Russia is trying to be friends with everyone at once, and wielding growing influence as a global giant in weaponry and oil production. Some of its success could be at the US's expense. 

Diplomacy rests on trust, which is perhaps why President Trump offered to call off the South Korea-US exercises North Korea abhors. But to allies in Seoul, it was a blow to a once-solid relationship.

When Joyce Hamilton heard that people were lined up in 100-degree heat on the bridge connecting Reynosa, Mexico, with Hidalgo, Texas, she went to them. She carried water and snacks, umbrellas and fans. On a second visit she found a longer line, and resolved to make regular supply runs. Ever since the Trump administration implemented its “zero-tolerance” immigration policy last month – prosecuting anyone caught crossing the border without proper documents – the situation has been changing quickly. Yesterday, President Trump ordered an end to the separation of undocumented families. But there is confusion over what the rest of the order will mean for the situation at the border. What hasn’t changed: the flow. Most of the would-be crossers are from the Northern Triangle of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, where murder rates exceed those in war zones. Those already in Mexico are unlikely to be deterred by the threat of detention or long waits, advocates say. “Where they’re coming from, they’re poor and afraid,” says Ernie Mascorro, a resident of Brownsville, Texas, who was waiting to enter the United States after visiting family in Reynosa. “This is not going to stop.”

What – and who – is valuable? Many students find answers in their classes. If a popular world history test excludes pre-colonial history, some critics are concerned about the message that sends.

An influx of development and new money in struggling neighborhoods can also bring resentment. But locals in Los Angeles’s Frogtown say they're holding onto a sense of community and local values.

By itself, this news out of Romania on Thursday may not mean much outside Romania: A court sentenced the country’s most powerful politician, Liviu Dragnea, to 3-1/2 years over a fake jobs scandal. As a triumph for rule of law in one of Europe’s most corrupt countries, the sentence was a big one.

Yet these days, such news also shows that countries like Romania are not battling corruption alone. Global norms on transparency and accountability are being better enforced by international institutions. And prosecutors in different countries are working more closely to nab corrupt individuals and share techniques of investigation.

Romania is one example. Since joining the European Union in 2007, it has been under special watch by the EU to build up an independent judiciary. To win EU membership, it ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2004. It also set up a body of independent prosecutors, called the National Anticorruption Directorate, to fight corruption. Thousands of officials have been convicted.

Last year, when Mr. Dragnea’s ruling Social Democrat party tried to roll back anti-corruption measures, tens of thousands of people took to the streets. Many appealed for more EU pressure. This month, when the party tried again to weaken anti-graft laws, more than 10,000 people protested nationwide.

Perhaps just as significant, a top official from the US State Department was in Bucharest this week giving a warning.

“You have made significant progress [against corruption] and now is not a moment in history when we would want to see Romania take a step back from there,” said Wess Mitchell, assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs. “You are not alone in this fight. Every country in the world has to fight corruption.” The United States provides funds for Romania to reform its legal standards.

The momentum for international cooperation on corruption really took off in 1997 when a group of advanced countries known as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development adopted an anti-bribery convention. In addition, the US had shown leadership by using the long arm of a particular law to reach for offenders across borders. Its 1977 law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, has led to the conviction of many foreign firms and led to more cooperation and joint enforcements with other nations’ prosecutors, notably in Brazil with its recent explosion of bribery cases.

Last year, the International Monetary Fund insisted for the first time that a country – Ukraine – set up a special court to deal with anti-corruption cases as a condition for receiving financial aid.

The aspiration for clean governance is a universal sentiment. Fulfilling that desire can become just as universal.