Plus: Turning to AI to cope with grief, and Edinburgh's street stitchers ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| Hello. Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting China in his first international trip after starting his fifth term in power. Laura Bicker reflects on the visit's significance for Chinese President Xi Jinping. In Afghanistan, Yama Bariz and Caroline Davies survey the damage of recent flash flooding and speak to locals who have lost everything. We also have stories about grief tech, or technology meant to help coping with the death of a loved one, and about groups of women sewing for a cause. | |
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TOP OF THE AGENDA | Xi's tricky balancing act | | Mr Putin said Russia and China wanted a political solution to the "Ukraine crisis". Credit: Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/EPA | Russian President Vladimir Putin has met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing. The visit is meant to show the strength of the two countries' relations in the face of Russia's isolation from the West following its invasion of Ukraine. Mr Putin's foreign trip comes as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky halted international visits to focus on Russia's offensive in the Kharkiv region. Mr Xi is instead fresh off a mini-tour of Europe, where he visited France, Hungary and Serbia. In Beijing, the two leaders discussed foreign affairs, including the war in Ukraine, as well as trade relations - an issue on which China has often sparred with the US, which has this week imposed tariffs on Chinese goods such as electric cars and solar panels. But while Mr Putin needs Mr Xi to be a close ally, the Chinese leader has to strike a trickier balancing act, writes China correspondent Laura Bicker.
Next on the itinerary: Mr Putin is expected to travel to Harbin, China's most Russian city, on Friday.
Watch: A Chinese military band welcomed the Russian leader.
Explainer: How China helps soften the impact of US and European sanctions on Russia. | |
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| | | Baghlan province, Afghanistan |
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| Devastating impact of Afghan floods | | Mohammad Rasool feels lucky that his family has survived, but says he has lost everything else. Credit: BBC | Flash flooding hit Afghanistan's province of Baghlan on Friday. The destruction stretches for miles. The World Food Programme says more than 300 people have died and 2,000 homes were destroyed in an event that survivors have described as unprecedented. |
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| | Yama Bariz and Caroline Davies, BBC News |
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| | "I struggled to reach the next floor amidst the chaos. Our home and all our livestock were swept away," says Zuhra Bibi, who is now sleeping in a tarpaulin tent. She says she's never seen anything like this before in her lifetime. Flooding is not uncommon, but in 20, 40, 60 years, we are told, none have seen a flood like this in their area. In the village of Gudan Bala, Mohammad Rasool is chain-smoking cigarettes next to a field where his crops once grew. Now the field is a pool of thick muddy water. |
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BEYOND THE HEADLINES | A chatbot to keep father's memories alive |
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| | | In 2019, James Vlahos turned his chatbot into an app and business called HereafterAI. Credit: Getty Images | John Vlahos passed away in 2017 after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis the previous year. His son James spent that year recording hours of audio of his father's life story. He used those recordings to power an AI-powered chatbot that could answer questions about his dad's life - in his father's voice. |
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SOMETHING DIFFERENT | Too real | Netflix's mega-hit Baby Reindeer has created huge controversy. | |
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And finally... | A group of women are making a stand against fashion waste by taking free sewing services to the streets. Mary Morton started a group of "street stitchers" in Edinburgh, Scotland, two years ago after learning about the carbon footprint of textiles. Inspired by Suzi Warren, who started the movement in London, Ms Morton has since recruited 49 street stitchers. | |
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