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Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping just wrapped up a two-day summit, but did America get anything out of it? Gordon G. Chang on why China makes America tongue-tied.

Have we just witnessed the birth of a “new type of great-power relationship”? That’s one of the buzz phrases of Chinese supremo Xi Jinping, who has just wrapped up two days of relatively informal meetings with President Obama at the Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, California. It is not remarkable that Xi used the phrase—it’s one of his favorites—but it is notable that the American leader adopted it as well, mentioning “this new model of relations between the United States and China.

AP

This week’s gang rape of an American woman traveling in India is the latest in a series of high-profile attacks that are scaring off visitors. Dilip D’Souza on why India’s honor is at stake—and why extra caution is needed in the country.

A friend in the States, a friend in France. I've known both for more than a quarter century and have visited both in their homes several times. Each time, I suggest to them before leaving that they come visit me in India.Their usual reaction: a small smile and then they shake their heads, no. Both have essentially the same reason. "I'm scared of how I will react to the poverty," they say. Thus both, so far, have not turned up to visit me; neither has personally contributed to the tourist industry in India.

Courtesy of Jane di Castro

Rio de Janeiro is famous for its party culture, but it’s no carnival for gays and lesbians. Now the police—once part of the problem—are starting to change their tune. By Mac Margolis.

Back in 2002, when he was head of Civil Police in Rio de Janeiro, Zaqueu Teixeira caused a minor social earthquake. A group of streetwalkers had been complaining of being roughed up in the streets, and Teixeira decided to investigate. "I brought them into the station to hear their story," he says. "The entire police command was in shock." Not only were the victims prostitutes, they were also transvestites—second-class citizens to many Brazilians.

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President Obama and Chinese President Xi kick off a meeting at a resort today, and while the hope is that the men will become pals, that goal misses the point, says Gordon G. Chang.

President Obama will meet Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, for two days of intensive talks today and tomorrow at the secluded Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, near Palm Springs, California. Expectations are high that the weekend discussions will reverse rising tensions and set the U.S. and China onto a cooperative path.Why are the two leaders meeting in a desert resort? The concept is that the formalism of past summits has made meaningful conversation difficult.

A carpet seller tells the extraordinary story of his family’s exodus from their home in Kabul when he was a young boy and their subsequent odyssey through Afghanistan, as they see the Taliban and the Americans come and go.

In a few months, it will be 12 years since the U.S. war in Afghanistan began. The date will be marked on White House calendars, with policymakers in the Obama administration talking about 2014 as the “end” of the war. For Americans, this will be another American war wound down but not won. For Afghans, however, there will still be a NATO presence, and they will face strife that for them has dragged on across more than three decades.Qais Akbar Omar, a student in the Master of Fine Arts creative-writing program at Boston University, is also a native Afghan carpet weaver.

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In Turkey’s ongoing protests, some worry about violence and police retaliation, while Prime Minister Erdogan has dismissed the movement. Mike Giglio reports.

Turkish media have called her an icon of the country’s spontaneous protest movement and “the symbol of the resistance.” But Ceyda Sungur insists that she is not. A teacher’s assistant in the city planning department at Istanbul Technical University, she showed up at a small sit-in to save a local park last Tuesday in a red summer dress. Police cracked down, and photos of the attack went viral, bringing more people to the streets. The most famous image is of Sungur—now known as “the lady in the red dress.

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Not guilty. That’s what former Murdoch protégé Rebekah Brooks said in court when facing hacking charges.

The most high-profile News Corp. executive arrested so far in the phone-hacking and police-bribes scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s News International, Rebekah Brooks, has pleaded not guilty to phone-hacking charges and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.Brooks appeared with 12 other defendants at Southwark Crown court in London on Wednesday to deny five charges, including links to an alleged conspiracy to hack phones, corrupt payments to public officials and attempting to hide evidence from the police.

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Qusayr has been center of fighting for two weeks.

The Syrian Army on Wednesday retook the strategic town of Qusayr, the center of intense fighting for the past two weeks. Near the Lebanese border, the Syrian Army had been helped in the battle by Hezbollah fighters, prompting the leader of the Free Syrian Army to say that his fighters were prepared to take the battle inside Lebanon. Syrian state TV said a large number of rebels had died and many had surrendered. The rebels admitted that they had withdrawn overnight. Meanwhile, a missile struck near the town of Aleppo on Tuesday, killing 26 people, with reported casualities on both sides.

Read it at BBC News

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Expect an Ayatollah-approved candidate to win Iran’s elections.

Miguel Bellido/Reuters

Brazil’s rainforest is going up in smoke. Again.