During the latest China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a new development assistance deal for Africa. The $60 billion development package will include a string of zero-interest loans for infrastructure projects. But the latest deals also include more cultural exchange projects as well as scholarships and training programs for Africans.

TRAFFIC is a U.K.-based wildlife trade monitoring network, and it wants to change the culture around rhino horns. As Taylor Hill reported last week, the organization has set up workshops at traditional medicine schools in the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. TRAFFIC hopes to teach the next generation of traditional medicine practitioners that there are alternative—and more humane—ingredients.

In an ideal world, big foundations might be superfluous. But in the real world they are vital, because they are adept at targeting problems that both the private sector and the government often neglect. The classic mission of nonprofits is investing in what economists call public goods [...] Yet philanthropic investment in global projects continues to increase. 

New Zealand has confirmed that the black, white and blue silver fern design won a referendum to become a possible new flag, after the final votes were counted […] The decision to choose a new flag has been backed by [Prime Minister John Key], who has said the current one is too similar to Australia's and that it is time to remove the Union Jack from the current flag.

BASED IN Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has a distinguished 112-year history as an independent news source, in English, about China […] Chinese Internet mogul Jack Ma’s company, Alibaba, has just announced plans to buy the paper [...] It may well be that the South China Morning Post is about to be molded into a pseudo-private instrument of the Chinese state’s “soft power,” […]

The United States spends more on international aid than any other nation — more than $32 billion a year. Yet it has come in near the bottom of a newly released ranking that scores the wealthiest nations according to how much they help the world's poorest people […] What gives?

Since March, Obama has travelled to countries including Britain, Japan, Cambodia and Qatar to promote Let Girls Learn, an initiative to help some of the more than 30 million adolescent girls who lack access to education. Embracing a network of 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers, it will seek community-led solutions to lower the barriers that prevent girls from getting secondary schooling.

Saudi Arabia is taking a "soft power" jab at its regional rival Iran this week — a news website in Farsi, the language of Iran. It launches Thursday and the Saudi government expects to eventually start a Farsi-language TV channel as well. The step into soft power is new for the wealthy Kingdom, more known for opening its checkbook to gain influence.