China and India competed to send aid after Nepal's devastating earthquake. Experts discuss whether the strategy was a boon for China's image there.

China and Algeria announced the comprehensive strategic partnership in February 2014 on the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of strategic cooperation between the two countries.

In the unfolding reinvention of the U.S.-Cuban relationship, health appears as a sector with special promise for cooperation, particularly well-positioned to be the front edge of an opening with Cuba. Normalization of relations has the potential for fruitful, enlarged engagement in four key health-related areas that can bring mutual gain in improving lives and advancing knowledge.

As one of quake-stricken Nepal’s closest neighbours—sharing a common frontier with road and air connectivity, open borders that do not require visas, besides cultural, language and other commonalities between the two, India was perhaps the best placed to offer succour to Nepal.

The initiative announced on Tuesday will receive $300-million over the next five years. Proponents see the move as a good first step that could eventually put Canada in the ranks of other developed countries that are making a profit on loans and other financing options for Canadian, international and local businesses operating in developing countries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping appealed to wealthy nations to increase support for developing countries during a summit Wednesday, saying China would offer trade benefits to poor nations having diplomatic ties with Beijing.

Until the 20th century, they were Europe’s biggest imperial powers. Today, France, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Portugal are spending the bulk of their official development assistance (ODA) budgets on their former colonies.

China has awarded Venezuela 5 billion dollars for unspecified “development plans,” President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday, approximately three months after an official visit to China. According to published reports, the loan is part of a 10 billion deal to be completed in the following months.