A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.
British PM and Pop Singer Shakira Lead Education Effort
Grammy-winning pop singer Shakira is teaming up with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call for more global help in sending poor children to school.
Changing foreign policy tracks
Dealing with democracies that are accountable to citizens is very different from doing so in dictatorships and oligarchies. In India’s case it’s doubly so as people in neighbouring countries have been fed on a diet of anti-India rhetoric. This requires careful handling. At one level, this requires that Track 2 diplomacy be taken more seriously than it is now...In the long run, it’s crucial that India mobilizes opinion in these countries using this tool.
Can Rudd bridge the West’s gap with China?
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was treated as a real star on his recent visit to China. His smiling face beamed out from various Chinese media, starting with China Central Television, which broadcast an interview with him prior to his April 9-12 visit. Rudd spoke to students at Beijing University and addressed world political and business leaders at the Boao Forum on Hainan Island in southern China. He is the first Western leader to make his public speeches in fluent Chinese, winning him top marks with Chinese audiences.
Nonprofit To Honor North Carolina Leader With The Citizen Of The World Award
Todd Culpepper, executive director of the International Affairs Council (IAC), has announced that nominations are now open for the Citizen of the World Award. The Citizen of the World Award is presented annually to the North Carolinian who has done the most for the internationalization of the state, as determined by a committee of the IAC Board of Directors.
Food safety at Games top priority: Quality chief
Olympic food suppliers should tighten their management procedures to ensure products are not sabotaged before or during the Games, the country's top quality control official said on Friday. Li Changjiang, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said firms should also keep video records of their monitoring procedures for use in the event of any tampering.
Time for heroes
Iron Man, the latest in Marvel's pop-icon pantheon to hit the big screen, is coming to the rescue of the United Nations. In a specially customised comic book, Ol' Shellhead and his costumed cohorts will battle that most terrible of supervillains, a tarnished public image, by demonstrating the UN's positive, proactive roles. Will it work? It's debatable: over the years these earnest, message-laden stories have not always been too effective as weapons of mass persuasion.
RFE/RL Study Explores How Al-Qaeda Exploits Internet
This is a study that really looks at two things," he says. "It looks at the global message that Al-Qaeda puts out and that its affiliates put out. It also looks at the network that is behind that -- and then, how...they get that [message] out to the world. What is the network that brings that [message] to people over the Internet -- because the Internet is really the primary delivery mechanism for Al-Qaeda.
China’s image severely damaged
The chaos surrounding the relay of the Olympic torch in London, Paris and San Francisco has been the latest blow to China's international reputation, with scenes of Chinese men in blue tracksuits running and pushing pro-Tibetan protesters, an image that spread wide and was generally associated with oppression and mockery.
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