On Thursday, August 18th, Food Republic, a food website that features extensive food news and culture, will be hosting a live Twitter chat with Chefs John Besh, Andrew Zimmern, Aaron Sanchez, Beau MacMillan, Michael Voltaggio, and sites Foodspotting and Food + Tech Connect about our roles using social media to raise awareness about food and other causes, such as the crisis in East Africa.

Though still dealing with unresolved border disputes and internal rebellions, newly independent South Sudan has offered to help the peace in another country in its region. Since it is likely to continue to require quite a bit of international assistance for its development and security in the coming years, the government consider this a wise investment meant at building up international good will.

Better World Books, a bookseller that calls itself "the online bookstore with a soul," announced an initiative this week to donate a book to the company's non-profit literacy partners--Feed the Children and Books for Africa--every time a book is purchased on their website. Books for Africa will receive used textbooks, while Feed the Children will (obviously) get children's books.

The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday pledged to give up to $1 million to help equip high school students in the tornado-ravaged city of Joplin with laptop computers for the coming school year. The gift materialized after United Arab Emirates officials read an Associated Press story in late June about the school system's struggles.

Over the weekend, Dr. Jill Biden led a delegation to Kenya to view firsthand the situation on the ground. Dr. Biden wanted to do this trip to highlight the crisis in the Horn of Africa and help mobilize both an American response, but also a global response to a crisis that is acute but to also underscore the fact that there is a lot we can do about it; that we can get assistance to people...

Watching the wife of the US vice-president touring the world's biggest refugee camp for famine-hit Somalis was a scrum of television cameramen, international reporters and Washington staffers thumbing their BlackBerrys. US officials privately agreed that the main thrust of the visit was to get the story onto American television channels, which have been slower to report on the crisis than in other countries.

South Africans and private institutions have been “generously” donating money and other resources to relief efforts in East Africa. South Africa recently mounted a media blitz to raise money for a government-established relief fund, as well as for medical supplies and non-perishable foods. The government has tried to widen the reach of the campaign with social media like Facebook and Twitter.

The term "soft power" refers to using warships for humanitarian purposes, such disaster relief, which had not been a Chinese capability . Now it has recently built a... hospital ship and... Landing Platform Dock helicopter landing ship — both of which deployed to Middle East nations in 2010.