Almost a decade after their emergence, Al-Qaeda's password-protected online forums continue to remain popular. Government officials in the U.S and elsewhere have spoken out against the message boards, which are used by jihadis to converse and distribute information, saying they serve as a recruiting tool for terrorists and have been used to incite violence against the West. But some U.S. intelligence officials have argued against their removal, saying they rely on them for intelligence gathering.

The Australian government should put more money into football diplomacy as Australia prepares for the 2015 Asian Cup and use the Asian Cup to strengthen Australia's ties with Asia, an Australian think tank said in a latest report on Friday.

Today, e-diplomacy is growing on a huge scale and in many different areas, and the importance for diplomats to employ the tools of e-diplomacy is enormous. Diplomats are able to spread information and receive feedback from both the public and the international community, strengthen connections with foreign partners, as well as make communication within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs easy, practical, rapid and cost-saving.

Hillary Clinton’s rigorous travel schedule has become the stuff of State Department legend: During her time as secretary of state, Clinton logged nearly a million miles traveling around the world. The BBC’s Kim Ghattas followed Clinton for 300,000 of those miles and has a book out this week about the experience: “The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power.”

Along a roughly two-mile stretch of Massachusetts Avenue exists a secret world, one with high-profile names, ritzy locations, and extravagant experiences that many can only dream about: the kitchens of Embassy Row. Amid the stoves and shelves, cookers and cutting boards, the chefs at the helms of these kitchens feed some of their country’s most important people, contributing directly to culinary diplomacy and showcasing the best their homeland can offer to an equally select audience.

“I replied to them that in my personal opinion, the further Israeli films move away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the better they are, the more credible they are and the more artistic they are...Levy, who has apparently confused hasbara – so-called “public diplomacy” – with art, continued: “This is the reason there are so many films dealing with great relish with the Palestinian victim – uprooting of trees...discrimination and so on. But there are very few Israeli films dealing with the Israeli victim.

China should consolidate its ties with Russia and Central Asian countries amid simmering territorial disputes with its eastern and southern neighbours, a political adviser says. Xi Jinping, who will become president next week, will make his first visit as head of state to Russia this month.

Generally speaking, we would say that populations are not very well educated about the links between climate change and specific weather events, and there’s a need for more education. And by generally, I mean globally. What is certainly clear is that there’s an understanding from Syrians about how this drought has impacted their own livelihoods, given that so many of them have had to pick up and move.