Society

US President Barack wants young Americans to prepare for tough competition in a new world from kids in India and China with better education, saying: "I'm standing here as president because of the education that I received."

"We live in a new world" he told new graduates of a high school in Memphis, Tennessee, warning that when they leave college in four years, they'll be competing for jobs not just against Americans but with the youths in Beijing and Mumbai.

"You're competing against young people in Beijing and Mumbai. That's some tough competition," he said. "Those kids are hungry. They're working hard. And you'll need to be prepared for it."

On the eve of his official visit to China, Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said China is a true friend of Pakistan.

"To test a friend whether true or not, it needs time and means under crisis, we appreciate that in all difficult circumstances China stood with Pakistan, therefore we call China a true friend and a time-tested and all-weather friend," Gilani told Xinhua in an interview in Islamabad.

He said China was the first country to show its support and solidarity with the government and people of Pakistan, in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces in the northern Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

As the prime minister of a frontline state in the war on terror, Gilani appreciated that China recognizes Pakistan's contribution and its sacrifice, appealing for a global resolve to combat terrorism and extremism in a holistic approach with regional cooperation.

Deng Jun has traveled 1,700 kilometers from home, leaving behind husband and two young sons. Her mission: To learn pole dancing in the Chinese capital. Two weeks into her classes at Lolan Pole Dancing School, which claims to be the first such institution on the Chinese mainland, Deng's arms and legs are decorated with bruises. Some add a touch of brown to the red-and-black tattoo on her left upper arm. She's in the dance studio five hours a day, six days a week, mastering moves like "pole-climbing technique" and "pole descent dance". She is committed to this grueling routine for at least the next four months, and she has already spent 10,300 yuan or $1,600.

"I had children at a young age, and now that they're older, I'd like to make something of myself," says the 27-year-old who is married to a businessman in Guiyang, capital of the southwestern province of Guizhou. Once Deng earns her pole dancing credentials, she plans to return home and open a pole dancing school.

Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers and soldiers will soon have the chance to play the army's first self-developed military game, as it finishes the main development and is in the debugging process.

The video game, Mission of Honor, was co-developed by the PLA's Nanjing command and the Wuxi Giant Interactive Group Inc two years ago, the PLA Daily reported Friday.

The game is set in a soldier's life at a military camp, and the final mission is to complete a large-scale military drill code named "Mission of Honor".