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.
McCain: U.S. Has ‘No Credibility’ in Egypt
It’s high time for the United States to cut off its $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt as the military regime cracks down violently on protesters, Sen. John McCain argued Sunday. The Arizona Republican added the U.S. has lost its credibility in the region after failing to follow its own law that requires suspending aid to states overtaken by a military coup–though the U.S. has not officially described the recent regime change in Egypt as a coup.
Lure of Social Media Monster
Speaking to youth in Dubai, many feel the Internet is making them more connected, and better informed — but they are not all sure it is changing traditional values as quickly as some might expect. The Arab Social Media report published in June this year showed social media use continuing to grow in the region.
Gibraltar: The Rock of Offence
Britain and Spain are supposed to be NATO and EU allies. You wouldn’t think so now, as a petty dispute over concrete blocks planted in the sea off Gibraltar to protect marine life morphs into a serious cause of friction. Far from fizzling out, as former spats over Gibraltar did usually, this conflict is in danger of escalating to the point of no return.
Insight: North Korea’s Kim Tries New Tack With Defectors - Being Nice
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is taking a new approach to defectors who have fled his impoverished and repressive state, promising they will not be harmed if they come home, and even offering cash rewards, according to some in the exile community. For some who return from South Korea there's even the chance of a stage-managed performance on state television, although what happens to them after their prime time appearances is not known in a state where 200,000 people are imprisoned in gulags and where punishment extends to three generations of a family.
Luxury Hotels In China Face A Triple Threat, But Psst - Rooms Are Cheap
Just a few years ago, the luxury hotel business was booming in China—a steadily rising economy was producing droves of deep-pocketed business travelers, and government officials were quaffing top shelf Bordeaux wine and running giant tabs in hotel banquet rooms. All that has changed with Chinese president Xi Jinping’s “four dishes and a soup” austerity plan, as government officials facing public shame or worse for spending public funds on lavish banquet room entertainment, or even wine with lunch.
Congress Divided Over Cutting Off Aid to Egypt
Opinions among lawmakers remained split on Sunday over whether the US should cut off or suspend aid to Egypt. The US spends roughly $1.5 billion a year on assistance to Egypt with much of it going to financing the purchase of US military equipment. Calls to cut off or suspend this aid has been growing since the Egyptian military's crackdown against supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. The violence has so far killed more than 750 people.
New Zealand Gay Couples Hold First Weddings
The first same-sex weddings have taken place in New Zealand after the country became the first in the Asia-Pacific region and 14th in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. Thirty-one same-sex couples had been due to marry on Monday, according to the Department of Internal Affairs. It comes after New Zealand's parliament passed a bill in April amending the country's 1955 marriage act.
A Breakup Letter to Zimbabwe: I Really Just Don’t Care Anymore
With my pen and a notebook, I was trying to take on Zimbabwe: the country in southern Africa I call home and maintain a fierce love-hate relationship with. Indeed, there was a feeling that day of writing to an aloof and self-satisfied lover, whose transgressions one has been cataloguing in silence, waiting for an opening to iron things out. But instead of finding new things to rant about, novel problems to propose solutions to, I found myself confronted by the sameness and repetitiveness that characterizes Zimbabwe’s politics.
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