Ican still vividly remember the day I fell in love with words. I was six and a difficult child because, for some reason, I would not stop crying at school. It was not until the day my mother took me to my school’s library and handed me a children’s book about David, from the Bible, killing a giant with a sling and a pebble, that I stopped crying. My mom told me, “Books can take you to another world. A world which is not here. A world where what you’re afraid of or worried about

Commentary        BEIJING – China’s “two sessions,” the annual sessions of the top legislature and top political advisory body, are a key event on the country’s political calendar.As major issues are being discussed, the event offers outsiders a good chance to see democracy and rule of law at work in the country’s political system.“One of the great misunderstandings is that China is not a democracy,” said Mario Cavolo, an Italian-American writer and

Explainer        BEIJING – A draft budget report submitted to China’s top legislature has unveiled the country’s planned military spending for this year. In 2021, China’s defense budget will be around 1.35 trillion yuan (about US$200 billion), up 6.8 percent from last year.Is China’s military spending too hefty? Is the figure growing too fast? Is the so-called “Chinese military threat,” as hyped by some Western politicians and media outlets, well grounded?The