A colossal police hunt for a Sikh separatist who has revived calls for an independent homeland in India's Punjab state has stoked fears of violence and revived painful memories of a bloody insurgency that killed thousands.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have made a sweeping affirmation of their alignment across a host of issues -- and shared mistrust of the United States -- in a lengthy statement following talks between the two leaders in Moscow this week.

In the summer of 1973, just one year after then-US President Richard Nixon's historic trip, I made my first visit to China. One of the places I was taken to was the Wusan People's Commune outside Shenyang in northeast China. There, I met model Maoist peasant Yu Kexin and ate lunch at his modest home...

[Breaking news update, published at 10:44 p.m. ET]