International

With a grand parade of flags waved by children, a military review of the honor guard, a visit to the sacred Temple of Heaven, and an opulent banquet in the Great Hall of the People, Xi Jinping has charmed Donald Trump with a pomp superior to that usually granted to his visiting counterparts. The American leader has returned the hospitality with a level of praise that his European allies, including the kings of the United Kingdom who visited the White House two weeks ago, will hardly hear.

The Prime Minister of Latvia, Evika Siliņa, has resigned this Thursday after her coalition government has been shaken in recent weeks following a collateral incident of the war in Ukraine.

The war in Iran has left the Gulf countries in a very delicate situation. The missiles and drones launched by Tehran in the first weeks of the conflict have shattered their image as an oasis of stability, while the blockade of Hormuz threatens to ruin their economy, which is highly dependent on crude oil exports.

Wes Streeting, British Secretary of Health and representative of the right wing of the Labour Party, has resigned to, presumably, run as an alternative to the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer.

Just minutes after the first meeting of the summit between China and the United States began, Xi Jinping issued a warning to Donald Trump about Taiwan. If Washington mishandles the issue of the island, he told him, the two countries could enter into “a situation…

The long-awaited summit between China and the U.S. kicked off this Thursday in Beijing, with apparent harmony between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. Despite the commercial focus, the shadow of Iran and Taiwan looms over the meeting from the start. Xi, in fact, pointed out that the Taiwan issue is the most important in the relationship between China and the U.S.: “This will be stable if handled well, otherwise there will be clashes and even conflicts, which will pose a great danger.”

Regarding Keir Starmer’s political health, there are three distinct and contradictory medical opinions. One says he is already dead, pending certification by the coroner and the subsequent autopsy. Another says he is in a vegetative state from which it is almost impossible to recover, and only the family’s resignation and authorization to disconnect life support remain. And the last is that he has suffered a deep trauma and is in critical condition, and – although difficult – he is strong and it cannot be completely ruled out that he will wake from the coma, recover, and return to normal life.

In his effort to sell a victory to the American people in the Iran war, Donald Trump has stubbornly repeated that the Persian country has already been “annihilated” militarily, so the “total victory” at the strategic level is just around the corner. “They have no Navy, no communications, no Air Force,” he said two months ago, when he lied by claiming that the war was “practically over.” “They have already fired everything they had to fire,” he added: “Iran’s drone and missile capability has been completely destroyed, the navy has disappeared.”

Ancient China did not leave the cosmic order in the hands of amateurs. For two millennia, the emperor himself was responsible for winning over the gods in the Temple of Heaven. As if his elaborate annual rituals were what kept the world ticking. This Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping will accompany the sacred navel of Beijing to his American guest, Donald Trump. And a world on edge may wonder what their respective offerings will yield.

China has confirmed this Monday the visit of the President of the United States to Beijing, which will feature meetings with his counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday. Air Force One will land in the Chinese capital on the evening of Wednesday, May 13. That a summit of such importance is officially announced with barely two days’ notice attests to the uncertainty of the moment, with both countries watching the evolution of the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.