Shabash Pakistan is a nation branding movement started by NUST and School of Leadership. The movement had been aimed at reviving patriotism and “Pakistaniyat” in the youth of the country and to inculcate among them a sense of contribution towards nation building.

While too rapid a rate of immigration can cause social problems, over the long term, immigration strengthens US power...The fact that people want to come to the US enhances its appeal, and immigrants’ upward mobility is attractive to people in other countries. The US is a magnet, and many people can envisage themselves as Americans, in part because so many successful Americans look like them. Moreover, connections between immigrants and their families and friends back home help to convey accurate and positive information about the US.

The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU did not go unnoticed in Washington, serving as a springboard for several debates on the EU and US’ role in promoting peace and security in the world. "We will need to be more capable of adding to soft power bits of hard power," said EU Ambassador to the US Joao Vale de Almeida, on 7 December, sharing a platform at the Brookings Institution.

North Korea’s successful missile launch now presents Pyongyang as on the cusp of joining the elite club of nations with nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). That is quite a turn around for the young Kim Jong Un, suddenly thrust into power a year ago, whose first attempt at launching a three-stage missile...was a show that flopped before a global audience.

The State Department wants your opinion. No, not on weighty matters like the Arab Spring/Winter, relations with Russia, the state of NATO, or Chinese free-trade violations. The pressing question of the day is whether it should rename its blog DipNote.

I was heartened this week when I read former prime minister Paul Keating's comments that no country is more important to Australia than Indonesia. As an Indonesian exporter, who for a long time has seen Australia as a partner rather than a market, I have felt for the first time real optimism regarding the relationship between our two countries.

Rice, beans, pork – and lots of it. That's a typical restaurant meal in Cuba, widely regarded by travelers as a culinary wasteland where the variety and quality of raw ingredients leave much to be desired.

George Little, the Pentagon spokesperson, appeared to make an important announcement last week, saying "strategic communication" had been banned from the Pentagon's lexicon. Sounded like a good thing; strategic communication was a brainchild of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in full flower of his moment when the Pentagon could not only "do it all," it should "do it all."