The Martyr’s Epic is now among many other treasures in the collection of the Barjeel Art Foundation, a museum established in 2010 in the United Arab Emirates to house the art collection of Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi. [...] Although the Barjeel Art Foundation collection is identified as Arab art, the term “Arab” is a broad one, comprising peoples of numerous nations, including Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Sudan, among others.

THE  Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) has unveiled a new roadmap with medium and long-term objectives that will fast-track the growth of the industry. The strategic five-point action plan is to galvanize the nation’s tourism, improve service delivery and effectiveness in critical sectors of the industry.

Twenty-five years after UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali opened the doors for the CSOs and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to contribute to the success of the Earth Summit in June 1992 that stressed the inexorable link between environment and development, the CSOs have successfully exercised their 'soft power' to help usher in a world free of nuclear weapons.

An exhibition featuring sports-related stamps, including more than 1,000 commissioned for the Olympic Games, opened in Taipei’s Zhongshan Hall yesterday. “A stamp is a nation’s business card,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said at the opening. “The art and culture contained in a tiny stamp can demonstrate a nation’s soft power.”

Tourism is one of the main income sources of developing countries. For Kenya, one of Africa's leading tourism destinations, the industry is the country's second largest source of foreign exchange after agriculture. [...] Currently Kenya is serviced from the key long-haul source markets by five international full-service airlines that fly direct from their hub to Nairobi.

The Gobabeb Research and Training Centre in the Namib Desert received a Suzuki Gypsy bakkie from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) on Tuesday. [...] TIKA representative Abdulkadir Abukan mentioned that in 2016, Turkey was named as the most generous country for foreign aid per GDP, donating almost US $6.2 billion internationally. “We are very impressed by the work being done at Gobabeb. We are especially happy to be able to assist, in this way, in the work being done to help train the next generation of Namibian scientists,” said Abukan.

Estonia has carved out a niche as a startup hub and a friendly environment for foreign businesses. Its biggest innovation, however, lies in e-government. Citizens of this tiny Baltic nation can conduct almost every encounter with the state online. [...] These achievements have made e-government a potent source of soft power for Estonia.

Last week, Korean pop group Twice made its “official” debut in Japan, featuring the release of a Japanese-language best-of compilation and a showcase at Tokyo Gymnasium on July 2. [...] Japanese media has primarily focused on the fact three of Twice’s members are Japanese. [...] The Japanese members are shown as soft power superhumans, helping Japan’s image in Korea.