The Israeli parliament’s Immigration, Absorption and Public Diplomacy Committee held a hearing last week to determine whether an American Jewish organisation that favors a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conundrum could call itself “pro-Israel.”

While protests in Syria are increasing in size and scope, the Syrian regime does not appear to be taking chances by parsing out political reforms that could further embolden the opposition. Instead, the Syrian regime is more likely to resort to more forceful crackdowns, which is likely to highlight the growing contradictions in U.S. public diplomacy in the region.

Larry Klayman, founder ofFreedom Watch,has announced that he has launched a lawsuit against Facebook and its founder,Mark Zuckerberg, for allegedly facilitating jihad against Israel. It seeks damages of up to $1 billion.

Education and exchange have long been staples of U.S. public diplomacy efforts—longer even than the term ‘public diplomacy’ has been in use. Loyola University--Chicago (Loyola) has taken education and exchange diplomacy where no other foreign university has gone before: Vietnam.

Japan is increasingly turning to other countries for help as it struggles to stabilize its tsunami-stricken nuclear plant and stop radiation leaks that are complicating efforts to recover the bodies of some of the thousands swept away by the towering wave.

The arrest of Juan Ortiz Lopez, an alleged drug kingpin in Guatemala, may mark the beginning of increased cooperation between the US and Central American nations dogged by increasing drug-related violence...On his recent tour of Latin America, President Obama announced $200 million in funding to combat drug trafficking and insecurity in the region.

ormer President Jimmy Carter seems to have a meteorological effect on this island. Like the low-pressure cold fronts that periodically blow down from the north and sweep away Havana's suffocating humidity, Carter's mere presence here seems to bring down the temperatures of Cuba's chronically overheated politics.

The Dominican Republic is one of the most baseball-crazed countries in the Caribbean. Major League teams have set up multi-million dollar training and scouting facilities here to find the next great prospect.