The growing bloodshed in Iraq and Syria is being watched as keenly in China as anywhere else in the world. Indeed, the greater Middle East is becoming an ever greater focus of Chinese foreign policy.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi flies to Brazil mid-July, it will be a welcome respite from the heat and cacophony of post-budget Delhi. President Dilma Rousseff's grand welcome to the sixth Brics summit will be energising. The summit's pomp and ceremony will, however, be less important than Modi's 'side meetings', especially with Chinese president Xi Jinping. It will allow him to take measure of the man who has emerged as one of the most powerful and ambitious leaders of modern China.

Recently, CCTV aired a special program about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe. The program was even given a grandiose title: “A Bridge Between China and Europe.” China’s media continues to play up the success of Xi’s first visit to Europe.

As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin E. Dempsey is the top-ranking officer in the United States armed forces, the most powerful fighting machine the world has ever known. The Irish-American general married his high-school sweetheart, Deanie. They have three children, Chris, Megan and Caitlin. We even know the names of their sons- and daughter-in-law, as well as those of their grandchildren.

The world loves pandas. The enigmatic, retiring and adorable creatures have become a global symbol of international friendship since China first began sending them as gifts to foreign countries in the 1950s. This adorable animal returned to the spotlight during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Europe.

In an international version of the blame game, Beijing and Tokyo have frequently resorted to historical analogies in their argument about which side is responsible for the deterioration of bilateral relations. In a Jan. 22 speech, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared China and Japan today to Germany and Britain on the eve of World War I.

It was a big family reunion as more than 300 people from Chinese and US sister cities and sister provinces and states got together on Wednesday evening at the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC. Participants came from all parts of the two nations, such as Qinghai province in Northwest China and Fort Worth, Texas, for the US-China Sister Cities Conference in Washington on March 26-28.