The United States must pursue a different approach in helping stabilize Somalia following the appointment of the first U.S. Ambassador to Somalia in more than 25 years, said a former Somali diplomat and respected foreign policy analyst. Abukar Arman, the former Special Representative of Somalia to Washington, said Wednesday the United States has been weak in using “soft power” in its effort to support the government attain security and political stability.

He plans on working in partnership with the private sector in creating a geopark that encompasses a marine protected area. [...] there’s hope that it may be recognized as a global geopark by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). [...] Ly Son Island is considered a living museum for Hoang Sa artifacts. The museum displays more than 1,000 documents, photos, and artifacts associated with the heroic Hoang Sa and Truong Sa troops.

As he nears the end of his presidency, Barack Obama continues to enjoy a broad degree of international popularity. A new Pew Research Center survey conducted in 10 European nations, four major Asia-Pacific countries, Canada and the United States finds that half or more of those polled in 15 of 16 countries express confidence in the American leader. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been a boxer, a nightclub bouncer, a world leader - and now, a cartoon book character. Mr Trudeau appears on the cover of an issue of Marvel's "Civil War II: Choosing Sides", due to be released on 31 August. Clad in a Maple-leaf tank top, boxing gloves and shorts, he is surrounded by members of a Canadian superhero group. In the story, he appears to advise the superhero team.

As the double barrels of hard power are increasingly regulated by intergovernmental agencies, nations are expanding their influence through the more pacific work of cultural promotion, and at the forefront of promoting Korean culture is the former diplomat Lee Si-hyung. When Lee was appointed the new president of the Korea Foundation last month, tasked with promoting the national brand overseas.

Whether it’s at a local or international level, everyone wants to be aware of the new policies being framed by the government, the services that are being started, and so on. To help people avail various services and take part in its initiatives, the government has launched several apps

In the Middle East, governments and non-state actors alike have tried all forms of diplomacy to solve the challenges they face, with mixed results: shuttle diplomacy by the United States between the Israelis and Palestinians worked for a time, great-power diplomacy over the Syrian civil war largely hasn’t, and direct negotiations with unsavory groups like the Taliban have moved in fits and starts. 

“You are the symbols of India’s soft power. You are the unofficial ambassadors, the cultural ambassadors,” Indian President Pranab Mukherjee told expatriates in Windhoek, Namibia, last week. The Southwest African nation has barely 300 expatriates, a miniscule part of a 30 million diaspora spread globally that is being rallied as never before. Mukherjee chose this motley group of businessmen and professionals to propose “a new relationship” with the entire continent of Africa.