Ghanaians abroad have been urged to vigorously promote the beauty and elegance of their traditional wears to become the preferred brands internationally. [...] It was to promote the cross-cultural exchange for peace and development between the two countries as well as to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations.

French President Francois Hollande is calling for an ambitious accord on the climate to address the threat of global warming. Hollande isn't at the Vatican climate conference, but he made the call at a Paris conference of religious and political leaders.

We should demystify democracy. Democracy is not a western plot, it is a universal value. Virtually all countries have aspects of democratic culture in place to some degree, and absolutely every country has room to strengthen the quality of their democracy.

Months after the Saudi government pledged to single-handedly meet the United Nations’ (UN) “flash appeal” for humanitarian aid to Yemen, Riyadh is making it clear that the donation doesn’t come without strings attached.

On April 12, as the Saudi-led air campaign rained bombs over Yemen, the UN issued an emergency flash appeal calling for $274 million in aid for the country to address the increasingly dire humanitarian condition. Less than 24 hours later, the call was met entirely by the very government that was leading the attacks against Yemen.

When the community of nations gathers in July to discuss the issue of development financing, Canada and other wealthy nations will be asked to substantially increase their foreign assistance budgets.

The heads of state and government of the seven leading industrial countries will gather in Germany on June 7 and June 8 to discuss the most pressing global challenges. The Group of Seven countries are linked not only by prosperity and economic strength, but also by their shared values: freedom, democracy and human rights. Anyone doubting that there is a point to such summits need only look to the world’s trouble spots to realize that there is a need, indeed a duty, to co-operate intensively to find joint solutions.

U.N.: A military defeat of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq could scatter extremists around the globe. Would the world be a safer place if the United States and its allies were to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria? Not necessarily, according to a senior U.N. counterterrorism official. Extremist fighters have proven remarkably adept over the past three decades at transforming themselves at the close of battles.

In the hilltop village of Murehe, electricity is an exotic and faraway rumour. Like 97 per cent of the population in Burundi, one of the world’s poorest countries, the villagers here rely on candles and kerosene for a dim and flickering light. [...] What’s even more significant is how the village got its lamps. This wasn’t a traditional charity giveaway – the old-fashioned type of foreign aid. Instead, there was a business plan, technical innovation, a system of income generation with village enterprises and a partnership with a profit-making company.