A clear majority of Australians (72 percent) said they would like to learn more about Indonesian culture — a strong finding for champions of cultural diplomacy. When the discussions turned to education, the alignment was unmistakable: 57 percent of Indonesians said they would like to learn more about Australia and a similar number (59 percent) agreed basic education about Australia should be improved in Indonesian schools. 

Russia has made its first appearance on the world's “soft power” rankings, coming in at 27th place, news website newsru.com reported Tuesday. The Soft Power 30 is an annual ranking compiled by London-based strategy firm Portland Communications. The company evaluates the influence each country exerts over others through means other than military power.

The development of a positive new brand is aimed at bringing more business and people to the country, promote its tourism sector and cultural institutions, and generally highlight everything Luxembourg has to offer.

A survey of African stakeholders carried out in 40 African countries by the OECD for the African Economic Outlook 2011 found that emerging partners such as China were ranked as having a comparative advantage for cooperation in infrastructure, innovation, and even health compared with Africa’s traditional bilateral and multilateral partners.

Some 75 percent of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state along 1967 lines, according to a new survey published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Opinion polls conducted by the Israeli foreign ministry in France, Germany and Britain indicate that residents of these countries hold Israel and Hamas responsible in equal measure for the death toll in Operation Protective Edge, the Israeli website Ynet reported.

After surging during a 50-day war with Israel, Hamas' popularity among Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has fallen back and is now nearly even with support for the more moderate Fatah party, a new poll shows.