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.
Speaking Softly Means Australia’s Voice Will Not Be Heard on Human Rights
It seems to have taken an apparent chemical weapons attack killing hundreds in Syria to bring human rights into the foreign policy debate of the Australian elections. Until these horrific events in Syria, human rights have been a glaring omission from the foreign policy agendas of both the Labor Party and the Coalition.
Gangs Gain Most from El Salvador Truce: Opinion Poll
Nearly half of Salvadorans believe the "maras" benefit most from the country's gang truce, according to an opinion poll, which could spell political trouble for the pact as presidential elections are looming. In a public opinion survey of 2,119 Salvadorans, El Salvador's Universidad Tecnologica found that 47 percent of respondents believed the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) street gangs benefitted most from the truce brokered between the two groups in March 2012.
West’s Quagmire on Syria: Damned If You Strike, Damned If you Don’t
In the past week, social media masses have swiftly begun to unleash their ire with user generated content poking fun at the big players in the Syrian conflict. Social media users were torn between those who mocked Assad for getting the cold shoulder treatment by Russian’s Putin, whilst others channeled their creativity to portray that Assad is a victim of a global conspiracy.
Paraguay’s “Little” Insurgent Problem
The Paraguayan Army has deployed some 400 troops from its 4th Infantry Division to three northern regions — Concepción, San Pedro and Amambay — to hunt down the members of a shadowy insurgent movement, the Paraguayan People’s Army (Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo; EPP for short). The group stands accused of killing four guards at a cattle ranch and a police officer in San Pedro; the attack came days after Horacio Cartes was inaugurated as Paraguay’s new head of state on August 15. The EPP, it seems, wanted to waste no time in giving him a bloody welcome.
Aid Community Shattered by Violence (Again) in Afghanistan
The International Rescue Committee is temporarily suspending its operations in Afghanistan following the brutal killing of five of its local staff members, the latest in a string of violent attacks against aid groups in the country in just about three months. The aid workers, who were in their 20s, were part of a development project in Herat province under the Afghan government’s National Solidarity Program, of which IRC is a facilitating partner.
The Quebec Government’s Plan to Ban Religious Symbols May Be A Stroke of Genius
Last week the Journal de Montreal dropped a bomb on Quebec’s extremely shaky sense of identity by publishing leaked details from the upcoming Charter of Quebec Values set to be released in the fall. Apparently, the government plans to ban employees of public institutions like schools, hospitals and daycares from wearing religious symbols such as turbans, hijabs, kippas, crucifixes, or anything else “conspicuously religious.”
Dictating The Market
Unlike sex, despotism doesn’t usually sell. That doesn’t stop some marketers from trying. Entrepreneurs around the world are profiting from businesses and products named after blood-stained dictators. Goods that invoke Hitler, for example, are popular in India, where, it seems, some businesses think the pull of his charisma outweighs the negative connotation of his crimes. A Mumbai restaurant was recently forced to rename its Hitler’s Cross pizza after outrage from Jewish groups.
Fidel Castro Denies Russian Claim that Cuba Snubbed Edward Snowden
Fidel Castro has criticised a claim in a Russian newspaper that his country buckled to US pressure and blocked the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden from travelling through Cuba to exile in Latin America. Castro, who ceded the Cuban presidency to his brother, Raúl, in 2006, and is rarely seen or heard from in public, said the article in the Kommersant newspaper on Monday was a lie and libell.
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