If the games are successful – which they probably will be, despite Brazil’s reputation for having a very relaxed attitude to planning – they will help seal the country’s image globally as one of the world’s emerging powers. Not a military power, but the first big “soft” power, a kind of Canada writ large but with Carnival thrown in. It is a Brazil, however, whose project is only half-finished and one in which self-congratulation would be premature.

Russia will back the use of "soft power" in the fight against organized crime at a UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna in March, an official told RIA Novosti on Friday.

One of the most memorable shows singer/songwriter Mary McBride performed on her worldwide tour as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State was at a senior center in Iraq.

The expansion of Turkish-African relations is also a way for Ankara to assert its position as a regional power and extend its influence. In doing so, it employs references to Ottoman times, mainly in opposition to the colonial past of Western countries (or "neo-colonialist" ones like China). "Ankara's interest for Africa...is opposed to that of the West", because Turkey "does not follow a colonialist logic that favours one party only, but wants to establish a long-term partnership based on mutual respect and usefulness"

India will launch its first space mission to Mars this year, President PranabMukherjee said on Thursday. "Several space missions are planned for 2013, including India's first mission to Mars and the launch of our first navigational satellite,"

Here's what's worth reading: Richard Neu, "U.S. 'Soft Power' Abroad is Losing Its Punch." RAND. My take: When he writes "The most potent instrument of U.S. soft power is probably the simple size of the U.S. economy," I get the sense that Neu doesn't entirely get what "soft power" means. And the whole "U.S. debt is sapping perceptions of U.S. power" shtick sounds very 2009. Still, as a read of the conventional wisdom of American thought on this issue, it's a good precis.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is not only leading his country's biggest ever trade mission to India, including Rolls-Royce and BP, he is also showing how to mix business and politics by announcing faster business visas, lifting of limits on Indian students and promoting cultural links. In the federation that is Australia, our biggest missions are now led by state premiers and while the numbers are great, the political level lacks real clout.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), an emerging leader in the Republican Party who is considered one of the likely candidates for the 2016 US presidential race, is scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.