Moscow Shot Down Drones for Third Day as Xi, Lula Due to Arrive
Russia's air defense shot down nine drones flying toward Moscow, the capital's mayor said, in an incident coming just before foreign leaders including the presidents of China and Brazil are expected in the city for Victory Day celebrations.
Two of four Moscow airports, including the one that typically handles government-delegation flights, temporarily suspended operations early Wednesday morning, aviation officials said, adding normal service has since resumed.
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Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump says Xi agreed to restart flow of crucial minerals, but analysts say China won't give up its ‘rare earth card'
US President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping has agreed to restart the flow of crucial rare earth materials, after announcing a new round of US-China trade talks will be held in London on Monday. Trump made the comments a day after holding his long-awaited phone call with Xi, during which the two leaders agreed to resume negotiations stalled over mutual accusations of violating the truce reached in Geneva last month. For Washington, a major sticking point has been China's export restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets, which are essential for everything from cars to fighter jets, and critical to American industries and defense. In the weeks since the fragile detente, Washington has accused Beijing of slow-walking approvals for rare earth exports and reneging on its promise made in Geneva, with Trump expressing increasing urgency to speak to his Chinese counterpart to iron things out. After a 90-minute call on Thursday, Trump said he and Xi had 'straightened out' some points related to rare earth magnets, describing it as 'very complex stuff.' But he did not specify what exactly had been agreed upon. Asked Friday if Xi had agreed to restart the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets, Trump told reporters abroad Air Force One: 'Yes, he did.' He did not further elaborate on how fast that would happen, or the volume of the materials that would be released. The Chinese readout of the call did not mention rare earths. Instead, it quoted Xi as saying that China had 'seriously and earnestly' complied with the trade truce agreement. Asked about it at the Chinese foreign ministry's daily briefing on Friday, a spokesperson sidestepped the question, saying it was a matter for other agencies to address. China, which controls 90% of the global processing of rare earths, imposed export restrictions on some minerals and magnets on April 4 at the height of the tariff war, after Trump slapped 'reciprocal' levies on Chinese goods. The new system does not ban exports outright, but requires government approval for each shipment. Chinese scholars who advise the government suggested on Thursday that Beijing is not ready to give up the powerful leverage bestowed by its dominance on the rare earth supply chain – and may seek to use it to get Washington to ease its own export controls aimed at blocking China's access to advanced US semiconductors and technologies. While American businesses are likely to see more shipments approved in the next couple of weeks, the export licensing regime is here to stay, said Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. He noted that, according to official rules set by China's Commerce Ministry, applications for export licenses can take up to 45 working days to be approved. 'In principle, I can agree to export to you, but I can speed things up or slow them down. In reality, on a technical level, it also depends on the overall bilateral trade and economic atmosphere,' he said. 'If the bilateral relationship is good, then I'll go a bit faster; if not, I'll slow down. But you can't say I'm violating the agreement – I'm still following the standard procedures.' Some Chinese suppliers of US companies have recently received six-month export licenses, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said Friday, but it noted that uncertainty remains amid a large backlog of license applications. Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said the importance Trump attaches to rare earths shows how effective China's 'rare earth card' is. 'I hadn't realized just how important this rare earth card was before. Now the US side is clearly anxious and eager to resolve this issue,' he said in a video on social media on Thursday. 'But of course, we'll link this issue to others – the US is restricting China on chips and jet engines, then China certainly has every reason to make use of this card.' 'As for whether China will change its rare earth export control policy, that probably still needs to be negotiated in more detail' Jin added. Some Chinese scholars have expressed hope that US technology restrictions on China may now be up for negotiation, after Trump announced that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick – whose department overseas US export controls – will join Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in the next round of trade talks. 'The issue of US export controls may no longer be an area that is completely non-negotiable in the future,' Cui Fan, an economics professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and advisor to the Chinese Commerce Ministry, wrote in a social media post. Beijing has insisted that its export controls are in line with international practices, non-discriminatory and not targeted at any specific country. Hours before the two leaders jumped on the phone on Thursday, a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry reiterated that stance at a regular news conference, citing the 'clear dual-use attributes' of rare earth materials. Dual-use items refer to those with both civilian and military applications. 'The Chinese government reviews export license applications for dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations, and for applications that meet the requirements, China will grant approval to promote and facilitate compliant trade,' spokesperson He Yongqian said. The strict licensing system has significantly disrupted the global supplies of these materials and triggered production turmoil across industries in America and Europe, raising alarms among officials and businesses alike. A survey of member companies conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China late week found that, among those affected by rare earth export controls, 75% say their stock would run out within three months. CNN's Kit Maher contributed to reporting.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Kharkiv hit by ‘most powerful attack' of entire war, mayor says, as Russia pounds Ukraine again
