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 term “citizen diplomacy” includes an imperative distinction in that it inherently denotes the use of sensitivity and tact in interactions with others to be considered a good “diplomat,” versus simply being a “citizen,” where the only requirement is a birthright.

"A fragile Israeli coalition government leans toward the views of its members from the nationalist and religious right, creating a challenge for diplomats seeking to build support for U.S. policies," the inspector-general said.

“We have been doing several cultural exchange programmes with Zimbabwe. This country has strong historical and cultural background. We are very happy to bring a wide range of American artists here to share and learn from Zimbabwe,” he said.

Voice of Russia, Russia’s state-funded radio station, is taking a new approach to informing Americans: using American and Russian voices to broadcast international news from American soil. For the first time since its beginnings in 1929, Voice of Russia will broadcast to Americans...

The mainstream western media has willfully ignored the continued abuses in Bahrain, and al Jazeera...has also been conspicuously silent...Fortunately, courageous activists on the ground have linked up with concerned citizens from around the world to create awareness for ordinary people removed by thousands of miles and blinded by the smokescreen of media obfuscation.

Social media allowed an ''unprecedented'' two-way exchange of information between the public and those given the task of preparing for and responding to major events such as earthquakes, floods and infection pandemics, said researchers. The technology allowed officials to ''push'' information to the public while at the same time ''pulling'' in valuable data from bystanders.