About $1 in every $10 of Canadian aid money was reportedly unspent last fiscal year, hinting at the difficult road ahead for the government to streamline, simplify and speed up operations in the merged Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. Preliminary figures recently released by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer show that the former Canadian International Development Agency reportedly spent only $2.76 billion out of the $3.14 billion set aside for grants and contributions for fiscal year 2011-2012.

U.S.-Ecuador relations have become tangled. In June, president Rafael Correa made headlines when he offered NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden political asylum. This was considered an attempt by Correa to demonstrate that he was not controlled by “el imperio” (the empire, as Washington is labeled by several left-leaning Latin American governments). But Quito ultimately withdrew its offer and, in baffling recent news, has hired a public relations firm, Van Scoyoc Associates (VSA), based in Washington, D.C., to improve its relations with the U.S. government.

The end of the Cold War changed the nature and mission of international broadcasting. But Congress correctly saw a continued role for such broadcasting to serve U.S. foreign policy by delivering targeted news and information to places where local media still provide an incomplete picture at best and leave citizens unable to make informed decisions. After adding broadcasts from Radio Marti to Cuba in 1985, and TV Marti in 1990, Congress created the International Broadcasting Bureau in 1994. Then came Radio Free Asia in 1996 and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks in 2004.

The US is to host talks with Israel and Palestinian negotiators in the next week following a breakthrough in the drive to revive the moribund Middle East peace process. John Kerry, US secretary of state, called the move a "significant step forward". The agreement, announced on Friday evening after four months of intensive diplomacy, fell short of a hoped for face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two sides.

Organized crime lurks behind many of the stories in the headlines today, though the connection rarely becomes explicit. Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who was just convicted on probably spurious charges of embezzlement, made a name for himself by targeting the corruption that is so deep-seated in today’s Russia that it’s often hard to see where the government leaves off and the mob begins. European Union law enforcement officials warned recently that mobsters are capitalizing on the European financial crisis by taking advantage of black markets in goods and services.

The percentage of women in charge of agricultural-and-livestock productions in recent years in Latin America increased, although in smaller areas of land, soil of lesser quality and less access to credits and other facilities, the FAO reported today. In a communique released here, the UN Regional Office for Food and Agriculture said women also have less access to technical assistance and training.