A planeside welcome for Xi, a maternity hospital damaged in Kyiv, and five geopolitical signals for September 24, 2026

US-China: Trump welcomes Xi as the two sides extend the trade truce

• Xi Jinping arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday evening, and Donald Trump greeted him there in person — the first time a US president has welcomed a foreign leader at the base in 11 years, since Barack Obama received Pope Francis in 2015, according to C-SPAN, which tracks presidential events. In an arrival statement carried by Xinhua, Xi said China and the United States should be "partners, not rivals". The two leaders meet at the White House on Thursday 12.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after meeting Vice Premier He Lifeng that the two countries had agreed to extend "the Busan agreement" until January 10. The truce, which paused a tariff war in which mutual levies topped 100%, had been due to expire on November 10 34.
• People briefed on the plans point to a narrow set of outcomes: tariff cuts in specific sectors, cooperation against drug trafficking, expanded military-to-military dialogue, and an agreement to examine the risks of artificial intelligence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the idea of "the equivalent of a hotline that we had during the Cold War" to prevent incidents that could lead to conflict between states. On aircraft, hopes for a new Boeing order have faded: Boeing is trying to finalise the 200-jet commitment from May, of which US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said about 140 are "in a good state" with 10 more being closed 15.

US-China supply chains: Rare earths stay China's lever beyond this summit

• US output of the two most commonly used rare earths has more than tripled since Trump returned to office, but the country can still meet 42% of its own demand and will import nearly a quarter of what it uses five years from now, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a minerals consultancy. The US processes hardly any of the heavy rare earths used in military applications 6.
• The deadline on this file is separate from the truce. China agreed last year to delay restrictions on rare earth exports until November 10, and an extension of that delay is on the agenda for the Trump-Xi meeting. The White House had set its own January 2027 deadline to block imports of Chinese rare earths, a goal Reuters reported will be all but impossible to meet 6.
• Washington has put billions into domestic capacity. MP Materials began delivering magnets made from its own refined rare earths to General Motors this month, USA Rare Earth has bought a Brazilian mine and a French processing plant, and Energy Fuels agreed to buy a South Carolina magnet manufacturer. Chinese suppliers have begun holding back shipments to the US over fears of offending Beijing, Reuters reported this month, and Ford temporarily shut US factories last year after Chinese rare earth supplies dried up 6.

Russia-Ukraine: Missiles and drones hit Kyiv as an energy truce stays out of reach

• Russia struck Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones early on Thursday, killing two people, one of them in the parking lot of a maternity hospital that was damaged, and injuring eight, Ukrainian officials said. Ukraine's air force counted 282 drones and an unspecified number of hypersonic and ballistic missiles in the overnight barrage, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said three waves of ballistic missiles came, of which about 60% were downed over the city. Police recorded damage to nine homes, a post office, warehouses and dozens of cars in three districts, and overnight strikes on the Black Sea port of Odesa damaged a medical facility and shattered windows in nearby houses and a school 7.
• The overnight attack followed a day of drone strikes on Wednesday that lasted from morning into evening and killed two people and injured 45, Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said. The strikes hit railway infrastructure, warehouses and two fuel stations, one of them owned by the state producer Ukrnafta and the sixth such facility attacked in recent weeks, while a Russian aerial bomb killed five people and injured six in the village of Oleksandrivka near Kramatorsk in the east. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Zelensky urged governments to keep limiting Russian oil revenues, saying: "When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time" 89.
• The diplomacy running beside the strikes produced no movement. Zelensky told the assembly that Ukraine would make the coming winter painful for Russia if the two sides cannot agree a truce on energy attacks before the cold, said he was ready for "any format" of an energy ceasefire so long as Russia halted its own strikes, and offered a maritime truce in the Black Sea based on proposals from Egypt, India and Turkey. After meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Rubio said both countries had voiced an interest in a limited ceasefire covering grain and energy targets; Russia's Foreign Ministry said Moscow "reaffirmed its unconditional commitment to achieving the objectives of its special military operation", and the Kremlin said the grounds for peace talks were still not in place 710.

