U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are preparing for their most important series of meetings since the Sunnylands summit in June 2013 in California. (...) Since many of the differences will not disappear any time soon, China and the United States should focus more on expanding cooperation; when cooperation expands, it helps the two to manage and control their differences. 

Officials estimate more than 57,000 unaccompanied children have been detained after entering the US so far this year, a one hundred percent increase from 2013. This led US President Barack Obama, among others, to label this flow of under-aged immigrants a “humanitarian crisis.” 

In calling for a new type of Chinese think tank, President Xi Jinping wants institutions that can compete with American ones in spreading soft power abroad and help refine policies at home, analysts say.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said there are positive signs emerging in the three hardest-hit West African countries that the Ebola epidemic is finally being contained. 

The Japanese defence ministry reports that in the first half of this year it has had to scramble jets more than 230 times in response to Chinese incursion into its airspace. Chinese and Japanese military aircraft have been flying dangerously close over these waters in recent months, sparking fears of a major international ­crisis should they collide.

In foreign affairs, Obama has publicly adopted “soft diplomacy” as his way of resolving crises. Key to this approach is “leading from behind,” that is, pressuring or convincing other countries or international organizations to take the lead in crisis response, with the US becoming just one of several partners. 

Timed to celebrate the brand’s 40th birthday, a conference and exhibition has brought fans of the self-consciously cute brand out in their thousands.