Plus: How a secret deal links Abramovich to Putin's 'wallets', and the women giving birth in Gaza.
| | | | | | | Hello. US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are meeting tomorrow in San Francisco. Our State Department correspondent Barbara Plett Usher has a detailed preview of the conversation. We also have a report with women who recently gave birth under the bombs in Gaza. But first, our investigation on links between billionaire Roman Abramovich and Vladimir Putin’s “wallets”. |
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| | | | | | Questions Answered | | What to expect of the Xi-Biden meeting | | | | Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden last met in November 2022, during a G20 summit. Credit: Reuters |
| | US President Joe Biden is to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday, in the San Francisco Bay Area. This will be only their second face-to-face meeting since Mr Biden became president. | | | | Barbara Plett Usher, State Department correspondent |
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| | What are Joe Biden and Xi Jinping going to talk about? | | Their conversation will be wide-ranging, US officials said, with the Israel-Hamas war, Taiwan, war in Ukraine and election interference to be discussed. Relations between the two countries deteriorated earlier this year. A US warplane shot down what authorities called a spy balloon across its air space. There was also a visit to Taiwan last year by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which led China to break off communication between the two nations' militaries. | | What are the leaders' positions on Taiwan? | | Taiwan is likely to be at the top of the list of topics China will be keen to discuss. It claims sovereignty over the self-ruled island. Mr Xi may ask for additional reassurances that the US does not support Taiwanese independence. Mr Biden, meanwhile, is expected to underscore American concerns about Beijing's military activities around Taiwan, according to a senior administration official. | | What kind of outcome is expected from the meeting? | | Analysts predict the summit may result in some modest achievements - perhaps on restoring military communications and restricting the flow of Chinese-made Fentanyl. But neither side is expecting any breakthroughs that would reset the relationship - this will be about managing and stabilising it. | | | | • | The context: Official data shows foreign businesses have been pulling money out of China at a faster rate than they have been putting it in. Our business reporter Annabelle Liang explains why. |
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| AT THE SCENE | Gaza Strip | | Giving birth under the bombs in Gaza | | | | Keifaia Abu Asser gave birth to her baby daughter after fleeing to the south of Gaza on foot. Credit: BBC | | 160 women are expected to give birth every day in the Gaza Strip, according to the UN, with very limited access to clean water and scarce medical supplies. Thanks to freelance journalists in Gaza, the BBC has been in touch with mothers and expecting women who say they are facing “unbearable” conditions. | | | "My child doesn't have a name yet because of the war. She's four days old," says Keifaia Abu Asser. Sitting on a straw mat in a corner of a school shelter run by the UN in Rafah City, in southern Gaza, Keifaia cradles her baby daughter, who is wrapped in a red blanket. Then heavily pregnant, the 24-year-old fled her home in northern Gaza with her family after the Israeli military warned civilians to move to the south of the Strip for their safety.
"I had to run and flee from one place to another. I was utterly exhausted. Initially we went to the Nuseirat Camp. But there was a bombing close to us. I saw bodies that had been ripped apart. It was extremely difficult," she says. The family finally reached the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah City but its maternity ward had been closed down. Keifaia was then moved to the nearby Emirati Hospital. "It was very hard because the number of women giving birth was huge," she says. "There was a shortage of painkillers, so they only administered it if the pain became really unbearable and only to those most in need." Keifaia gave birth with no painkillers. |
| | | | • | The latest: Fighting rages in Gaza as thousands sleeping in tents face heavy rain. Israel says it seized Gaza’s parliament and Hamas buildings. Read more on our live page. | | • | A new victim identified: Vivian Silver, an Israeli-Canadian peace advocate feared to have been taken hostage in Gaza, has been confirmed killed during Hamas’ 7 October attacks. |
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| | The big picture | | Rehabilitating Stalin | | | | Russia marked the 70th anniversary of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's death in Moscow’s Red Square this year. Credit: Reuters |
| | Memorials to victims of Stalinist repression in Russia are disappearing or being vandalised, amid increasing attempts to rehabilitate the image of the Soviet dictator. My colleague Sandro Gvindadze talked to civil rights activists fighting against the trend. They believe the damage was ordered or carried out by authorities because Moscow wants the Soviet Union to be perceived as a powerhouse, rather than an oppressive state. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Limestone and debauchery | | Emerald Fennell's Saltburn zones in on the strangeness of Britain’s upper class. | | |
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| | And finally... in England | | Some good news from Loose that could have come from Dr Seuss. It’s not a goose, nor a moose, but a pet emu that was on the loose in the village, in Kent, south-east England. A doorbell camera was put to good use and helped police bring back the bird to its loving family. Check out the footage. |
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