Pakistan can learn lessons from Brazil, which has pursued this course in the last two decades and has emerged as the leading nation of South America, they said. The conference on Pakistan-Brazil relations was jointly organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) and the Brazilian embassy.

Chinese state television hailed Mo Yan as "the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature" following the announcement Thursday of the 2012 award... As part of its quest for soft power, Beijing has been obsessed for years about winning Nobel prizes, which in its view too often go to dissidents and emigres.

The number of students from China studying at universities across the United States has increased dramatically. According to some statistics, the number of undergraduate students from China in the U.S. has doubled in the last two years. Economists say the trend is due, in large part, to a growing middle class in China. VOA's Elizabeth Lee reports from Los Angeles county, with one of the largest Chinese student populations in the U.S. - totaling more than 4000 students.

As part of its quest for soft power, Beijing has been obsessed for years about winning Nobel prizes, which in its view too often go to dissidents and emigres. Chinese authorities were especially stung by the peace prize awards to the Dalai Lama and most recently in 2010 to the dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year prison term for subversion of state authority.

Each border control officer then reached under his desk and, with a practiced move, returned every passport with an unexpected object. It was a 200-milliliter bottle of red wine, packed in a crimson gift box and stamped: “Welcome to the Land of 8,000 Vintages.”

The presence of Russophobic sentiment in Armenia is already not a secret. The secret for the majority of Armenian society, including its Russophobic part, is the real causes of these trends in the country, which is considered an age-old partner and friend of the Russian people.

In a conference on ‘Pak-Brazil relations,’ participants highlighted development of soft power, sustained macro-economic stability and conflict-free environment as keys to progress scored by Brazil in the last two years from which Pakistan should learn lessons.

When I first started out in cultural diplomacy, I was surprised to learn that a very girly manga Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You)--which is about a girl who doesn't realize she's fallen in love--was popular in Italy and Spain. But that's old news. Since then, I've learned that people's sensibilities and emotions are the same across all borders.