The United States on Wednesday marked the completion of the first year of restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. [...] Since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, the department said the United States and Cuba have expanded cooperation in areas such as the environment, transportation, agriculture, health and law enforcement.

Recent comments by Donald Trump in the New York Times should and will frighten Americans and our allies around the world. In response to questions about the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) the Republican nominee suggested that he would abandon our friends and fail to protect our allies if they didn’t pay a high enough price. 

The Obama administration is hosting defense and foreign ministers and representatives from over 40 countries Wednesday in an effort to get more help fighting ISIS. A day after the anti-ISIS coalition announced it had dropped its 50,000th bomb in the nearly two-year campaign to root the terror group out of Iraq and Syria, the US sought to raise over $2 billion in funding to bolster Iraq and seek other help from allies to stabilize the region.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his five-day, four-nation tour of Africa on July 11. He spent two days in South Africa and made brief visits to Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya. As he left Nairobi at the end of the tour, Modi had covered 42 countries in his 51 trips abroad. Antarctica is now the only continent he has not visited in his two years in office.

There were controversies in terms of migration created by individuals outside of the official “Vote Leave” campaign. Yet, contrary to a widely held belief, migration was never the primary issue: the economy was a greater concern. The aforementioned ORB poll showed that 52% of respondents believed the economy to be more important than immigration.

The two day Asian Confluence NADI River Festival is one such example. Organized by the Asian Confluence and India, East Asia Center in Shillong, in collaboration with the Meghalaya government and the Maulana Abul Kamal Azad Institute of Asian Studies, [...] Rivers served as the central theme of discussions, as in addition to serving as a means of transport, rivers have formed as a connective narrative among people for centuries.

In what seems likely to be a concerted and protracted charm offensive, China has been inviting hundreds of Myanmar opinion-formers to “improve understanding” on their part of China’s intentions. China is telling Myanmar that it knows Myanmar has changed, and that China’s attitude has changed too.

The ruling by the tribunal in the Philippines vs. Chinaarbitration case is no doubt a major setback to Chinese diplomacy. No matter how people evaluate the quality and impartiality of the ruling, [...] it will not only damage China’s image and soft power, but will greatly inhibit China’s claims to territory and maritime rights in the South China Sea, and the consequences will be far reaching.