British foreign minister Boris Johnson met Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Wednesday, pledging aid to help combat the effects of a devastating drought, the Somali president's office said. [...] A statement from the Somali president's office said Britain would give 110 million pounds ($134.35 million) for drought in some parts of Somalia.

The international community has poured billions of dollars into aid, services and protection for civilians in Afghanistan hoping that winning their support would help the fight against insurgents. But new research shows that strategy has an unintended consequence: villages where residents support the international forces are more likely to face attacks from the Taliban-led insurgency.

The modern day relationship does not involve attempted invasions, divine typhoons, or malfunctioning boats, but rather political and diplomatic dialogue, economic relations, and people-to-people affairs. [...] As Mongolia’s foreign policy apparatus expands both regionally and globally, Japan serves as a source of democratic principles and values as well as a political, economic, and social model for Mongolia’s own development.

Cybercapacity is an aggregate of a number of factors, from the quality and strength of a country's digital infrastructure (access to electricity, internet quality, and internet penetration) to its innovation environment, political space (governed by laws on freedom of expression), and soft power (how much other actors desire products of its technology industry).

The 1,860.5 kilometer-long Tazara railway spanning from Tanzania's commercial center Dar es Salaam to Zambia's Central Province represents one of China's largest foreign aid projects. A tripartite agreement was signed in September 1967 to build the railroad and construction began in 1970. The railway opened in 1975 and in July 1976 was officially transferred to the governments of Tanzania and Zambia, with the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority undertaking operations.

Japan already has the tools in place and the commitment – through its broader strategic approach to Africa evidenced by TICAD – to leverage its provision of aid in Africa. The challenge in the coming years will be to shape the narrative about its aid for the local population. Japan needs to look at ways to better connect its programs to its national brand and needs to utilize its diplomatic tools to engage more deeply with people in recipient countries.

Since 2012, the US government has put more than $US700 million...into supporting gay rights groups and causes globally. America's money and public diplomacy have opened conversations and opportunities in societies where the subject was taboo just a few years ago. But they have also made gay men and lesbians more visible - and more vulnerable to harassment and violence....