Australia will commit a further $8 million to humanitarian aid in Syria, leading a charge while other global players lack urgency, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr says. The plan aims to ensure medical care reaches an estimated 2.5 million Syrians in need of aid in the conflict-ravaged Arab nation where more than 30,000 have died.

The U.S. Navy is spending more than $20 million each year sending ships to poorer nations in the Asian-Pacific region to provide cataract surgery, dental fillings and other medical care... "The image of American power going abroad and bringing benefits to people all around the world... It builds the image of American power, of American soft power..."

The Turkish International Co-operation and Development Agency (TIKA) has been conducting important restoration projects throughout the Balkan countries, which were under Ottoman rule from the 15th to the 19th century, to preserve cultural and historical heritage.

A consequence of China’s rise as a global economic superpower has been the nation’s quest for resources, influence and riches in Africa, extracting minerals and food, building highways and schools, and selling cheap cellphones and pharmaceuticals. In July, President Hu Jintao pledged that China would lend $20 billion to African governments for agriculture and infrastructure.

For more than a decade, China has pursued a strategy in Southeast Asia that relied heavily on economic carrots to increase the stake of the Southeast Asian countries in maintaining good relations with China...Chinese foreign direct investment, foreign assistance, and trade have all been used to encourage countries to consider Beijing’s interests.

Public diplomacy differs because but it has a broader reach, it goes beyond the influential few to the masses, to those indifferent, ignorant or not seeking to know. It seeks out a new audience and encourages communities to adopt a positive and open outlook towards Australia.

Turkey, a rapidly growing economy and multi-party democracy that has applied to join the European Union, is widely regarded as a model for Muslim and other developing countries. It has also raised the flag over trail blazing construction projects across former Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus region.

These government contractors are on the frontline of a huge Turkish development effort in one of the world's most dangerous cities - one which U.N. agencies and international charities prefer to deal with from the safety of neighbouring Kenya.