Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House means it may, finally, be decision time for Europe. The new U.S. president’s barrage of criticism in the run up to his inauguration last week prompted pledges to stick together and revive support for the European Union. Germany’s Angela Merkel vowed to maintain unity through continuous dialogue with other members. Mark Rutte of the Netherlands called for a fresh focus on the economy. 

The partnership was formed in August last year, after the third edition. “We have a large North Eastern community here. We wanted to support their effort to showcase their culture and, in the process, also showcase ours to them. We felt the event can be a cross-cultural exchange platform. Also, Bengaluru has been called the most dynamic city in the world.

“A decent respect to the opinions of mankind,” intones the U.S. Declaration of Independence, requires that those who want to break away from a nation-state explain publicly their reasons for doing so. Today, however, following a dramatic week of events connected to the ascent of Donald Trump to the Presidency, a similar imperative requires that we try to explain to the world—and most of all to ourselves—what is going on. 

President Tsai Ing-wen arrived Jan 12. in El Salvador on the final leg of her nine-day tour of four Republic of China (Taiwan) Central American diplomatic allies [...] According to Tsai, her visit is made in the spirit of mutual assistance, and she anticipates Taiwan and El Salvador jointly developing more plans and projects en route to expanding cultural, economic and people-to-people exchanges.

Germany's Marshall Plan with Africa received a lot of praise but also criticism [...] The so-called "Marshall Plan” - drawing a direct parallel to the huge United States program that kick-started the ravaged German economy after World War Two - talks about a new level of development cooperation. The plan foresees a complete restructuring of the German economic cooperation with Africa.

“Singapore’s branding as a ‘place for innovation’ has helped it to attract talents in sectors such as biotechnologies,” GTCI 2017 co-author Bruno Lanvin tells HRM Asia. A large part of this is because the Singapore Government has been quick to recognise the importance of innovation.

Caroline Kennedy stepped down on Wednesday after three years as US ambassador to Japan, where she was welcomed like a celebrity and worked to deepen the US-Japan relationship despite regular flare-ups over American military bases on the southern island of Okinawa [...] Some will also remember the efforts of the first female US ambassador to Japan to promote literacy and women’s and LGBT rights.