On April 12 a meeting of bilateral working group on democracy in frames of U.S.-Georgian strategic partnership charter will be held, according to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi. It’s one of those four inter-agency bilateral groups, which were established to address priority areas of the U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership Charter, which was signed in January, 2009. Other areas of cooperation identified by the charter are defense and security, economic and people-to-people relations.

As strangers lined up for white ribbons and American flags to show their support, family and friends of Anne Smedinghoff mourned the loss of a young diplomat who was determined to see the world — and possibly beyond. Her brother, Mark, recalled Monday talking to her after the U.S. landed a space probe on Mars last August and how excited she was about space travel.

The State Department, still reeling from the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya last fall, on Sunday mourned a 25-year-old diplomat killed a day earlier on a mission with the U.S. military in southern Afghanistan. Five other Americans were killed in the same attack. Elsewhere in the country, a U.S. civilian adviser and several insurgents were killed in a clash Saturday in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. Afghan officials said that battle was followed by a U.S. airstrike that claimed the lives of 11 Afghan children.

Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine will travel to Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia April 8-16, 2013. In Moscow, Russia, April 8-11, Under Secretary Sonenshine will be the keynote speaker at the “Fulbright Program in Russia: 40th Anniversary of Successful Academic Exchanges” conference.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) recently informed its workforce about sequestration cuts to Voice of America’s (VOA) shortwave and medium-wave broadcasting. Ironically, the Board is cutting the most cost-effective part of its organization: radio.

In spite of September’s deadly attack on the American consulate in Benghazi that claimed the lives of an ambassador and three others, the U.S. Foreign Service has more applicants than ever.

Now that the dust has settled on President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated trip to Israel, it is possible to analyse the significance of the visit. The trip – the first foreign visit of his second term – carries important implications for US foreign policy. Rather than providing the breakthrough for which many had hoped, it demonstrated that Obama – unlike other second-term US presidents, who have staked their legacies on foreign policy – is interested primarily in securing a domestic legacy.

If the nations of the Middle East and North Africa are to enjoy economic prosperity and political stability, they need to fully include women, says Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine. "Study after study has confirmed that any country or region that ignores half of its population will undercut its chance of success politically, economically and democratically."