Public diplomacy expert Çevik said Turkey is gradually getting better at using various public tools, but there is still a distance that needs to be covered, considering the power of public diplomacy will facilitate the country having well-established ties in the international arena.

On the world stage, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, the 43-year-old son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, has pledged to reassert Canada’s traditional position as a humanitarian soft power. He has wasted little time in signaling a shift in Canada’s foreign policy back to the left after a decisive victory Monday over his predecessor, Conservative leader Stephen Harper.

To be sure, these problems are difficult to resolve. The issue of refugees and displaced peoples is one of the great tests of the international humanitarian ideals of the 21st century, and of the cosmopolitan aspirations of a Europe shaped by ambition to project its soft power and good governance across the world. However, when cosmopolitanism meets state interests under economic pressure, the former is often cast aside. 

The Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles this week is extraordinary in its multifaceted reach. The Opening Ceremonies in front of 65,000 people in the Coliseum and on ESPN on Saturday was number one on Facebook. The competitions have been drawing full houses and an international television audience for the first time. Moreover, the lives of the athletes have been changed in ways no other sports competition achieves.

International donors must boost aid to developing nations to ensure that millions of the world's poorest and marginalised children can go to school, a group of Nobel laureates said on Monday, ahead of a global conference on financing for education.

The UK government’s humanitarian response package for the Nepal earthquake now stands at £22.8 million, following a contribution to the United Nations’ emergency appeal, International Development Secretary Justine Greening announced today. Britain has released a new £5.3 million support package to the UN following their ‘Flash Appeal’ to provide additional help to people affected by the devastating 7.8 magnitude Nepal earthquake. 

A senior Iranian official says Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen and its prevention of the delivery of the Islamic Republic’s humanitarian aid to the war-wracked country will not go unanswered. “We consider all options for helping the Yemeni people and immediate dispatch of humanitarian aid and transfer of the injured,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday.