Earlier this year, the state-run China Daily newspaper published an article in which it asked, “How can China make more friends?” This question is apt, especially since the latest 25-country poll for the BBC World Service shows that opinion of China has dropped to its lowest level since such polling began in 2005. In countries tracked by the BBC, 41 percent of respondents held positive views on China with 39 percent negative.

Can a police state exist in a democracy? Edward Snowden says absolutely. The whistle-blower credited for what is dubbed the biggest intelligence leak in a generation has made claims that could make George Orwell's “1984” seem like a children's book. Americans, he insists, are living in a real-life nightmare without knowing it.

Only a year and a half ago, the world crossed a historic threshold: Global population breached the 7-billion mark. The United Nations named Danica May, born at the Jose Fabella hospital in Manila, as the symbolic 7th-billion baby; there was no lack of other “claimants” around the world, but it was the United Nations which chose to name the baby born to parents Camille and Florante as Human No. 7,000,000,000.

Thucydides was a Greek historian and Athenian general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the fifth century B.C. war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 B.C. He is known as the father of scientific history, whose Melian Dialogue remains a seminal work of international relations theory still studied at advanced military colleges worldwide.

It's that time of the year again, and a special time it truly is. I mean, of course, graduation time.

China, more strikingly than most nations, presents contrasting images to the world. Both are highlighted in recent news. The nation's rapidly expanding strategic military capabilities are ominous. Maritime disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam and other nations punctuate such concern.

Edward Snowden, a former employee of a contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), has whipped up a blizzard with his leak of secret surveillance programs being enforced in the United States as an antiterrorist effort.

North Korea's aberrant behavior defying international norms has led to an increasingly tight and systematic cooperation among all concerned countries including its only major ally China.

U.S. President Barack Obama has defended his administration's surveillance programs, so it's more than likely that the “spying” activities being conducted by America's National Security Agency, reported by The Washington Post and Britain's The Guardian, will continue. Obama has admitted to a change in his attitude toward secret surveillance programs since his election to the presidency.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying would be grateful for Beijing's endorsement, as mounting governance issues call into question his administrative skills.