Addressing over 500 participants at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), leaders representing African governments and the continent’s best and brightest in the fields of agriculture, finance, and development emphasized the need to break from long-term policies that have neglected agriculture and discouraged investment in the farm sector.

Facing square-on the ethical dilemmas that arise in times of conflict, Israeli experts shared their vast experience providing humanitarian aid at home and abroad with 65 medical students and activists from 25 countries.

[Rik] Panganiban is assistant director of the Online Leadership Program for Global Kids, which for four years has relied on the Teen Grid to educate urban youth from around the world about such topics as racism, the genocide in Darfur, child trafficking, public diplomacy, and the digital divide, in collaboration with UNICEF, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Youth Ventures, and more.

Emirates is to increase flights from Dubai to Al Medinah al Munawarah in Saudi Arabia to seven flights per week from 31 October 2010 due to the growing importance of economic and cultural ties between the two nations.

Jazz legend Mike Clark has confirmed plans for a tour of Russia next month, to promote cultural diplomacy and to introduce audiences in Moscow, Siberia, St. Petersburg and elsewhere to his acclaimed Owl Studios release, ‘Carnival of Soul'.

While the controversy surrounding the proposed Muslim Community Center and Mosque at Ground Zero continues on in the U.S., another site of worship has been restored and opened in the most unlikely place—Beirut, Lebanon.

Tsinghua University, one of China’s top universities, said on Monday it will increase its number of foreign graduate students as Beijing steps up use of education and other “soft power” initiatives to promote its image abroad.

Now the forum is a major platform for public diplomacy between the two nations. It will see nearly 200 leaders from the political, business, academic and media fields take part in a two-day discussion starting Monday in Tokyo. More than 800 students and journalists have applied for a seat to listen to the panel discussions.