OF THE
TIMES
The Chinese leader's visit begins on Monday in Paris, where he is meeting the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for a day of talks that will include a trilateral meeting with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and a state banquet at the Élysée Palace in the evening.See also:
On Tuesday, Macron will accompany Xi to the Tourmalet pass 2,000 metres up in the Hautes-Pyrénées mountains, an area where the French president spent childhood holidays visiting his grandmother, for a day of less formal discussions. The two last met in April 2023 during a three-day state visit to China by Macron.
On Wednesday, Xi will travel to Belgrade for talks with Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vučić, and on Thursday he will go to Budapest where he will meet Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Washington, DC - The United States has played down the deadly Israeli assault on Rafah, saying the offensive appears to be "limited" despite concerns over the fate of the more than 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in the southern Gaza city.The problem with a major offensive is that the US has to answer more questions, receive more critique, it is expedient to play "down Rafah assault". Some observers may find it odd, that the attack comes, after according to some sources: "hours after Hamas said it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar". It is justified, as Iran says, that "In attacking Rafah, Israel is sabotaging global efforts to stop Gaza war".
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that the US still opposes a major Israeli offensive against Rafah.
Comment: It's probably no coincidence that this hack comes on the heels of another announcement, seemingly intended to prime the population for incidents of this kind: NATO accuses Russia of 'hybrid and malign' activities on alliance's territories
See also: Predatory Sparrow: The terrorist attacks of an Israel-linked hacker group