As one of quake-stricken Nepal’s closest neighbours—sharing a common frontier with road and air connectivity, open borders that do not require visas, besides cultural, language and other commonalities between the two, India was perhaps the best placed to offer succour to Nepal.

Russia’s image in the Middle East is that of a tough state with a rigid authoritative political rule and an inclination toward hard power in its foreign policy. Indeed, Moscow’s support for some regional hard-liners and opposition to others, as well as its stance as one of the largest arms suppliers to the Middle East, are all grounds for this perception in the region. Although recently Russians have started to pay more attention to its soft power projection in different parts of the world, Moscow has a long way to go to make itself look more attractive on this front.

Creative Expo Taiwan is set to kick off April 29 in Taipei City, featuring 600 exhibitors from around the world at the country’s largest cultural and creative industry show. Organized by Taiwan Design Center under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the six-day event was renamed this year from Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo. 

Several ministries have come up with initiative to raise the quota for foreign students in Russian institutes and universities saying that this would help to promote national interests around the world. The proposal was released for public discussion through the special government web portal, and suggests increasing the quota for state-sponsored scholarships for foreign students from 15,000 to 20,000.

This week, Gallup released "Rating World Leaders: What People Worldwide Think of the U.S., China, Russia, the EU and Germany," the first-ever Gallup report on global public opinion about these major world powers. 

In periods of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United Kingdom and United States maintained absolute dominance in a unipolar world, which was why they were called "British century" and "American century." Based on this, predictions of a so-called "Chinese century" must meet two preconditions -- a unipolar international configuration and absolute Chinese dominance.

In addition to the state's renewed interest in Belarusisation and cultural initiatives, support for these changes in society is also on the rise. The 'soft' Belarusisation policy and the activity of the organisations such as Art Siadziba are in growing demand in Belarus.

As Sweden's government intensifies the campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council 2017-2018 the rights-based foreign policy the government claims it wants to carry out will be put to the test. The diplomatic entanglements with Saudi Arabia and the Arab League show clear differences between the nations of the world when it comes to their view of human rights, not least the rights of girls and women. Sweden must continue to make its voice heard.