Tankers exit Hormuz as Trump, Vance talk up Iran deal prospects
Two Chinese tankers laden with oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, shipping data showed, brightening ...
Russia is considering the possibility of joint projects with the United States and China, Kirill Dmitriev, Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, (Russia's sovereign wealth fund), was quoted as saying by state media on Wednesday.
The comment comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday, days after Xi had talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.
"Within the framework of the Russian Direct Investment Fund we are also looking at certain projects, including those involving both China and the U.S.", Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy and a key figure in talks between Moscow and Washington, said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to Beijing for a two-day state visit begins just days after Donald Trump departed the Chinese capital - and with relations between Moscow and Beijing, by the Russian president's own account, in better shape than they have ever been.
In a video address delivered ahead of his arrival, Putin declared that Russia-China relations have reached a truly unprecedented level, with both countries actively expanding contacts across politics, economics, and defence, while also broadening cultural exchanges and people-to-people ties.
The visit is Putin's second trip to China in less than a year. He was last in the country in September 2025 for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, where Xi referred to him as an "old friend" - a term that carries significant weight in Chinese diplomatic language and is used sparingly for only the most valued foreign partners.
China has become Russia's top trading partner, the top customer for Russian oil and gas, and has continued supplying high-technology components that Western governments have repeatedly demanded it stop providing to Russia's defence industries.
Trade between the two countries has long surpassed the $200 billion mark, with the vast majority of transactions now conducted in rubles and yuan rather than U.S. dollars - a deliberate move by both sides to reduce their exposure to Western financial systems.
Russia's oil exports to China grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2026 alone, with Moscow positioning itself as a reliable energy supplier at a time when the war in Iran has disrupted Middle Eastern supply routes.
Energy is expected to be the centrepiece of their upcoming formal talks, with both sides poised to announce what Putin has described as a serious and substantial step forward in oil and gas cooperation.
The timing of the visit (arriving in Beijing so soon after Trump) has drawn inevitable comparisons and questions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted there is no connection between the two trips, noting that Putin's visit was arranged months in advance following a video call between the two leaders in February.
Analysts agree, though they note that the sequence carries its own symbolism regardless of the scheduling.
Putin framed the Russia-China partnership as a stabilising force in a turbulent world, saying that without aligning against anyone, the two countries seek peace and universal prosperity, and coordinate their efforts to defend international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter.
Critics, particularly in Europe and Ukraine, would dispute that framing - pointing to China's continued material support for Russia's war effort as evidence that Beijing's proclaimed neutrality is something less than neutral.
What is clear is that Beijing has spent this month doing something no other capital in the world could manage: hosting the leaders of the United States and Russia in the same month, on its own terms, without having to choose between them.
It is a remarkable achievement - one that speaks both to China's growing centrality in global affairs and to Xi Jinping's deliberate cultivation of a foreign policy that keeps every major power at the table. In a world that is increasingly pressuring countries to pick a side, Beijing has quietly made itself the place where all sides still come.
The World Urban Forum (WUF13) continues in Baku, Azerbaijan on 18 May, addressing the global housing crisis. The day’s agenda includes the official opening press conference, the WUF13 Urban Expo opening and a ministerial dialogue on the Nairobi Declaration to advance Africa's urban agenda.
United Nations World Urban Forum 13 continues in Baku, Azerbaijan on 19 May with sessions and roundtable discussions focused on strengthening dialogue and advancing cooperation in urban development. Organisers say there are nearly 3 billion people globally who face some form of housing inadequacy.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he had paused a planned attack on Iran after appeals from the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, allowing negotiations to continue over a possible deal to end the conflict.
A 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck China’s Guangxi region early on Monday, killing two people and forcing more than 7,000 residents in Liuzhou to evacuate as rescue efforts continued.
Azerbaijan and Georgia have agreed to resume daily passenger train services on the Baku-Tbilisi-Baku route from 26 May, 2026, marking a major step in restoring regional rail connectivity after services were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Investigators have discovered what officials described as “anti-Islamic writings” inside a vehicle connected to the two teenagers accused of carrying out the deadly shooting at a mosque in San Diego, according to a U.S. Department of Justice official familiar with the case.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Sweden this week for talks with NATO foreign ministers before heading to India for meetings focused on trade, energy and defence cooperation.
A proposed nuclear cooperation agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia is facing criticism from Democratic lawmakers and non-proliferation experts, who say the deal lacks the strongest safeguards designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Germany will deploy a Patriot air-defence battery to Türkiye in the coming weeks as part of a NATO mission aimed at strengthening the alliance’s south-eastern flank, German officials have said.
Estonia said on Tuesday (19 May) that a NATO fighter jet shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over its territory, in the latest reported airspace violation in the region amid ongoing Ukrainian strikes against Russia.
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