Campaigners who believe funding for schooling in the world’s poorest countries has hit crisis levels say next month’s G20 meeting will be a “make or break” moment for education. The share of aid funding spent on education has fallen for the past six years, from 10% in 2009 to 6.9% in 2015, according to new figures from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). Education now receives as little in aid funding as transport.

Every year, thousands of tourist flock the region to experience the auspicious Holi and much more reaches there just to embrace austerity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha has chosen Varanasi -- India's spiritual capital to represent the country on the international diplomacy map. The VIP city will play host to G20 financial and economic policy mandarins who will brainstorm on the state of the global economy next week. 

Globalisation may not be as old as the hills but it may be as old as Newgrange. Wholesale cultural exchange has been going on for millennia. Peter Frankopan’s new book, The Silk Roads, makes this point as it reframes our history in the context of dynamic interchange between East and West.

China had earned a great deal of soft power by hosting the high-level summit. Soft power, or the non-military influence that a country and its culture can have around the globe, has been a matter of focus in certain sections of the Chinese foreign policy establishment. 

Silk today not only embodies the history of contact between the East-West, it is also a symbol of modernity and fashion. "Today, you'll find silk-made accessories and garments displayed in many high-end fashion stores in the US and Europe," Zhao said. "Which proves that silk is a welcome symbol in East-West cultural exchange."
 

As the G20 summit in Beijing looms, the world’s great and upper-middleweight powers are primed for one of their best chances to flaunt, burnish and repair their global profiles. Canada has a steep hill to climb. [...] Trudeau has won the world over as few global leaders ever manage to.

Turkey is a friend of China and a prominent country in the Middle East. [...] Chinese Deputy FM Zhang Ming visited Turkey shortly after the coup attempt, and he exchanged views with Turkish officials on the current situation of Turkey and the region along with bilateral relations between China and Turkey. This demonstrates China's emphasis on Turkish relations and friendship towards the Turkish people.