The United States which has increasingly taken Latin America for granted is now challenged by China’s soft power diplomacy through hard cash loans.

By some yardsticks, spending on security now accounts for 30 to 40 percent of the department’s operational budget. Next year, it plans to spend four times more on “worldwide security protection” than on public diplomacy.

Access Bank Plc said it has entered into partnership with the United States Embassy in Nigeria to empower Nigerian women on how to become information technology compliant.

This was a formal, and very exclusive, event held by the Diplomatic Sauna Society, a Scandinavian-flavored networking club established by a spokesman of the Finnish embassy in D.C. to help the country’s diplomats forge connections with Washington heavyweights.

Seoul plans to spare no effort to promote public diplomacy in the U.S. to prevent American citizens from having negative sentiments toward South Korea following the attack on Lippert, according to officials.

Seoul and Washington are striving to minimize the fallout from a knife attack against the U.S. ambassador here which triggered concerns that it may dampen public sentiment and set hurdles for the allies’ future cooperation.

The board, which oversees United States government-supported international news media like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, is scheduled to meet on Friday to begin looking for a successor to Mr. Lack.