While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 16
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US President Joe Biden (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time in a year, at a high-stakes summit in California. PHOTO: REUTERS
PHOTO: REUTERS
Biden, Xi pledge to reduce tensions at summit
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands on Wednesday and pledged to reduce tensions as they met for the first time in a year at a high-stakes summit in California.
A smiling Mr Biden greeted Mr Xi after the Chinese leader stepped out of a black limousine at the scenic Filoli country estate in the California foothills near San Francisco, before the two leaders shook hands on the front steps.
They then headed inside for painstakingly choreographed, closed-door talks on issues including Taiwan, sanctions and trade that have roiled relations between the world’s largest economies.
Mr Biden opened his remarks by saying that tensions should “not veer into conflict.” Mr Xi responded by saying that “turning their back on each other is not an option” for the superpowers.
Israel shows video of arms it says were found in Gaza hospital
Israeli troops found Hamas weapons and combat gear in Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip during a search on Wednesday, chief Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
The army simultaneously released a video that it said showed some of the material recovered from an undisclosed building within the large hospital complex, including automatic weapons, grenades, ammunition and flak jackets.
Hamas, which is battling Israeli forces within the Gaza, dismissed the announcement as “lies and cheap propaganda”.
US is quietly sending Israel more ammunition, missiles
The Pentagon has quietly ramped up military aid to Israel, delivering on requests that include more laser-guided missiles for its Apache gunship fleet, as well as 155mm shells, night-vision devices, bunker-buster munitions and new army vehicles, according to an internal Defence Department list.
The weapons pipeline to Israel is extending beyond the well-publicised provision of Iron Dome interceptors and Boeing smart bombs. It continues even as Biden administration officials increasingly caution Israel about trying to avoid civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
The arms sought by Israel as it fights Hamas, designated as a terrorist group by the US and European Union, are listed in a document labelled “Israel Senior Leader” requests that is dated late October and is circulating in the Pentagon.
Half of Russians want Putin to end war in Ukraine, poll shows
Almost half of Russians want President Vladimir Putin to open talks to end the war in Ukraine, according to a survey that found they outnumbered those who wanted to keep fighting for the first time.
Some 48 per cent of respondents agreed it was time to negotiate a peace deal, with 39 per cent in favour of pressing on with the war, a Oct 21 to 29 telephone poll of 1,611 people by the Russian Field company found.
The proportion favouring talks was the highest since the company, which claims to conduct independent polling paid for by crowdfunding, began monitoring attitudes to the war in April 2022.
Aniston says loss of Friends co-star ‘has cut deep’
Actor Jennifer Aniston paid tribute to her late Friends co-star Matthew Perry on Wednesday in an Instagram post with a black and white photo of Aniston and Perry laughing together during a cast script reading.
Perry was found dead in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on Oct 28. He was 54.
“Oh boy this one has cut deep... Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before,” Aniston wrote on the social media platform.
