A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.

Turkey, Japan to Join Hands for Sufism Project

To enhance cultural and academic cooperation between Turkey and Japan, a new project "İki Doğu'nun Köprüsü: Tasavvuf Kültürü Eğitim Programı" (The Bridge of Two Easts: Education Program for Sufi Culture) has been initiated by bringing together academic and research institutions from Turkey and Japan. 

Tags: turkey, japan, international exchange, counternarrative, education, cumbia, istanbul, kyoto

The Power of Bollywood

The India-Pakistan conflict has sadly spilled into the cultural realm, attenuating forces that provide the little glimmer of hope for an integrated, peaceful and prosperous South Asia: culture, arts, music, movies, and people-to-people relations. Art and culture have no nation, no boundaries, and no religion. Works of art are priceless treasures of the world regardless of where they originate. 

Tags: Cultural Diplomacy, india, pakistan, south asia, culture, art, music, people to people diplomacy, bollywood film

Free to Feed: Cooking Classes Run by Asylum Seekers

She tells it every time she runs a cooking class for Free to Feed, a social enterprise that runs classes taught exclusively by asylum seekers and refugees. Founded by community worker Loretta Bolotin and her husband Daniel Bolotin earlier this year, Free to Feed aims to create a cultural exchange between asylum seekers and the general public through conversation, learning and food.

Tags: australia, south african brand summit, asylum seekers, melbourne, cultural exchange, gastrodiplomacy, christian-muslim summit, iran

Journalists from Ukraine and Georgia Perspectives on US Election

We’ll get a view of our presidential election from journalists and academics from Ukraine and Georgia and from a journalism professor here in the U.S. We’ll talk about media independence and bias; how Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton are viewed in eastern Europe; how the debate about Russian president Vladimir Putin is playing in Georgia and Ukraine and elsewhere.

Tags: georgia, ukraine, united states, doll diplomacy, international broadcasting, public opinion, eastern europe, democracy

Irish Start-Up Aid:Tech Using Blockchain to Distribute Aid in Refugee Camps

“With the advent of blockchain becoming on stream, we saw its potential in 2010 and 2011,” Thompson said. “You could have something that could intermediate in the distribution of the international aid with full traceability.” In 2012, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke about the seriously worrying levels of aid corruption globally.

Tags: ireland, non state pd, digital diplomacy & new tech, global aid & development, refugee camps, united nations, anholt-gfk nation brands index, mercy malaysia

China’s Digital Soft Power Play

This month, the Chinese government plans to introduce codes for some 3,000 Chinese characters as part of a grand project, known as the China Font Bank, to digitize 500,000 characters previously unavailable in electronic form. Until now, only 80,388 characters have been encoded in the international computing standard, Unicode.

Tags: china, smart & soft power, digital diplomacy & new tech, chinese language, digitization, Ashok Vajpeyi, vladimir putin

The Virtual Medic Will Text You Now

In many isolated communities around the world, basic cellphones serve as medics and smartphones as diagnostic clinics. Mobile devices, particularly inexpensive basic cellphones, expand the reach and effectiveness of health care in the developing world as health workers send text-based medical advice, keep patients’ records, monitor for epidemic outbreaks and keep account of medical supplies. 

Tags: global aid & development, digital diplomacy & new tech, global health, alphabet inc, africa, asia, latin america

S. Korea Erects Symbolic Copenhagen Sculpture in Seoul

The Seoul metropolitan government unveiled a copy of a sculpture symbolizing Copenhagen at a waterside park in Seoul on Monday as part of efforts to deepen its friendship and cooperation with the Danish capital. [...] Monday’s event, held as part of a cultural exchange program between Seoul and Copenhagen, came after the two sides set up a sculpture with an image of a historical and cultural Seoul relic

Tags: south korea, seoul, denmark, copenhagen, international exchange, Cultural Diplomacy, bilateral relations, city diplomacy

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