"This is Dange Nwe Radio, refugee-to-refugee segment, from 8am to 12 noon, broadcast in Kurmanji and Arabic," a female broadcaster announces in a southern Iraqi accent. [...] The new refugee radio program on Dange Nwe (New Voice) Radio is staffed exclusively by Syrian and Iraqi women displaced by the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and the war in Syria.

When he became pope, there was some concern that Francis lacked experience with the wider world. He had traveled little outside of his native Argentina, his pastoral experience was rooted in a metropolis, Buenos Aires, and its shantytowns, addressing problems of everyday life — poverty, migration and human trafficking. No one expected him to become a global player. But Francis is also the first Jesuit pope. Over the centuries his religious order often waged its own diplomacy, acquiring extensive knowledge of other cultures. The training shows.

As new challenges such as the critical need for a universal sustainable development agenda confront mankind, science and diplomacy are converging as common tools for trouble-shooting. A new phenomenon is Science Diplomacy involving the role of science in diplomacy.

The Belarusian society for friendship and cultural ties with foreign countries helps build a solid basis for a peaceful future, chairwoman of the society Nina Ivanova told BelTA. The organization [...] implements programs with the help of 40 societies for friendship with different countries. The strengthening of friendship ties between people living in different cultural, social and political environments helps build a solid basis for a peaceful future, Nina Ivanova pointed out.

Pope Francis has responded to a moral crisis with a spectacular gesture that transcends all the niceties of correct procedure and inter-religious diplomacy. It has been announced that he and Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based cleric who is “first among equals” in the eastern Orthodox church will visit the island of Lesbos, the epicentre of an international crisis triggered by an influx of refugees bent on reaching Europe. It seems this will happen on April 15th.

"My cheeks are sore from smiling," says Loyce Maturu. The 24-year-old, who lives in Harare, Zimbabwe, is posing for a photo at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. She's come to be interviewed about her activism. She's a champion for people with HIV/AIDS and TB (she's been diagnosed with both). So really, the pain of smiling is nothing compared to what she's been through.

“Our U.S. government can’t be everywhere at every moment,” said Jennifer Clinton, president of Global Ties U.S. “We must continue to find ways to leverage the citizenry to build the bridges that lead to increased security, economic development, economic ties and cultural ties.”

Leonardo DiCaprio has visited the Indonesian jungle to help protect a biodiverse area from deforestation. [...] DiCaprio spent the weekend in the Leuser ecosystem, on Indonesia's main western island of Sumatra. The actor, an ardent supporter of environmental causes, was pictured accompanied by local environmentalists and flanked by two critically endangered Sumatran elephants.