After many rounds of peace talks gone bad, India and Pakistan are still very much at odds. But now, an unlikely duo of sports-loving 30-year-olds is aiming to see if a tennis match can solve what diplomacy has been unable to.

A Pakistani delegation consisting of nine professionals, who have achieved distinction in their respective fields and are on a visit to the US since October 1, will visit the US State Department, which has arranged special briefings for them with its Public Diplomacy wing. The delegation is visiting the US at the invitation of the Rotary Club (RC) of Wilmington, Delaware.

I wrote last week... "The U.S. military has been working hard to provide flood assistance, but most of that is invisible to Pakistanis," I noted. That seemed to me to be a missed opportunity -- and characteristic of a weird misfire in U.S. public diplomacy. For a superpower, we can be oddly shy about advertising our good works.

Is all that foreign aid flowing into Pakistan in the aftermath of last month’s massive floods changing the way Pakistanis feel about the West, and in particular the United States?

Chinese writer Lijian Zhang along with Pakistani writers Mohammed Haneef and Ali Sethi will be the prime attractions of the Kovalam Literature Festival early next month in Thiruvanthapuram.

Thousands of politicians all over the world are now on Twitter, and not all are using the social networking tool wisely. Take Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, a businessman who owns the Daily Times newspaper and is said to have been close to Benazir Bhutto, the late prime minister.

The promises are part of the effort to build trust between the United States and Pakistan so that the latter can believe that Washington is a long-term partner, committed to the country’s development, and is not pursuing short-term strategic goals.