Where does ‘panda diplomacy’ come from? 

Black and white politics

Two pandas, Yang Guang and Tian Tian, left Edinburgh Zoo for China after their 12-year loan to Britain ended. But contrary to popular belief, ‘panda diplomacy’ didn’t begin in 1972 when Chairman Mao gave two to the visiting Richard Nixon – and received two musk oxen in return. (In 1974, Mao also gave British PM Ted Heath the pandas that later inspired the World Wildlife Fund’s logo.) Instead, the first pandas sent by China to the West were from Soong Mei-ling, the wife of the Chinese president Chiang Kai-shek, in 1941 to thank the Americans for their help in repelling the Japanese invasion. The animals were caught by an American missionary, flown to the Philippines, put in a camouflaged ship and transported to San Francisco. While they were en route, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The pandas were later put on display at Bronx Zoo.

Magma carta

While Iceland continued to wait for an expected volcanic eruption in the south of the country, 11 hikers were killed in an eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia.