Now a former US ambassador who has negotiated his way through some of the world’s most tense political moments says the current threat of the Islamic State is equally severe. “Today we are confronting some of the most difficult problems we’ve had in a long time. Some of them are amenable to some process of negotiation but unfortunately many are not,” Christopher Hill told news.com.au.

Turkey was the world’s third most generous country for the allocation of international aid in 2013, according to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report released on Sept. 11. The country provided $1.6 billion last year for international humanitarian assistance, while the U.S. spent $4.7 billion and Britain spent $1.8 billion. Japan spent $1.1 billion and Germany donated $949 million.

Members of a Cuban medical brigade will begin arriving in Ebola-struck Sierra Leone at the beginning of October. Cuba's Public Health Minister Roberto Morales announced today. He said the 165-member team will include 62 doctors and 103 nurses. All, he said, have more than 15 years' experience and have previously served in medical cooperation missions abroad.

The State of Kuwait is currently taking part in the third Arabic Arts Festival held in the Chinese capital Beijing, with participants underlining necessity of boosting ties and cultural interactions between the Chinese and Arab nations.  The cultural event has already kicked off, with Kuwait's participation, led by Mohammad Al-Asousi, Deputy Secretary General of the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters.

Around 2,700 United States and Philippine armed forces members are set to begin naval exercises later this month in Palawan and Zambales.  “The exercise aims to advance the Philippines and US military to military relationship, build combined capacity for command and control, combined arms, amphibious operations, mechanized operations, special operations and logistics support operations,” Domingo explained.

A latest poll unveiled on Tuesday that tapping public diplomacy to repair bilateral relations continued to attract public support from both China and Japan.  The contribution of people-to-people interactions to improving ties were endorsed by 64.4 percent of the Japanese public and 63.4 percent of its Chinese counterpart, , according to the 10th Public Opinion on China-Japan Relations survey, which has been co-sponsored annually by China Daily and Japanese nonprofit think tank Genron NPO.

Health care diplomacy trumps political tension between the United States and Russia for a delegation of doctors and nurses visiting La Crosse to glean ideas to improve care back home. The two doctors and three nurses are rubbing elbows with their counterparts and others at Gundersen Health System this week as part of World Services of La Crosse’s Bridging Cancer Care project.

China and at least two Asean members–the Philippines and Vietnam–remain locked in territorial disputes over the South China Sea.  Beijing seeks to allay fears in Asean as it strengthens its economic and military clout in the region. One way to do this, an official said, is for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to engage in what it calls “e-public diplomacy.”