Middle East: The first US-Iran talks since June leave the deadlock intact

• President Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN General Assembly that Iran would never "bend the knee" and would fight "until our last breath". He demanded an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, saying: "It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access to shipping through this waterway." The US delegation walked out of the chamber at the start of his address 1213.
• The two countries held their first known indirect talks since a ceasefire collapsed in July, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner exchanging messages through Qatari mediators for two hours on Tuesday. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said Tehran conveyed conditions: an end to the war on all fronts, a halt to US "acts of aggression" and the release of frozen Iranian assets. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran is reviewing Washington's response to its proposals, which prioritise lifting the naval blockade and reopening the strait, and that "there are still many differences between the Iranian and US positions, but diplomacy is continuing" 14.
• Pressure rose on both sides. Rubio said a deal with Iran would involve hard work over a period of time and that Trump also has military options, and Washington said it will impose secondary sanctions on any country that allows Iranian flights after Wednesday. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened only once Iran's conditions are met, and warned that neighbouring countries' airports could not function if they stop Iranian flights. Britain's Treasury will automatically reject new licence applications from designated Iranian banks and let an existing general licence lapse next month 1415.

Middle East shipping: Ten ships through Hormuz and a seafarer killed off Oman

• Britain's UKMTO maritime agency said a cargo vessel was struck by an "unknown projectile" in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, leaving it on fire and adrift after the crew was evacuated, with two casualties reported. Agence France-Presse, citing Omani and Indian authorities, reported that an Indian sailor was killed on the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier Cape Dao, and India's foreign ministry condemned the attack and called for unimpeded passage through the strait to be restored 1214.
• Ten commodity vessels transited the strait on Wednesday, up from seven a day earlier but below the 10-day moving average of about 17, preliminary shipping data showed. Nine vessels entered, among them Supramax ships carrying metals, grain and other dry bulk cargoes and an empty very large gas carrier, while one Supramax carrying fertiliser exited; the figures exclude any vessels that crossed with transponders switched off to avoid detection. Before the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28, the strait typically handled about 125 large commercial vessels a day, accounting for some 20% of the world's daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas supply 17.
• Saudi Arabia has sold almost 100 million barrels of oil to Asian buyers since the middle of last week, according to traders, with delivery in October and November and shipment through the Strait of Hormuz. Chinese state-run and independent refiners and processors in India, Japan and South Korea are among the buyers. Oil producers pay shipping companies fees of as much as a quarter of a cargo's value to take the wartime risk of sailing the strait with transponders switched off, then transfer the crude to other vessels on the far side 1418.

Taiwan Strait: Republicans press Trump on $15bn of frozen arms as PLA activity holds

• Four Republican senators asked the administration on Wednesday to release more than $15 billion in stalled national security assistance for Taiwan. Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis wrote to Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth citing the State Department's failure to move $300 million in congressional foreign military financing, the Defence Department's failure to obligate $1 billion, and the decision to withhold approval for a $14 billion package of foreign military sales. Their letter also took issue with Trump's description of Taiwan as "a very good negotiating chip" 19.
• Xi is expected to press Trump to halt Taiwan arms sales during his visit, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters, offering in return to help put pressure on Iran. China's ambassador to the United States warned of "red lines" ahead of the meeting. In Taipei, cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee said the government is monitoring the summit and maintaining close contact with Washington, and thanked the United States for its support 120.
• Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense reported 10 PLA aircraft sorties, six PLA Navy ships and six official Chinese ships around the island in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. on September 24 (UTC+8), with five of the sorties crossing the median line into northern and central airspace. The window to 6 a.m. on September 23 recorded the same ten sorties and the same six and six ships, with nine sorties crossing into southwestern and eastern airspace 2122.