President Barack Obama paid a joyful visit Monday to the small Irish village where his great-great-great grandfather once lived and worked as a shoemaker, endearing himself to the Irish populace, and in turn perhaps to millions of Irish-American voters in the United States.

Despite Germany's economic clout, Berlin has failed to place German officials in top jobs at the EU and key organizations such as the IMF. The country's global influence is suffering as a result. A dearth of suitable candidates, domestic politics and Angela Merkel are to blame.

Then why do media in Turkey have similar problems to those in the West when it comes to the perception of Arabs, even though the country is predominantly Muslim? Again poor knowledge and a lack of information would be the immediate answer.

The study also revealed that Arab media was helping to define the issue for Westerners and was expected to be more open and free. It also highlighted that people in the West view Arabs more favourably and ascribed recent activism to familiar aspirations.

Watched annually by more than 100 million people, Eurovision is the world's most-watched non-sporting event. Although viewership in Britain and Ireland has declined for several years, the backlash against Eurovision may finally be changing on the British Isles.

Presence Switzerland has issued a £100,000 brief for an agency to increase the country's visibility to numerous audiences. The successful agency will also be asked to focus attention on the House of Switzerland, the country's official guesthouse.

The Nobel Prize − that ultimate soft-power statement − must now compete with alternative human rights awards. Gadhafi could bestow his own award on Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, from one moral paragon to another.

Ahead of a vote in plenary Thursday, the Dutch Liberal draftswoman of the report on "the cultural dimensions of EU's external actions", Marietje Schaake explained what cultural diplomacy is and how European culture can help spread democratic values around the world.