The Palestinian flag has for the first time been raised at the United Nations following an address delivered by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the UN General Assembly.

The thesis of a campaign and accompanying report launched this week by 12 international corporations, including Google, American Express, IBM, and LinkedIn […] the “Open for Business” campaign takes a global approach to LGBT rights, arguing that the nearly 80 countries that criminalize, marginalize, or persecute LGBT individuals do so at their economic peril.

The State Department says it’s losing the information war to ISIS—and is tapping HBO, Snapchat, and a screenwriter with deep CIA connections to help turn things around.

Following his speech [to Congress], Pope Francis has reportedly chosen to skip a number of invitations to dine with members of congress, including Speaker of the House John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Instead, he has opted to spend his lunch both serving, and eating with members of Washington’s homeless community.

Israel needs a new information agency to improve its pathetically inadequate public diplomacy efforts, insists Dr. Norman Bailey. [...] Right now, however, it is badly losing a war fought with words, not bullets, but the effect of which can be just as devastating for Israel’s future.

China plans to spend 360 million yuan (HK$454 million) on expanding its overseas cultural centres this year - nearly double last year's amount - amid government efforts to bolster its soft power abroad. But observers are sceptical whether the centres, which are different from the Confucius Institutes, can improve the nation's image overseas, especially given similar efforts have attracted criticism.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday launched the Kenya Diaspora Policy as well as a new Foreign Policy, which seek to enhance the country’s engagement with other nations. The President says the two policies will help the government put in place structures, programmes and incentives to attract and utilise qualified and skilled human resource drawn from Kenyans abroad.

Wikipedia is often seen as a great equalizer. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people collaborate on a seemingly endless range of topics by writing, editing and discussing articles, and uploading images and video content.