When the Nobel committee selected Liu Xiaobo as the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the distinction brought unwanted attention to China. For obvious reasons, Beijing did not want the world honoring a man who has dedicated decades to challenging the country's political system. But Beijing, in fact, seems uncomfortable with any kind of attention.

The announcement Thursday that President Obama will visit Pakistan in 2011 has further sapped enthusiasm in India for Mr. Obama’s visit here next month.

President Obama will visit India next month. But his staff may have taken a trip to the Golden Temple off the agenda as it would involve wearing head gear, possibly furthering speculation that he is Muslim.

In the United States, the pressure on Facebook, relatively mild so far, comes mostly from journalists and advocacy groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center. But the time is coming when Facebook will begin to face ever more intense international pressure from foreign governments unpleased, for one reason or another, with how the site operates.

With ample liquidity and sufficient expertise in the construction sector, Chinese companies – especially state-owned enterprises – are keen not only to satisfy African countries' need for development, but also to exercise China's 'soft power' on the world stage.

The US has been generous to Pakistan in its times of need, but deep-seated hostility towards Washington won't change if people suspect that humanitarian aid has a hidden agenda.

Predictably, there has been much debate about cuts in the defence budget, with spending on aircraft carriers and the renewal of the nuclear deterrent - instruments of 'hard power' - coming under particular scrutiny. Less has been said about the implications for the country's 'soft power': the BBC World Service, British Council and intellectual capital.

...if a nation wants to influence people and win friends around the globe it is easier to do if its image abroad is positive. In this context then Australia today has something to worry about.