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.
Aid Ship Leaves Turkey to Offer Gazans a Relief on Ramadan Holiday
A cargo vessel carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid en route for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip left a Turkish port yesterday. [...] In recent years, Turkey stepped up its international humanitarian outreach, making it onto a list of most generous countries in 2015 and 2016 as it spent $6.5 billion on humanitarian aid, a high figure compared to the country's gross national income. During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Turkish aid agencies reached millions of people across the world with food aid.
International Experts Discuss Sustainable Energy...at Astana Economic Forum
More than 4,000 participants from 100 countries gathered June 15-16 in Astana for the 10th annual Astana Economic Forum. The forum focused primarily on renewable energy and green economy under the theme “New Energy – New Economy” as well as discussions of sustainable economic growth, world trade and infrastructure. [...] This year’s key speakers presented their views at the session called Globalization: a Future Full of Uncertainties.
The State Department Just Broke a Promise to Minority and Female Recruits
Dozens of young minority and female State Department recruits received startling and unwelcome news last week: They would not be able to soon join the Foreign Service despite having been promised that opportunity. Their saga is just the latest sign that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s rush to slash the size of the State Department without a plan is harming diplomacy and having negative unintended effects.
Dance Demonstration: Brazilians Samba to Protest Against Funding Cuts
Brazilians have organized a protest with a difference. Members of Rio de Janeiro’s samba schools danced their way through the streets of the city to demonstrate against proposals to slash funds for next year’s Carnival. They say Mayor Marcelo Crivella’s decision to cut by half (to 270,000 euros) the amount each school receives is driven by his religious beliefs. The former evangelical bishop and gospel singer plans to put the saved money towards child care centers.
Afghan by Birth, Indian by Heart
Coming from trouble-torn Afghanistan where peace has been no more than a pause between two wars in the last few decades, Sayed Qudrat epitomises how education can transform people’s perception and is important to usher in stability to a country besides promoting the individual’s well-being. [...] “I studied in Rehman Baba school in Kabul. When studying in Afghanistan, I used to think only of my country and Islam. Having come to India and on completion of my education, I think only of humanity.
In Germany, a New ‘Feminist’ Islam is Hoping to Make a Mark
Inside the red-brick building that now houses the German capital’s newest and perhaps most unusual mosque, Seyran Ates is staging a feminist revolution of the Muslim faith. [...] The inaugural Friday prayers at Berlin’s Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque came to a close — offering a different vision of Islam on a continent that is locked in a bitter culture war over how and whether to welcome the faith. Toxic ills like radicalization, Ates and her supporters argue, have a potentially easy fix: the introduction of a more progressive, even feminist brand of the faith.
Conservative Serbia Could Soon Have a Gay, Female Prime Minister
Serbia is not known for its gay-friendly policies. [...] This week though, Serbian President Aleksander Vucic made a historic decision: naming Ana Brnabic prime minister. If her cabinet is approved next week, she will become a double first: the country's first female and first openly gay head of government. [...] Vucic's selection of Brnabic is seen by many as a nod toward broader equality, and an effort to nudge his country closer toward the West.
Sculpture Marks Choctaw Generosity to Irish Famine Victims
Native American Choctaw leaders have arrived in Ireland to unveil a sculpture celebrating the financial contribution made by the tribe to starving Irish people in 1847. At the height of Ireland's Great Famine, Choctaws in southern states of the USA sent a donation of $170 (£111). [...] A million people died in Ireland and another two million left the country when the potato crop failed for successive years, removing a vegetable that poor people ate every day. [...] The Choctaw people empathized with Ireland's famine victims.
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