Global overall confidence in and attitudes toward the United States have slipped since the beginning of President Barack Obama's presidency, a new survey of 21 countries by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project showed.

But while confidence in Obama -- and with it the United States -- fell, people in a large number of countries continued to say they were confident in the president's foreign policy leadership, according to the poll. This did not hold true among many in predominantly Muslim countries, among them key American allies. 

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In Europe, favorable attitudes toward the United States fell seven points from 2009 to 60 percent in 2012, and 10 points in Muslim countries, to 15 percent. 

Confidence in Obama himself in Europe declined six points during the same period to a still-robust 80 percent. But the study showed fewer than three-in-ten in Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and Jordan expressed confidence in Obama.

Confidence in Obama plummeted 24 points to 38 percent in China.

As United States and Western nations pull out, China seeks role in Afghanistan

Since Bush, a 'real improvement'
Opinions about the United States were not close to historic lows, however, according to Richard Wike, associate director of the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

"It is worth keeping in mind when talking about Obama and America's image, he is still considerably higher than during (the presidency of George W.) Bush," Wike said. "In 2009, we generally saw a real improvement in America's image (and) in general that pattern still holds."

Read the Pew report here

With Obama's presidency, the biggest improvements in the United States' image occurred among Europeans, with people in France, Spain, and Germany registering a positive view of the U.S. that is at least 20 percentage points higher than in 2008, the study showed.

Opinions about the United States also got a big boost in Japan, where 72 percent expressed a favorable opinion of the country, up from 50 percent four years ago. America's image in Japan improved dramatically in 2011, thanks in large part to relief efforts following the March earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of that country.

But a major sore point for many was the United States' ongoing drone-strikes policy. In 17 of 20 countries surveyed, more than half disapproved of American drone attacks targeting extremists in countries such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Report: Obama embraces disputed definition of 'civilian' in drone wars

About a year after he ordered the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden, just seven percent of Pakistanis have a positive view of Obama, the same percentage that voiced confidence in President George W. Bush during the final year of his administration. 

"Obama's effect that we've seen on America's image in much of the world really hasn't happened in many of the predominantly Muslim countries that we survey," Wike said. 

Another shift in opinion came with the world's view of China in the economic balance of power. Among the 14 countries surveyed each year from 2008 to 2012, 45 percent said the U.S. was the world's top economic power in 2008, while just 22 percent said China. Today, only 36 percent said the U.S. was the leading economic power, while 42 percent said it was China.

The Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project surveyed 26,000 people in 21 countries from March 17 to April 20.

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The letter from the frontlines could have been written yesterday.

"Thank you for your sweet card. It made my miserable day a much better one but I don't think I will ever forget the bloody fight we are having," reads a handwritten note to Betty from Steve Flaherty of Columbia, S.C. "RPG rockets and machine guns really tore my rucksack."

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But this and other newly discovered letters written to "Betty," "Mother" and "Mrs. Wyatt" weren't sent from Afghanistan, or any other place where American servicemen are deployed now.  They were penned more than 40 years ago before the author, who was with the 101st Airborne, was killed in the northern section of South Vietnam.

The documents were given to the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta during a landmark meeting in Vietnam on Monday. Panetta and Vietnam Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh exchanged long-held artifacts collected during the war -- including a small maroon diary belonging to a Vietnamese soldier.

Vietnam opens new sites for US MIA hunt

A letter to Flaherty's mother gives an unvarnished version of life on the battlefield. 

"Our platoon started off with 35 men but winded up with 19 men when it was over. We lost platoon leader and whole squad.” He added, “The NVA soldiers fought until they died and one even booby trapped himself and when we approached him, he blew himself up and took two of our men with him.”

Vietnam's 'napalm girl' comes to terms with iconic photo

Another letter to his mom reads: "We couldn't retrieve the bodies of our men or ruck sacks and when we brought air strikes, jets dropped napalm and explosives that destroyed everything that was there."

The letter adds: "If Dad calls, tell him I got too close to being dead but I'm O.K. I was real lucky. I'll write again soon."

Slain soldier’s Vietnam letters too later for his parents, but other relatives will cherish

A third letter to Mrs. Wyatt defends the war while spelling out the toll it was taking on the people fighting: "This is a dirty and cruel war but I’m sure people will understand the purpose of this war even though many of us might not agree."

According to U.S. defense officials, Vietnamese forces took Flaherty's letters after his death in March, 1969, and used them in broadcasts during the war.

Vietnamese Col. Nguyen Phu Dat kept the letters, but it was not until last August, when he mentioned them in an online publication, that they started to come to light.

Panetta visits Vietnam, exchanges soldiers effects

Early this year, Robert Destatte, a retired Defense Department employee who had worked for the POW/MIA office, noticed the online publication, and the Pentagon began to work to get the letters back to Flaherty's family.

The exchange of documents underscores how much the relationship between Vietnam and the United States has changed in 17 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations, George Little, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

"It is a reflection of the priority the United States places on people-to-people ties with Vietnam," the newspaper quoted Little as saying. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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LONDON -- An American teenager collapsed and died after going swimming at a Scottish beach, officials said.

Evan Dube, a first-year student at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, was working at an archaeological research project in the Shetland Islands, police said.

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Dube, from Plaistow, N.H., was with a group of 10 students from Bates College who went to a beach in Lerwick for a barbecue on Saturday night, police said in a statement.  

 

 

"Shortly afterwards Evan went into the water and after coming ashore appears to have collapsed," police said.

Dube, 19, was airlifted to the local hospital, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, according to police. 

While there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, an autopsy was planned for Monday, a police spokeswoman told msnbc.com.

Dube's family had been informed of his death, police said. 

"Bates College has been shaken and deeply saddened to learn that first-year student Evan Dube died," the liberal arts college said in a statement. "At this time we have no other information about the incident to offer -- simply that we have lost a member of our Bates community long before his time. Evan's fellow students in Scotland are receiving grief counseling and will return to Boston on Tuesday."

A memorial service was held at Bates on Sunday. A spokesman for the college was not immediately available for comment. 

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