Tensions between Iran and the US were intensifying in 2008 when American basketball player Kevin Sheppard went to play for the Iranian league. A German filmmaker has brought his unusual story to the cinema.

Humans are typically averse to foreign spy agencies killing their countrymen. Could public diplomacy really rally Pakistanis in favor of drone strikes on their own soil? Could it really disabuse them of the notion that drones bring carnage, given that they do? The authors are absolutely right: the drone program is unpopular only among the people who know about it. Pakistanis who don't know about it don't think about it in unfavorable terms... or at all!

An increasing number of policymakers and think-tank residents are championing the power of social media and big data to pressure governments, empower civil society, deter human rights abuses, and semi-accurately forecast political instability and conflict. In a column today, Thomas Friedman endorsed utilizing existing social networks “to our advantage to gain leverage in diplomacy” by speaking directly to Iranians, Israelis, and Palestinians.

North Korea has reacted defiantly to a new round of United Nations sanctions, saying it will boost its military power and nuclear program. Korean specialist Dr. Leonid Petrov from the Australian National University says the UN Security Council's touch approach on North Korea is a mistake. He told Radio Australia's Connect Asia that instead of making threats, the international community should use soft power on Pyongyang.

A US academic has said it was imperative for youth exchanges to take place between the US and Pakistan so that unfounded stereotypes could be erased. Dr Michael Hannahan, director of the University of Massachusetts Civic Initiative, said 25 young people from Pakistan were visiting the US every summer. “These travels change people’s lives.”

Yes, drone strikes are not very popular among a large section of Pakistani society. But Pakistanis are not united in opposition to drone strikes. In fact, many Pakistanis support the drone strikes. This suggests that there is room for the United States to engage in a public diplomacy campaign to win over more Pakistanis to the idea that drone strikes are not the bringers of carnage that is so often portrayed in the Urdu-language media in Pakistan.

Today, with the arrival of 12 young female basketball players and two coaches from Senegal, the U.S. Department of State launched its first Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative program of the year. This initiative engages women and girls from every region of the world, ranging from Brazil to Iraq to Liberia to Thailand to Venezuela, to name a few participating countries.