BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping told Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday at the G20 summit in Indonesia that he hoped Italy would play an important role in helping the European Union's policy towards China remain "positive" and "independent."
In their first-ever meeting, Xi and Meloni praised each other's countries as ancient civilisations, with Xi pointing out China's cooperation with Italy on battling COVID-19, and calling on China-Italy relations to become a "model for the development of relations between two countries with different social systems and cultural backgrounds," according to state broadcaster CCTV.
"(I) hope that the Italian side can play an important role in the EU persisting in its pursuit of an independent, self-sufficient, and positive policy towards China," Xi was quoted as saying by CCTV.
Xi also stressed that he hoped both countries could find new growth points for areas of cooperation, such as high-end manufacturing, clean energy and aviation, while Meloni said Italy did not approve of confrontation between camps and believed all countries should respect each other's differences and divergences, CCTV reported.
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – Negotiators at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt must overcome a "breakdown in trust" between rich and poor nations to deliver a deal to save the world from the worst of global warming, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres said on Thursday. "The world is watching and has a simple message: stand and deliver." His speech was intended to rally negotiators that have become stuck on issues from whether a fund should be established to compensate poor nations for climate damage already ocurring, to language around fossil fuels use.
U.S. regulators gained "good access" in their review of auditing work done on New York-listed Chinese firms during a seven-week inspection, four sources with knowledge of the matter said – a key step forward in resolving a long-standing bilateral dispute. The sources, however, cautioned that the broader review of work done by Hong Kong and China-based auditors was ongoing and that no decision had been taken on whether the dispute could be considered over. Inspectors with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) conducting the inspection in Hong Kong gained all the information they requested, one of the sources said.
BEIJING (Reuters) -China's foreign ministry on Thursday said Chinese President Xi Jinping was not criticising Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after Xi was seen confronting him at the G20 summit over alleged leaks from an informal meeting they had held on Tuesday. Beijing supports having frank exchanges as long as they are held on an equal basis, and China hopes Canada will take action to improve bilateral ties, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular media briefing.
Tensions over Taiwan are expected to be on the agenda when U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris meets Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr next week, Manila's ambassador to Washington said on Thursday. "I'm sure they will touch on the Taiwan situation," Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez told Reuters by telephone, adding that the Philippines wants to play a role in peaceful co-existence between the United States and China.
I opened Twitter last week to find my account suspended for tweeting the medication-abortion protocol using mifepristone and misoprostol.
President Xi Jinping appeared to hint at a possible conflict with the US over Taiwan when he warned China to prepare for a "dangerous storm" last month.
A Dutch court has found two Russian men and one Ukrainian man guilty of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, but acquitted a third Russian.
"He's done more to help the Democrats than he has Republicans," Mark Esper said of his old boss, Donald Trump.
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who won an election this month, that it is important to maintain relations on a basis of respect for mutual interests, the Turkish presidency said on Thursday. In a phone call, Erdogan told Netanyahu he was saddened by "events two days ago in the West Bank". Netanyahu offered his condolences for those who died in a bomb attack in Istanbul on Sunday, the presidency said.
Cause for celebration!
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian refiners are wary of buying Russia crude oil loading after Dec. 5 when European Union sanctions take effect, pending clarity on the proposed G7 price cap mechanism, according to sources familiar with the refiners' crude purchase plans. Chinese refiners have already begun slowing down Russian oil imports from next month. The Asian giants, who are two of the world's top three importers, had become Russia's biggest customers after the West shunned Russian oil after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, stated that he cannot call upon Ukrainians to return from abroad now, since the air defence systems cannot protect the Ukrainian skies by at least 90%. Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with journalists on 16 November Quote: "I can't say 'come back'.
Old and new space businesses have battled each other in recent years. NASA got a win for the former when it launched the SLS rocket on the Artemis I mission.
Democrats held on to a swing district in Maine, as two-term U.S. Rep. Jared Golden beat back a challenge from a former congressman via ranked choice voting for the second time in four years. Golden won reelection via the ranked round, Maine’s secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, said Wednesday. During the ranked round, votes for third-place finisher Bond were redistributed to the second choices of those who voted for her.
STORY: Missiles rained down on regions and parts of cities including the capital Kyiv, Lviv and Rivne in the west, Kharkiv in the northeast, Kryvyi Rih and Poltava in the center, Odesa in the south and Zhytomyr in the north. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that out of dozens of launches against his country on Tuesday, Russian attacks only hit 10 targets."Thank you to all our partners who help defend our skies," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, in which he noted the role of the sophisticated NASAMS air defense systems.There was no immediate word on casualties, but the strikes knocked out power in several regions.A Kharkiv resident, identified only by his first name Ruslan, told Reuters while waiting for the subway to resume its service, “I think there is a tactic to take the people by exhaustion. And they think that exhaustion will wear us off. But I think nothing will wear us off. We are strong and tough, and we believe that we will win."
As Donald Trump announced Tuesday he is running again for the White House, two groups are already working behind the scenes to mount a national push to get elections officials to stop him from being on the ballot because of Jan. 6 — even as similar such efforts have failed against other Republicans. Free Speech For People and Mi Familia Vota are launching a campaign via TrumpIsDisqualified.org to urge secretaries of state and other chief elections officials to bar the former president from running for office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, known as the disqualification clause. Enacted after the Civil War, the clause blocks any person from holding federal office who has taken an oath to protect the Constitution — including a member of Congress — but who has "engaged in insurrection" against the U.S. or "given aid or comfort" to its "enemies."
The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting that a 5.5 magnitude earthquake has hit portions of Texas and New Mexico.
BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday criticised Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in person over alleged leaks of their closed-door meeting at the G20 summit, a rare public display of annoyance by the Chinese leader. In video footage published by Canadian broadcasters, Xi and Trudeau can be seen standing close to each other and conversing via a translator at the summit on the Indonesian island of Bali. His displeasure was likely a reference to media reports that Trudeau brought up "serious concerns" about alleged espionage and Chinese "interference" in Canadian elections when meeting with Xi on Tuesday, his first talks with the Chinese leader in more than three years.
BEIJING (Reuters) -China's new home prices fell at their fastest pace in over seven years in October, weighed down by COVID-19 curbs and industry-wide problems, reflecting a deepening contraction that prompted authorities to ramp up support for the sector in recent days. New home prices slumped 1.6% year-on-year after a 1.5% fall in September, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data on Wednesday. Regulators outlined 16 measures as part of a rescue package on Sunday aimed at boosting liquidity in the property sector, including loan repayment extensions.
The incident occurred on the streets of Qatar on Tuesday evening