Russia bombarded Ukraine's second-largest city with massive strikes in the early hours of Saturday, its mayor said, one night after Moscow carried out one of the war's largest aerial assaults on Ukraine. Russia has conducted extensive attacks on Ukraine in recent days, in what is being viewed as retaliation for an audacious drone operation by Kyiv that debilitated more than a third of Moscow's strategic cruise missile carriers. The northeastern city of Kharkiv – which sits about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Russian border – was shaken by 'at least 40 explosions' on Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding more than a dozen, according to a Telegram post by Mayor Igor Terekhov. 'Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,' Terekhov said. 'The enemy is striking simultaneously with missiles, (drones) and guided aerial bombs. This is outright terror against peaceful Kharkiv.' Video released by emergency services showed a large fire burning in a multi-story apartment block in the Osnovyanskyi district in the city's southwest, where Terekhov said two people had died. One person was also killed in a strike that hit a house in the Kyivskyi district to the north, he said. A day earlier, in the apparent retaliation to Ukraine's drone swarm, Russia launched a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles across broad swaths of Ukraine, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others. 'They gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night,' US President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One late on Friday. Trump had earlier warned Russian retaliation was imminent, after speaking with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if Putin intends to further escalate Moscow's retaliation. Ukraine's drone attack against Russian airfields on Sunday was audacious and daring. But most of all, it was meticulously planned and executed flawlessly against Russia. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh explains how the attack unfolded. Trump is eager to bring an end to the three-year war, but has been reluctant to impose new sanctions on Russia while the US pushes the warring nations to strike a ceasefire deal. On Friday, he said he will use further sanctions against Russia 'if necessary.' 'If I think Russia will not be making a deal or stopping the bloodshed… I'll use it if it's necessary,' he told reporters. Officials from Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul on Monday for a second round of peace talks, but the meeting lasted barely over an hour and the only real outcome was an agreement to work towards another prisoner swap. CNN's Kate Irby contributed reporting
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Russia launches major attack on Ukraine, killing 5
Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles, drones and bombs across Ukraine early Saturday, killing five people in a major attack that the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, described as unprecedented. Russian forces have accelerated attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, with the Kremlin vowing to retaliate over a brazen attack on its air bases last weekend. In Kharkiv, Mayor Igor Terekhov counted 48 Iranian-made drones, two missiles and four guided bombs before dawn in the city of some 1.4 million residents located less than 50 kilometres from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine.. "Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the beginning of the full-scale war," Terekhov posted on Telegram around 4:40 am (0140 GMT), adding that drones were still buzzing overhead. The Russian strikes pummelled homes and apartment blocks, killing at least three people and wounding 17 more, the mayor said. A woman was also pulled alive from the rubble of a high-rise building. Kharkiv region Governor Oleg Synegubov said the wounded included two children. "Medical personnel are providing the necessary assistance," he wrote. The northeastern city was already reeling from an attack on Thursday that wounded at least 18 people, including four children. In the southern port city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed a couple and damaged two high-rise buildings, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. And in Dnipro, two women, aged 45 and 88, were injured in strikes, according to local officials. Rescuers in the western city of Lutsk, near the Polish border, meanwhile discovered a second fatality from Friday's strikes, describing the victim as a woman in her 20s. The aerial bombardments come days after Ukraine launched a brazen attack well beyond the frontlines, damaging nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases and prompting vows of revenge from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has been pushing for an unconditional and immediate 30-day truce, issuing its latest proposal during peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. But Russia, which now controls around one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, has repeatedly rejected such offers to end its three-year war. The Kremlin said on Friday the Ukraine war was "existential" for Russia. - Ceasefire hopes dim - The comments are Moscow's latest to dampen hopes for a breakthrough amid a flurry of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, as well as telephone calls between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, aimed at stopping the fighting. "For us it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, responding to remarks by Trump on Thursday comparing Moscow and Kyiv to brawling children. Ahead of the talks this week in Istanbul, an audacious Ukrainian drone attack damaged nuclear-capable military planes at Russian air bases, including thousands of kilometres behind the front lines in Siberia. Putin had told Trump he would retaliate for the brazen operation, 18 months in the planning, in which Ukraine smuggled more than 100 small drones into Russia, parked them near Russian air bases and unleashed them in a coordinated attack. Putin has issued a host of sweeping demands on Ukraine if it wants to halt the fighting. They include completely pulling troops out of four regions claimed by Russia, but which its army does not fully control, an end to Western military support, and a ban on Ukraine joining NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the demands as old ultimatums, questioned the purpose of more such talks and called for a summit to be attended by him, Putin and Trump. bur-lb-ach
