public diplomacy

Online, you can so easily find the thousand other people who share your perverted views. You then get a vicious spiral of groupthink, reinforcing the worst kind of ideology...totally divorced from everyday humanity. The real challenge is to work out how we can maximise the extraordinary capacity of the internet to open minds – and minimise its now evident tendency to close them.

Historically, the modern Zionist movement has sought to transform the term “Jewish” into a distinctly national category. But it has not fully succeeded. The debate inside Israel over these issues...prevents Israel from articulating a coherent definition of its own identity, let alone one that is accepted and recognized by the majority of its citizens, most of whom are secular and liberal by any Western standard.

Twitter has become the essential tool for following and understanding the momentous changes sweeping the Arab region. It's surprisingly smart and fast -- if sometimes a little too quick on the draw -- and human where other sources feel impersonal. If there is indeed such a thing as a Twitter revolution in the Middle East, it's the way the tool is transforming how the outside world looks at the region.

Financial media giant Bloomberg is reportedly in talks with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud of Saudi Arabia to launch a new Arabic-language business news channel--a move which could shake up foreign media and cause massive headaches for Rupert Murdoch.

As a supporter of the 100,000 Strong Initiative and to highlight the overall importance of educational and cultural ties between the United States and China, will.i.am will direct a concert in Beijing later this year to benefit the Initiative. The Beijing concert will celebrate U.S.-China educational and cultural exchanges and will include performances by will.i.am and other American and Chinese pop stars.

The book, a self-study book for beginners to learn the Chinese language, is written by Victoria Arowolo, one of the first African Chinese language instructor in the country who is currently teaching at the Confucius Institute of UNILAG, reported China's Xinhua news agency.

Palestinians insist that the Israeli occupation means that they are consistently denied their water rights which is why they have to live on 50 litres of water a day while Israeli settlers enjoy the luxury of 280 litres. Clearly, water is at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but commentators are now insisting that shared water problems could help motivate joint action and better co-operation between both sides, which could in turn help end the conflict.

OFL is an educational field study programme that brings together students from Qatar, the greater Middle East and Western countries to enhance cultural understanding through studying ocean conservation and science under the theme of “One World, One Ocean.”

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