Abubakar had been feeling frustrated that her home region is best known for its ties to Boko Haram. So in 2015, she decided to do something about it. She started taking pictures of the daily life that she says local and international media neglect as they focus on bomb blasts, suicide attacks, death and destruction — and the fallout from Boko Haram's violence.

The sarkari festival of India abroad has been forced to try a new template, with corporate contributions and a professional production company brought in, which could not have been easy at a time when the government is cutting spending on culture. Organising the Confluence Festival of India was a learning, and sometimes, a humbling experience, especially for Indian High Commissioner to Australia Navdeep Suri.

It is a sign of how much the United States influences our lives that large numbers of Indians tuned in to see the first debate between Presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The debate was shown early in the morning but many had arranged to not just get up, but also assemble friends to see it together so that they could discuss it in real time, somewhat like, say, World Cup football.

Although China lacked the creativity to produce a soft power hit like the popular Disney movie, it seems to have the vision to shape something bigger: the “One Belt, One Road” initiative – the supreme mixture of soft and hard power, something similar to Joseph Nye’s idea of smart power. China has the power, now can ‘One Belt, One Road’ take it down the path to glory?

Britain is currently a highly influential actor in the international development system, due to a combination of its financial clout and soft power, which enables influence without resorting to force or money. The UK has been one of the most important donors to multilateral initiatives such as the World Bank’s International Development Association and the EU’s European Development Fund. 

China has launched a program to promote stories of well-behaved outbound Chinese tourists in an effort to improve overseas images of Chinese world travelers. [...] China's tourism industry, which has seen rapid growth, has become an influencing force in the world. [...] "The behavior of Chinese [outbound] tourists is one of the important parameters to gauge the national soft power," ​

I did make it to the North America Lebanese Diaspora Energy Conference. There I moderated a panel discussion on "Branding Lebanon: Buy Lebanon and Lebanese Cuisine". LDE promotes entrepreneurship in Lebanon and the support was certainly there. The line-up of expatriate participants [...] represented all that is good about the Lebanese migrant tradition.