Sometime in March last year Kenya’s diplomatic corps, attending the 17th Biennial Ambassadors and High Commissioners’ conference in Mombasa, bemoaned negative press reports and said this was frustrating their diplomatic initiatives in missions. The envoys noted that the local media’s fascination with “negative” narratives of insecurity, crime and corruption painted a bad image of the country abroad. 

The Ethiopian Football Federation and representatives of one of America's leading professional women's soccer teams, the Seattle Reign, met today in Addis Adaba and took the first steps in forging a strategic partnership aimed at forging international linkages and strengthening Ethiopian women's soccer. 

Benin's Angelique Kidjo has won the best world music album of the year at this year's Grammys in Los Angeles. The New York-based singer won the award for her Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg collaboration, Sings. "I want to dedicate this Grammy to all the traditional musicians in Africa, in my country, to all the young generation," Kidjo said.

Nonprofits are important because they fill a role that neither governments nor corporations can. "Corporations almost invariably underinvest in public goods, because they can capture only a small fraction of the rewards," the New Yorker's James Surowiecki wrote recently. "Governments do better at providing public goods (defense, say, or education), but private agendas often derail the public, and governments are far less effective at tackling global problems."

North Korea today is known as the world’s most isolationist nation, an obdurate outpost of totalitarianism. [...] But the public spaces of Senegal, Ethiopia, Kenya and elsewhere are dotted with reminders of a long-running  often surreal charm offensive that was waged by the North as part of the Korean peninsula’s own Cold War. Since 1969, Pyongyang’s Mansudae Art Studio has exported statues and other monuments to at least 16 African countries.

It had everything from bagpipes to belly dancers [...] Canberrans came out in force on Saturday to enjoy costume, cuisine and customs from all over the world. The 2016 National Multicultural Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary with 7.5 kilometres of bunting, 400 stalls representing 170 nationalities and 350 performance groups and 2500 performers. 

Ghana will host the third Annual Diplomatic Fair, which was formally known as Embassy Fair from May 24 to May 26, 2016 at the Accra International Conference Centre. The Fair is being organised by Precise Communications Limited in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the office of the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana.

Like all countries, America has faced times of trial and struggle, yet it has prevailed due to a strength that is derived from its diversity. Its citizens celebrate this strength during Black History Month, when we honor contributions made by African Americans — including in the areas of civil rights and diplomacy.