Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was at the Australian National University (ANU) Tuesday, donating books to the university's new center on China education and research. He said the ANU has strong academic achievements on China study, which played a positive role in enhancing all-rounded understandings of China by all walks of life in Australia and promoting more cultural exchanges and cooperations between the two countries.

The stream of signals coming from Washington to Damascus has been steady for weeks. This month, three US Congressmen visited Syria, the last of whom, Brian Baird, carried the slogan of ‘science diplomacy'. Baird...is currently leading the Science Diplomacy initiative in Congress, arguing that science transcends political differences and should be used to improve Syrian-US relations.

Chinese President Hu Jintao's official visit to Ottawa on Wednesday is seen here as the next step — but not necessarily the final one — in restoring normalcy to Sino-Canadian relations...As its economic clout soars so far ahead of its political weight in the world, China professes to be aiming for "peaceful development internationally," and says it wants to pursue "soft power" initiatives to strengthen its global presence.

As the administration did with its recent National Security Strategy—in which the enemy was identified only as Al Qaeda and any reference to Islamism was left out—the Obama team seems eager to paint the Muslim world as largely blameless for the actions of a few deranged individuals. It is part of Obama’s broader strategy of winning back the affections of the Islamic world.

As the news of the Flotilla started its advance through the world, very little information was coming from Israel. It was in the late evening hours of Sunday, May 30th, and Monday was Memorial Day Holiday in the United States. The Flotilla left on its break-the-blockade-or-die mission a week earlier, on or about the 24th of May. It was a surreal feeling - would there be any response as America was in a long holiday weekend?

The Shanghai World Expo is "a perfect opportunity to build on and further strengthen the good relations" between the European Union and China, an EU official said Thursday. "The European Union is China's main economic partner and we have built a strategic partnership with the Chinese government over the years," Viviane Reding, vice president of the EU Commission, told Xinhua in an interview.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is launching a global public relations campaign to try to improve his country's image and neutralize coverage of the violent drug war scaring away tourists and foreign investors.

What we have failed to notice is how it [foreign aid] also makes pariahs of those countries in international public opinion, stealing their dignity as proper states with history, culture, nature, wisdom, language, learning and human endeavour by branding them as nothing more than victims and beggars for decades to come.