The rise in multilateral funding, the IDC noted, had been accompanied by a relative decline in spending on programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and on some key millennium development goal targets. It urged DfID to spend more on bilateral programmes, on sub-Saharan Africa, and to “significantly increase spending on reproductive health”.

With a massive invasion by U.S. ground troops ruled out — for now — the debate in Washington over what to do about Islamic State militants has shifted into the realm of diplomacy and “soft power.”

In a move aimed at easing Western sanctions and its economic isolation, along with promoting higher education development and regional cooperation, Iran is continuing to establish more branch campuses of its universities across the Arab states.

The chairman of the country's leading think-tank, Jiro Hanyu from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, believes that this negative trend is temporary, and underlined that they are trying to do everything in their power to increase mutual understanding between the Japanese and Muslim communities.

The Obama Administration has advertised that by using “smart power” it would enhance U.S. influence around the world. So it’s worth noting an episode in which China is routing the U.S. in economic diplomacy.

Beijing has long sought to boost its "soft power" abroad, spending billions of yuan on expanding the international presence of its state-run media -- including broadcaster CCTV and official news agency Xinhua -- and through its ubiquitous government-sponsored language centres, known as Confucius Institutes.

U.S. lawmakers have renewed scrutiny of a nearly 30-year-old program that allows people from dozens of countries to travel to the U.S. without the bureaucratic hassle of obtaining a visa.

The home-court detente with the United States on Monday and Tuesday has once again accentuated Cuba's ingrained gradualism, which has been the hallmark of the island country's diplomacy and economic development for years in its pursuit of security and political correctness.