President Ma Ying-jeou says Taiwan has become a donor country as the island has sponsored more than 280,000 children around the world. These children are the equivalent of more than one percent of Taiwan's population. The president himself has sponsored more than 10 children.

Does everyone hate the United States Agency for International Development? No, but Elizabeth Cutler, writing at the Stimson Center’s Budget Insight blog, says dysfunction at USAID would probably result from such hate if it existed. A myriad of factors, including lack of support and directly from Congress and the White House and continuing debate over the the utility and effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance, continue to hold back the ability, efficiency, and ultimately the impact of USAID and the rest of development programming.

As Nigeria celebrates 50 years of independence, BBC reporters look at the impact Africa's most populous nation has had on countries around the continent - from its movie industry and peacekeeping efforts to its notoriety for ingenious scams.

Iran was to start broadcasting television programmes in Spanish in a bid to promote its ideology, a news report said Thursday...'This new Spanish network will have a major role in reflecting the ideological legitimacy of our system to the world,' [head of Iran's state television network IRIB, Ezatollah] Zarqami added during a meeting with the country's mass prayer leaders in Tehran.

College students in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' International Youth Ambassador project shared their cultural exchange experiences Sept. 29 at Taipei County’s Fu Jen Catholic University. The MOFA sent 21 student teams from 13 universities to visit the nation’s allies, where they participated in summer camps with local youth for two to three weeks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they wanted to open a new field in diplomacy called "Science Diplomacy"...We decided to establish "Science Diplomacy" to improve Turkey's scientific image and bring high technology to Turkey in a shorter period of time, Davutoglu stressed.

One day after I posted Fidel Castro's condemnation of anti-Semitism on this blog, the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, announced that he too, felt great "love and respect" for Jews, and he invited the leaders of his country's put-upon Jewish community to meet with him. The meeting took place a short while later.