Rio+Social brings together leaders in social media, technology, global issues, and sustainability at Rio+20, the United Nations conference on sustainable development taking place next month. Influencers, bloggers, innovators, policymakers, NGO representatives, and stakeholders are invited to attend and apply for accreditation at http://www.rioplussocial.com.

South Korea is stepping up to make inroads into Myanmar as the Southeast Asian country’s fledgling reforms widen access to its huge natural resources, market potential and geopolitical position. President Lee Myung-bak became the first Korean leader to land in the country since 1983 when a North Korean terrorist bombing killed 17 Seoul officials accompanying then-President.

Over the years, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations has sent me to many countries to perform. Unlike professional engagements...the ICCR tours usually put you directly in the hands of Indian ambassadors in various countries, who then use you as best they think, besides having certain fixed arrangements at festivals.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is embarking on agricultural projects in South Sudan. The Vice President of JICA in South Sudan, Mr. Watanabe Masato said this today while briefing the minister for Information and Broadcasting Hon Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin on the expansion of their projects in the country.

By now, nearly everyone has heard of the BRICS. Less known are the CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) and MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey). These acronyms are the product of brilliant branding, but they tell us nothing about why these countries were chosen as the ones best built to last.

A group of eight Hollywood TV and film stars completed a week-long tour of Israel Sunday as guests of the Tourism Ministry and the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry. The group of actors was led by Rabbi Irwin Katsof, the director of America's Voices in Israel (AVI), which is part of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

In dealing with these areas of risk, and particularly Syria, Turkey has to take intelligent decisions, ones which reflect close knowledge of its own transformational power and capacity, without allowing itself to be taken in by the bluster. Although the Iraqi, Syrian and Kurdish problems have their divergences and particular features, they are interconnected and interlinked problems.

Where nations were once connected through emissaries and traders, they are now networked through millions of citizens by tools such as fibre optics... Information flows have become multidirectional with a multitude of media platforms that have mushroomed increasing direct communications, greater access to information, information sharing, and greater outreach.