Germany will ease restrictions on foreign doctors and engineers seeking work in the country in a bid to plug a yawning gap in the labour market of Europe’s top economy. Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan told the daily Passauer Neue Presse that the centre-right government would this week approve a draft law aimed at attracting thousands of professionals from abroad.

A Danish prince received a royal welcome and in return charmed large crowds Saturday evening in the “Danish Capital of America”...A crowd of 600 or more filled Solvang Park for a formal welcome and a celebration of Prince Consort Henrik’s 77th birthday, which coincidentally was Saturday.

Public diplomacy has become an important mechanism for Beijing to promote bilateral relations. China has already established 130 Confucius Institutes in 20 European countries and signed educational partnership agreements with all 27 member states of the EU.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador of Romania to Azerbaijan Nicolae Ureche said the round table had significant importance for public diplomacy. He said the public community should be informed about the missions and commitments of the North Atlantic alliance in details.

It is hard to remember the time when the Georgian leader was the reform darling of the Euro-Atlantic community, blitzing corruption with one hand, building infrastructure with another and trying to use soft power to win back the loyalties of people in the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

It looks great on paper. But there is no transparency. There are no benchmarks and no opportunities for public input or oversight...The talks are used as a public relations exercise that allow the EU to isolate human rights issues from other top-level negotiations.

Lord Patten is adamant that the best way to appreciate the BBC is to go abroad. The last governor of Hong Kong and former European Commissioner said his love of the World Service made protecting it a priority, describing it as “an institution to be proud of”.

Guerrilla Diplomacy’s central argument, in its most highly distilled form, is that if development has in large part become the new security in the age of globalization, then diplomacy must displace defence at the centre of international policy.