TAIPEI (Al-Jazeera) – French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have  arrived in China on Wednesday for a three-day state visit that will see them meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Macron is accompanied by a delegation of more than 50 CEOs and meet with the French business community, but all eyes will be on how he and von der Leyen discuss the war in Ukraine with the Chinese leadership.  China is officially neutral on the war but has propped up Russia economically and diplomatically in the face of Western sanctions. Xi also has the ear of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he shares a close friendship spanning more than a decade. In March, the duo signed a Sino-Russian strategic partnership during Xi’s state visit to Moscow.

 

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean Peninsula again on Wednesday amid concerns that the North might conduct a nuclear test. The long-range bombers took part in joint aerial drills with U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said. It said it was the first deployment of U.S. B-52 bombers to the peninsula in a month. The drills “show the strong resolve of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and its perfect readiness to respond to any provocation by North Korea swiftly and overwhelmingly,” Lt. Gen. Park Ha Sik, commander of the South Korean air force operation command, said in a statement.

 

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A tornado that tore through southeastern Missouri on Wednesday caused widespread destruction and killed and injured multiple people, authorities said. The tornado moved through a rural area of Bollinger County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of St. Louis, between 3:30 and 4 a.m., said Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. He said it caused “multiple injuries and multiple deaths,” but he didn’t say how many or precisely where they occurred.

 

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NEW DELHI (CNN) — Seven tourists were killed and 13 others injured in a major avalanche in India’s northeastern state of Sikkim, local police said Tuesday. The incident occurred at about 11.10 a.m. local time, the army said in a statement to CNN. The army said at least 20 people were rescued alive after several vehicles traveling to Nathu La mountain pass were hit by snow. Some of the survivors were in critical condition and rescue operations are ongoing, senior police official Tenzing Loden Lepcha told CNN. The avalanche took place near the Nathu La mountain pass and struck a road connecting Nathu La and the state capital Gangtok.

 

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ROME (AP) — Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized Wednesday in intensive care because of a problem related to a previous infection, but was alert and speaking, Italy’s foreign minister said. The 86-year-old three-time premier was in the ICU at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, the clinic where he routinely receives care, said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who is also a leader of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. Speaking from Brussels, Tajani said Berlusconi was admitted because of an “unresolved problem” related to a previous infection.