WASHINGTON --- America’s image abroad remains strong, retaining its post-Bush worldwide increase in 2009. But in new survey data released here this morning by Gallup, the U.S. has lost significant support in the past year in Africa and Latin America.

The Department of State is well on the way to meeting the President’s goals of increasing visitor visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent in 2012...The State Department is committed to facilitating travel to the United States as part of broader “Jobs Diplomacy” goals. Visas for legitimate travelers are an important tool to help accelerate America’s economic revival.

The art exhibition, entitled Beyond the Frame...will show the work of 26 of the best-known Cuban artists and of 20 other international artists who have donated work to draw attention to the case. It is the largest collection of Cuban artists ever to be shown in the UK. Art was originally seen as a key part of the Cuban revolution.

In what could only be described as a complete pasting, Professor Judith Sloan has called for the axing of Australia's international television broadcaster, the Australia Network, dubbing it 'repetitive, pointless tosh'. Scrapping the service would save taxpayers millions of dollars, Sloan argues, largely based on what she saw of the service during a recent trip around Asia.

The civil unrest that erupted in Syria in March last year has left the country's scientific community in turmoil, researchers say. Heavy cuts have been made to research budgets, and work at the majority of Syria's universities and research centres has ground to a halt.

While for the U.S. ambassador to UAE, ethnic conflict appears to largely be rooted in a cultural misunderstanding, which the diplomat has been trying to dispel by arranging culture missions to the Middle East that would counter the image of the U.S. as a global soldier, for many recipients of American and other Western cultural packages, the answer is rather cultural disrespect.