The plan, a part of the foreign office's "public diplomacy" initiatives, will start with a national, multi-stage essay-writing competition among the over 10,000 students at the central schools, but could then be expanded to other educational institutions as well, officials said.

The Havana excursion, which Team Coco’s editors are still furiously cutting together, represents a new form for him, an hour-long episode set to air March 4 where he is the perpetual “fish out of water” — an attempt to use comedy as a kind of diplomacy. “Maybe it's not a bad form of diplomacy. Maybe it's not bad to send a comedian over,” Conan said of the thawing U.S.-Cuba relations spearheaded by the Obama administration. 

President Obama will send Susan E. Rice, his national security adviser, and Samantha Power, his envoy to the United Nations, to speak to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at its conference here next week, officials at the White House said Thursday.

Think open dialogue and reconciliation and China isn’t usually the first country that comes to mind. But in 2013 China shifted its principle of “non-interference in other countries” to one of active conflict resolution in some of the world’s most intractable contexts: Israel-Palestine, Myanmar, and Afghanistan. (...) But while it may be a welcome foray, its success will be muted at best unless China can overcome one major blind spot: religion.

Enjoying steady bilateral relations since diplomatic ties were established after the Vietnam War in 1976, the Philippines and Vietnam are now engaging in high-level dialogues to try to establish a strategic partnership.

Papers voice concern over Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung's plan to limit the number of mainland tourists. Mr Leung said on Tuesday that he would discuss proposals to tighten the Individual Visit Scheme for mainland tourists with Beijing authorities, the Xinhua News Agency reports.

Randy Berry, currently the consul general of the Netherlands, will be tasked with promoting the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals at home and abroad, as well as combatting violence and discrimination against LGBT people around the world, according to the Boston Globe.

With a slightly strong ‘A’ grade, the kingdom is ranked 31st globally in the ranking conducted by Bloom Consulting, a Spain-based consulting firm specializing in nation branding and destination branding with offices in Madrid, Lisbon and Sao Paulo.