Can sports increase dialogue and cultural understanding between people around the world? The U.S. State Department believes so — and has tapped Salisbury University’s Dr. Dean Ravizza to assist. Recently, for a 10-day Israeli/Palestinian basketball program, the Princess Anne resident designed a series of lectures and activities emphasizing concepts such as negotiation, teamwork and group dynamics.

Russia has repeatedly proposed cooperation on cybersecurity to the US, but has not received a positive response, according to Putin. "We hear these endless and groundless accusations of some kind of interference, talking about cybersecurity. [...] Putin told the Arctic forum he sees positive changes in cooperation between Russia and the United States on Syria

The growing recognition of water’s strategic relevance reflects global developments. In the last three years, the Islamic State (ISIS) captured the Tabqa, Tishrin, Mosul, and Fallujah dams on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. ISIS subsequently lost control of all of them, but not before using them to flood or starve downstream populations, to pressure them to surrender. [...] The importance of water in the twenty-first century – comparable to that of oil in the twentieth – can hardly be overstated.

"I think it's a great idea, when civil society takes the initiative in resolving this long 'frozen' conflict. [...] I am absolutely sure that if public diplomacy starts its work, this should lead to tangible results, because it usually becomes a signal for the government to start an active resolution of existing conflicts."

The chief executive of the British Council manages an annual income of £980 million, juggling projects which range from helping Nigerians improve their policing methods to touring the work of Turner prize-winner Grayson Perry in Turkey. Since it was founded in 1934, the UK’s cultural relations organisation has expanded to include some 200 offices in 100 countries – and at the helm of this massive “soft-power” behemoth is an Irishman.

The Committee of the Whole that adopted 22 guidelines worth considering had its marathon meeting here under the Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani has also suggested that Pakistan should re-establish a Public Diplomacy Office at the Foreign Office. This will function as the Foreign Office’s public diplomacy and soft power office and an inter-ministerial space for projecting cultural, economic and trade outputs.

Hip-hop DJs, MCs, beatmakers and dancers from around the world descended on a hotel conference room in Washington, D.C., this spring to learn how to turn their high-energy musical art into tools for empowerment, entrepreneurship and conflict resolution. The program is called Next Level, which teaches “hip-hop diplomacy” and is sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the University of North Carolina’s music department.