify the peninsula, the region would be trapped in long-term chaos, as happened in the Middle East. A turbulent Korean Peninsula is harmful to China and the Northeast Asia. Both China and South Korea could be victims. The cost of abandoning North Korea is much higher than that of protecting it. China's strategic considerations should be aimed at maintaining the stability of the Korean Peninsula.

Our hosts were all in their late 20s or early 30s, surprisingly younger than I had expected. Yet I quickly read two messages from that: 1) public diplomacy remains an experimental endeavor, to which new ideas might contribute more than years’ experiences; 2) our meeting was likely to be more informative than official. The second message turned out to be only partially true.

What is the State Department's strategy to counter China's use of soft power around the world? Host Carol Castiel and VOA State Department Correspondent Scott Stearns interview Tara Sonenshine, the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. In a wide-ranging interview, Sonenshine speaks about the role of public diplomacy and what the U.S. is doing to compete with China's growing soft power, particularly in Africa.