A new poll shows that 81 percent of the French think France’s importance on the international stage is declining. After a widely criticised reaction to uprisings in the Arab world, the survey is the latest bit of bad news for French diplomacy.

Half of Australians harbour anti-Muslim sentiments and a quarter are anti-Semitic, according to the biggest survey ever done on racism in this country. One in three also admit some level of racist feelings against indigenous people, reported the Herald Sun.

Although a majority of Americans (52%) continue to say foreign leaders respect President Barack Obama, this is down from 2010 and 2009. However, Obama's current position on this measure is more positive than was the case during most of the terms of Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Gallup is out with a new national poll on Americans' views of the pro-democracy protests in Egypt. The results show that fear-mongering by some in the media about a post-Mubarak Egypt has apparently not taken hold, with huge majorities expressing sympathy for the protesters.

Wellbeing in Egypt and Tunisia decreased significantly over the past few years, even as GDP increased. In Egypt, where demonstrations have prompted President Hosni Mubarak to give up power after elections this fall, the percentage of people "thriving" fell by 18 percentage points since 2005.

There was a significant decline, in terms of percentage, of anti-Semitic events in the world last year, but the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs still claim anti-Semitic trends are on the rise.

A survey released on Saturday shows that nearly two-thirds of Japanese believe the country should seek for deeper interdependence with China, despite rows and spats in the past year - a trend experts say reflects the realistic mindset of the Japanese people as well as the evolving geopolitical changes in East Asia.

U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Terence Maculley has said that the United States of America will monitor the conduct of forth coming 2011 general elections to ensure that it is conducted in accordance with democratic principles.