北京Shortly after making a name for himself, Luc fell in love

各醫And overall, the perception gap between the US and China in the Philippines is narrowing院勞診安According to the survey, 78 percent in the Philippines have a positive view of the US as of this spring, down from 92 percent who expressed positive sentiments in 2015

動節門急But the Philippines, and indeed all the countries in the region, should be encouraged to have good relations with both China and the US, a real win-win situation for not just the three countries involved, but for the region and the world北京At the same time, 78 percent believe the current economic situation is good, and 57 percent are satisfied with the direction of the country, a 21 percentage-point increase from 2014, the last time this question was asked in the Philippines各醫Some even believe that he would not able to serve the full six-year term院勞診安A zero-sum mentality about China-US relations is reflected not only in the thinking of some US politicians, but also in a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center動節門急The report finds that people in the Philippines still like the US and have confidence in its leader, President Donald Trump

北京The survey released on Sept 21 bore a title saying people in the Philippines still favor the United States over China, but that the gap is narrowing各醫A quarter now name China as the world's leading economy, up from 14 percent the last time the Philippines was surveyed院勞診安These changes may look pleasant, but not quite so to Derek Hyra, an associate professor at the American University School of Public Affairs and an expert on neighborhood change

動節門急Chen Weihua/China DailyHaving lived in Washington DC for almost five years, I have seen the city growing, with new construction and renovation projects happening in many streets and neighborhoods北京Hyra described how the "dark ghetto" has been turned into a "gilded ghetto"各醫To Hyra, it has caused not just residential displacement for African Americans but also political and cultural displacement院勞診安His book this year, Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City, is the result of his many years of field research on the issues

Whites are the majority now, accounting for 55 percent of the communityThe 14th Street near U Street, a traditional African American neighborhood, is now lined up with hip restaurants and bars in this photo taken on Sunday

The area, a 90 percent black neighborhood just a few decades ago, was only 30 percent African American by 2010Hyra described the massive transformation in the U Street/Shaw area, where the city's once most infamous open-air drug market has become a farmers' market now selling grass-fed beef and homemade duck egg ravioliThe Wharf residential and business project I visited recently is probably one of the biggestThe same urban renewal is happening in other parts of Washington

The U Street/Shaw and 14th Street area has fast been turned into an upscale neighborhood in recent years, with many new restaurants and shops opening and new apartment constructionOnly a short walk from the National Mall, it looks like a good place to live, work and hang outThe area has seen a sharp increase in the white population and skyrocketing property prices, a sign of gentrification in the Washington DCHe saw major issues of gentrification and segregation in Washington beneath the surface of rapid urban renewal

Located in southwest Washington along the waterfront next to the famed Maine Avenue Fish Market, its first phase will open on Oct 12"An effort to reduce sugary drink intake of teenagers is urgently needed," Liang Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said

According to the US Department of Agriculture, global production of sugar is up 9 million tons to a record of 180 million metrics tons a year and consumption hovers at the 172 million metric ton level, also a record high levelThe American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that people should drink no more than three cans of soda (about 450 calories) a week, but men drink 175 and women 94 calories a day

One sign says you're looking at 45,485 pounds of added sugar - the amount that Kind says children in the United States consume every five minutesAs early as 2006 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified sugar drinks as one of the main culprits in rising obesity ratesThe numbers are spun out by Kind from there: children consume 13"In addition, I have found that sugar imports are increasingUntil the 18th century, when the technology for extracting sugar from cane was developed, and 19th century, when we learned how to get it from beets, sugar was only available when the fruit ripened or the bees got busyAbout 12 percent of children aged 7 to 18 in the survey were overweight

Judy Zhu / China DailyA 24-foot-tall pyramid of boxes marked "sugar" in the middle of Times Square makes a point that's kind of hard to ignoreThe world does consume too much "added sugar" - a term the USDA began using in 2000 to help people spot processed foods that have added energy with no added nutrition

"Every country that has adopted the Western diet, one dominated by low-cost, highly processed food, has witnessed rising rates of obesity and related diseases," the journal Nature commented recentlyHigh fructose corn syrup, raw, brown and white sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses make up about 16 percent of the calories Americans consume and have zero nutritional value

As the researchers in Nature put it: "In recent years, sugar has been added to virtually every processed food, limiting consumer choice5 million children in the US are obese, the CDC says, blaming snacks and foods high in sugar and salt

For children aged four to eight, the AHA suggests no more than three teaspoons of sugar a day, about 130 calories of a 1,600-calorie diet1 million pounds of added sugar a day - enough to fill 273 yellow school busesA can of soda has the equivalent of seven to 12 teaspoons of sugar"A report from a survey of 14 provinces in China found that the daily intake of sugars for Chinese people was lower than the level recommended by the World Health Organization, but for children between the ages of 3 and 17 it was much higher because of the growing popularity of sugary drinks, China Daily reported in May

A display in Times Square includes a sugar tower that is 15 feet wide by 24 feet highIt is made of cartons depicting more than 45,000 pounds of sugar, surrounded by life-size models of "crystallized" children

The top domestic consumers, in descending order, are India, the EU, China, the US and BrazilStanding sentinel around the mound are ghostly sculptures of small children, apparently made out of sugar-like granular material, wearing tags that read: "I am 9 years old and weigh 64 pounds

According to the National Soft Drink Association, the industry produces 600 12-ounce cans of sugary drinks per person per year, most of it what they call the full-sugar variety, and supplies more than a quarter of what Americans drinkThe publicity stunt, created by Magnetic Collaborative agency to promote power bar-maker Kind's new line of fruit snacks, which have no added sugar, is meant to sound an alarm

In descending order, Brazil, India, the EU, Thailand, China and the US are the top producersThe survey, conducted in 2014 by China's health, education and sports authorities, found that the sugar intake of males 13 to 17 surpassed 8"There are now 30 percent more people who are obese than who are undernourishedThe average child takes in 21 teaspoons a day, the AHA says

The white paper went to great lengths to define China as one of the "destabilizing factors" along with Democratic People's Republic of KoreaIt highlighted "more tangible" and "acute" challenges and destabilizing factors

The legislation provides greater flexibility, responsiveness, and interoperability for training, exercises, and planning on a broader spectrum of security issues by easing restrictions on Japanese Self-Defense Force operations, including the ability to exercise collective self-defenseThis will empower Japan to be an active player at the region and global stages

The white paper, the first after Japan's security legislation went into effect in March, played up the so-called "gray zone" situations, or neither pure peacetime nor contingencies over territory, sovereignty and economic interestsIn its 2016 defense white paper, Japan interferes in the South China Sea