Security around Beijing's historic Tiananmen Square has been heightened for days, with rumours on social media swirling of a special parade or some big, choreographed event. Preparations for this major event have started with a whisper, but China appears ready to put on a show for US President Donald Trump. The visit will include talks, a banquet, and a visit to the Temple of Heaven, a complex of imperial temples where emperors would pray for a good harvest. And both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be hoping the visit will bear fruit. This summit between the world's two most powerful leaders is set to be one of the most consequential encounters for years.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Zelenskyy seeks 50,000 Russian'losses' a month to win the Ukraine war Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he plans to increase his armed forces' lethality as part of a strategy to disarm Moscow and turn a deadlocked negotiating table. "The task of Ukrainian units is to ensure a level of destruction of the occupier at which Russian losses exceed the number of reinforcements they can send to their forces each month," he told military personnel on Monday.

In'watershed moment', Tesla board to vote on Musk's $1 trillion package Tesla's board is set to vote on CEO Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package as major proxy adviser firms urge shareholders to reject the deal. The vote is scheduled for Thursday and will determine whether Musk secures what is the largest compensation package in corporate history. These firms often influence large passive funds that hold significant stakes in the electric carmaker. Tesla has faced mounting challenges this year, with global sales declining and investor confidence wavering. In July, Tesla reported a 13.5 percent decline in sales in the United States. They jumped 7.4 percent in the third quarter ending in September compared with the same period the year before, as US consumers scrambled to take advantage of a $7,500 EV tax credit that was set to expire that month.

After serving a federal prison sentence for violating anti-money-laundering laws and US sanctions, former crypto exchange CEO Changpeng Zhao has been pardoned by US president Donald Trump. US president Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance. Zhao, widely known as CZ, pled guilty in November 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering laws and US sanctions. The plea formed part of a sweeping deal with the US Department of Justice, under which Binance was required to pay a record-breaking $4.3 billion penalty. Zhao ultimately spent four months in federal prison.

Pope Leo XIV has hit out at those who minimise the increasingly evident impact of rising temperatures in his first major statement on climate change. Reiterating the words of his predecessor Pope Francis, the new pontiff lambasted critics who ridicule those who speak of global warming. The Pope's remarks, at a speech in Castel Gondolfo near Rome, will be seen as an implied criticism of US President Donald Trump, who last month called climate change a con. Pope Leo also called for greater action from citizens the world over on climate change, saying there was no room for indifference or resignation. The Pope was speaking at a conference to mark 10 years since the publication of Laudato Si'.

Vladimir Putin will keep driving the war forward wider and deeper if he is not stopped, Ukraine's President Zelensky has warned. Speaking at the UN's General Assembly in New York, Zelensky said more countries would be met with Russian aggression unless allies displayed a united front and ramped up support. He said all nations were threatened by a global arms race, as military technology advances, adding that weapons decide who survives and called for global rules on AI. His comments come after US President Donald Trump shifted his position on the Russia-Ukraine war, saying for the first time that Ukraine could win back all of its land. Zelensky criticised international institutions, suggesting they are too weak to offer Ukraine safety guarantees, adding - in apparent reference to Nato - that being part of a long-standing military alliance doesn't automatically mean you are safe. We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history, he said.

How is Russia replenishing its military? What is a'coalition of the willing'? How China forgot promises and'debts' to Ukraine How are Europe, the US pulling apart on Ukraine? An early morning Russian attack on Friday killed three people in northern Ukraine's Sumy region, a regional official reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow's attempts to advance in the Sumy area had failed with heavy losses, and Russian operations in the region were being "completely foiled by our forces".

Into the two big foreign policy arenas sucking up much of the Trump administration's time and effort come two major challenges in less than 24 hours. Israel's air raid on the offices of Hamas in Doha and a Russian drone incursion deep into Polish airspace represent two massive headaches for the White House. After all, these are conflicts - Ukraine and Gaza - US President Donald Trump said he would deal with swiftly and decisively. In each case, a leader he sees as a natural, if problematic ally - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - has thrown a massive spanner in the wheels of White House peace-making. The Doha raid came just two days after the Trump administration delivered its latest proposals to end the war in Gaza.

Ukraine has reported dozens of civilian deaths from Russian attacks over the past week, including three killed in a late-night assault on Wednesday in the southeastern city of Dnipro. A child was among the victims of the drone attack, which came hours before high-stakes meetings in Paris due to take place later on Thursday, during which United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff are to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and other European officials to discuss the conflict. Ukraine's defence and foreign ministers, as well as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, are also in the French capital for talks with US and European Union delegations, though Kyiv's delegation has not specified who it plans to meet. But as Moscow's self-imposed 30-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure approached its close, talks to achieve a broader ceasefire so far have showed little sign of progress. Russia has stuck to its hardline positions while accusing Ukraine of violating the energy ceasefire, to which Kyiv never agreed.

A Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead has hit the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in the Kyiv region, Ukraine said, amid warnings by the military that Russia launched 133 unmanned vehicles against the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that the drone strike significantly damaged the protective containment shelter and started a fire, which has been put out. The Kremlin responded saying Russia does not hit nuclear sites. Radiation levels at the site have not increased, according to Zelenskyy and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA did not attribute blame but said the drone strike occurred at 01:50am local time (23:50 GMT) and that there was "no indication of a breach in the … inner containment" shell, a protective cover built around the fourth reactor of the plant.