US President Barack Obama was treated to a grandiose welcome in Beijing, where he met his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Tuesday. The pair agreed to strengthen ties between the two countries. But on the Web, feelings were not so warm. Read more...

Look carefully at this picture. If you weren't scared of feeding a burger to your six-year-old, you might be now. The ad is part of an awareness campaign launched by the Chinese authorities, who are dealing with an ever-widening population. At the same time however, Beijing city centre is just about to open its first ever Burger King. Read more...

As there is no bridge for pedestrians to cross this point of the Xunsi River in south-west Wuhan, local residents have to chance using a pipeline to reach the other side. On October 17, it claimed its sixth victim in a decade. Read more...

The Chinese blogosphere was very excited last week after an alleged prostitute and HIV carrier published a blog post with the telephone numbers of 279 of her former clients, telling them "If your number is included, then congratulations, you've got AIDS". Instead of being appalled however, the Chinese blogosphere thought the whole thing rather amusing - a worrying indication of China's naive attitude towards the lethal virus. Read more...

The prospect of Nicolas Sarkozy's 23 year-old undergraduate son being catapulted to the head of a major public agency has sparked widespread accusations of favouritism both at home and abroad. Our Observers in Gabon and China give their views on Sarkozy's latest imperial move. Read more...

On August 3 violent clashes broke out between local residents and Chinese immigrants in a suburb of Alger. Our Observer in Blida, 50km from the capital, explains that reasons behind the conflict are economic as well as cultural. Read more...

These photos show the gradual and perfectly timed improvement in weather conditions in the run up to the Chinese Republic's 60th anniversary on October 1. Pure luck? Not so, says one of our Observers in the city. An American expat who lives in Beijing, Roseann Lake gives her reaction to the event. Read more...

As expected, the parade organised to celebrate the People’s Republic of China’s 60th anniversary went extremely smoothly — thanks in part to the massive security lock-down weeks ahead of the show. There was one small hitch, however, as Chinese Web users were quick to see. Read more...

No, this isn't a soldier-turned-pom-pom girl rally, just a rehearsal parade of Chinese students ahead of the country's national holiday, on October 1.