Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold bilateral talks. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAView image in fullscreenDonald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold bilateral talks. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAFirst Thing: Trump welcomes Xi to Washington amid tensions over trade, AI and TaiwanState visit takes place at same time as UN general assembly, which Chinese leader has avoided. Plus, meet the people who are real-life Pokémon ‘professors’
Good morning. Donald Trump has welcomed Xi Jinping to the US, greeting the Chinese leader on the asphalt at Joint Base Andrews at the start of his state visit. Xi’s trip coincides with the UN general assembly in New York, but he is not attending the gathering.
The pageantry will continue with a formal welcome on the South Lawn of the White House, private tea with the US president and first lady, and a tour of the National Archives, among other special events. The White House also invited major tech leaders to a state dinner being held for Xi.
What will the two leaders discuss? Amy Hawkins notes in this explainer that topics are likely to include the development of AI technology, frosty trade relations and Taiwan.
What developments have there been in US-China relations? The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, announced that the US and China agreed on Wednesday to extend the so-called Busan agreement, a temporary trade truce between the world’s two biggest economies.
Who else has been invited to the US? The US has invited Vladimir Putin to take part in the G20 meeting scheduled to take place in Miami in December, in what would be the Russian leader’s first attendance at such a summit since he launched his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said: “We hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept.”
View image in fullscreenMasoud Pezeshkian. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty ImagesIn a defiant speech to the UN general assembly in New York, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian described the US as the true bully and terrorist in the Middle East while insisting that Iran had always shown a commitment to the negotiating table. But he balanced that with a willingness to talk, saying: “We are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations but without the language of force.”
Pezeshkian accused Washington of “terrorism” for assassinating the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, at the start of the US-Israeli war. He held up photographs of the ayatollah and some of the more than 150 schoolchildren killed in the opening days of the conflict. He also insisted that Tehran had never started a war.
Why is Israel facing a water supply crisis? Israel is facing weeks of water shortages after an exceptional algae bloom crippled much of its desalination capacity, in a crisis scientists say was triggered when Israeli attacks destroyed much of Gaza’s wastewater infrastructure, causing a huge discharge of untreated sewage.
View image in fullscreenDonald Trump gives a press conference in the Oval Office. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesIn a blow for the administration and Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on US media outlets, a federal judge has ordered the White House to temporarily restore access to journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico. The US district judge Tim Kelly said the ban on the three media outlets was likely to be unconstitutional.
A lawyer for the Department of Justice told Kelly the administration had provided enough explanation for the revocation of the press passes, but the judge signaled skepticism of that argument, noting that the letters were sent after the revocation occurred and the lawsuit was filed.
Where else has Trump suffered a legal setback over media coverage? A judge has also dismissed Trump’s lawsuit accusing the Des Moines Register and its former pollster of misrepresenting the state of the 2024 presidential race, rejecting the president’s claim that the newspaper’s poll coverage violated Iowa’s consumer fraud law.
View image in fullscreenThe USS Abraham Lincoln. Photograph: Chanakarn Laosarakham/AFP/Getty ImagesEight US navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group have attempted to take their own lives since the start of their lengthy deployment as part of the US war on Iran, the acting US navy secretary, Hung Cao, revealed in a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Donald Trump described reports of poor conditions on the ship as fake news in August.
In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. International helplines can be found at befrienders.org
View image in fullscreenSenator Susan Collins. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Democrats accused the Republican senator Susan Collins of corruption after the media outlet ProPublica reported that the FBI had proposed investigating her for allegedly accepting bribes. Collins has disputed the report.
The FBI is investigating an apparent breach of its jobs website after a criminal hacking group claimed to have accessed “very sensitive data” on nearly all agents and job applicants.
Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years after being convicted of sexually assaulting the former TV production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 at his Manhattan apartment.
The former NFL star Antonio Brown plans to accept a plea deal on an attempted murder charge. Doing so will mean the former wide receiver avoids prison.
Meta announced a new set of virtual reality glasses and a collection of new smart glasses, including an audio-only version without a camera.
View image in fullscreenRobert F Kennedy Jr. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/APThe US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, received $4m in book advances over the last year from allies in the Make America Healthy Again movement. According to a 2024 ethics filing, however, he had pledged: “I will not engage in writing, editing, marketing or promotional services for any of these books during government service.” A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said Kennedy Jr “complies with all applicable federal ethics laws, regulations and financial disclosure requirements”.
View image in fullscreenCocktails with cannabis leaves. Photograph: petrenkod/Getty ImagesThe market for THC-infused seltzers and spirits has never been more full. Here are seven standouts.
View image in fullscreenPokémon trainers at the world championship. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty ImagesAna Diaz spoke to the volunteers who help to organise the game’s competitive communities around the world at the 2026 Pokémon world championships in San Francisco.
View image in fullscreenGoogle’s AI mode. Photograph: Matteo Della Torre/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesI am old enough to remember the 1990s when internet search was mostly haphazard guesswork, then Google came along and you could actually find things. Now you can’t again. Google’s insertion of AI overviews has profoundly changed the browsing habits of billions of people. Guardian readers explain their new search strategies.
View image in fullscreenAl Gore. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesOliver Milman reports on how the former US vice-president is still optimistic about climate advocacy two decades after the groundbreaking documentary.
View image in fullscreenAn olive ridley turtle hatchling. Photograph: Aman Rochman/Zuma Press/Shutterstock“This is the first documented case of a turtle nesting on the west coast,” Justin Viezbicke, the California stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (Noaa), said. What caused the turtles to begin nesting farther north than usual remains an open question.
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