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.
UK Working Holiday Program Tough for Koreans
In 2012, Korea and the United Kingdom agreed to allow young people, aged from 18 to 30, to live and work for a maximum of two years in each other's countries in order to gain work experience.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 386 Koreans participated in the program, called the Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS), in 2012, and this number jumped to 965 in 2013. Yet the high rate of Korean participants returning home early increasingly makes the program look like a failure.
China Dusts Off 1930s Film Classics in Culture War
A new digital restoration of The Goddess, a 1934 silent movie from a golden period of the city's film industry, was recently shown at the Shanghai Film Festival. It is one of several remasterings that come as Beijing tries to extend its soft power by exporting Chinese culture around the world, and build a stronger movie industry able to compete internationally.
Sisi, Putin Discuss Military and Economic Ties
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin the creation of a Russian industrial hub in Egypt as part of the latest Suez Canal development project. The visit is also meant to address Cairo's purchase of advanced surface-to-air missiles and membership in a Moscow-led free trade zone, Agence France-Presse reported.
Iraq Crisis: UN Warns Yazidis Refugees Trapped on Mount Sinjar are Facing Imminent 'Genocide' From Isis Militants
The United Nations has warned that a mass atrocity or genocide of refugees in the Mount Sinjar region of northern Iraq could still happen “within days or hours”. The UN's special rapporteur who has been investigating the plight of 40,000 mainly Kurdish-speaking Yazidis who fled to the mountain fearing attacks from the extremist militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), said the world urgently needed to recognise the severity of the humanitarian crisis.
Ukraine: Russian Aid Can Enter With Red Cross OK
With a theatrical flourish, Russia on Tuesday dispatched hundreds of trucks covered in white tarps and sprinkled with holy water on a mission to deliver aid to a desperate rebel-held zone in eastern Ukraine. The televised sight of the miles-long convoy sparked a show of indignation from the government in Kiev, which insisted any aid must be delivered by the international Red Cross.
The Planet’s 10 Most (and Least) Peaceful Countries
So begins this year’s peace index, an annual report released by the nonprofit Institute for Economics and Peace. The study ranks 162 countries (covering 99.6% of the world’s population) according to a complex set of indicators that gauge the absence of violence and political instability. These include a nation’s level of military expenditure, its relations with neighboring countries and the percentage of the population held in prisons.
US Competing with China for Influence in Africa
The summit, that brought together 50 heads of state, along with a range of US and African civil society and business leaders, is being seen as Washington's attempt to challenge China's status in Africa. Obama denied that the United States intends to compete with China for influence in Africa, however, he said that the relationship between the United States and China is not a zero-sum game.
MH17 and the Diplomacy of Business Going Dutch
MH17 has left Dutch society in a state of mid-summer anaesthesia. Exactly 25 years after the end of the Cold War, and 20 years after the Srebrenica genocide that left more than 8,000 dead in a UN ‘safe area’ under Dutch command, the shooting down of KLM double tagged Malaysian Airlines MH17 is another defining moment for the Netherlands’ external relations.
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