‘A 1939 moment’: Jim Sciutto on Russia, China and the threat of war

At CNN in Washington, Jim Sciutto’s dimly lit office is both man cave and shrine to a foreign correspondent who has reported from more than 50 countries. A typewriter he bought on Portobello Road during a decade in London. Photos he took in Afghanistan and Ukraine. A Vietnamese newspaper account of the time he rode over the South China Sea on a US spy plane. A corked bottle of water from his trip to the North Pole in a US nuclear submarine. A fragment of the Black Hawk helicopter destroyed…

Trump businesses received millions in foreign payments while he was in office

Donald Trump “repeatedly and willfully” violated the US constitution by “allowing his businesses to accept millions of dollars from some of the most corrupt nations on Earth”, prominently including China, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee charged on Thursday, unveiling a 156-page report on the matter. Four businesses owned by Trump’s family conglomerate received at least $7.8m in payments in total from 20 countries during his four years in the White House, the report said. It added that the payments probably represented just a fraction of foreign payments…

The world in 2024: Guardian writers on what to look out for

The year 2024 will be a critical one. The future of Gaza and the West Bank may hinge in part on whether Donald Trump returns to the White House – as may the outcome of the war in Ukraine. China will be locked in a race against time as its population ages. And the natural world will reach a new series of tipping points. But there are some reasons for cautious optimism. With so much happening, it can be hard to know where to look. Here Guardian correspondents offer their…

US-China cultural exchange at low point after tensions and Covid, data shows

Cultural ties between the US and China are at a low point after several years of decline, according to Guardian analysis of official figures. The Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, coupled with the continuing trade war between the two countries, is diluting cultural exchanges, with visitor numbers, students and even the world of literature all affected. During the late 2000s and early 2010s there was an increase in cultural exchange between the US and China. Since then, tensions between the two countries – which rose under Donald Trump and have…

Trump says Putin is ‘somewhat weakened’ by aborted mutiny

Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday that the Russian president has been “somewhat weakened” by an aborted mutiny and that the US should use this moment to negotiate a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. “I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war,” Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview. On Ukraine, Trump did not rule out that the Kyiv government might have to concede some territory to Russia in order to stop the war, which began with Russian forces invading Ukraine 16…

Chinese business tycoon and Bannon ally Ho Wan Kwok arrested in $1bn fraud conspiracy

Ho Wan Kwok, a self-exiled Chinese tycoon with close links to prominent Trumpist Republicans including Steve Bannon, has been indicted on 12 counts relating to an alleged $1bn fraud. The charges announced by the US attorney for the southern district of New York on Wednesday include wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. Kin Ming Je, a Hong Kong and UK dual citizen also known as William Je and described as Kwok’s financier, was also named in the charges and faced a further count of obstruction of justice.…

Biden speaks on downed Chinese balloon and unidentified objects – live

From 55m ago Biden to speak about Chinese spy balloons Martin Pengelly An update from the White House: at 2pm, Joe Biden will deliver remarks about the Chinese spy balloons/UFOs shot down over the US – or as the White House statement puts it, “the United States’ response to recent aerial objects”. Republicans (and, to be fair, Democrats) have been pressuring the administration to say more. In the meanwhile, here’s what China said about US balloons earlier today: And here, in the interests of balance and/or reading about UFOs, is…

Chinese spy balloon seen above Hawaii and Florida in 2019, report says

A Chinese spy balloon “drifted past Hawaii and across Florida” as it “circumnavigated the globe” in 2019, four years before the American military shot down another one this past weekend, according to a US air force intelligence report reviewed by CNN. China “launched and controlled” the high-altitude balloon, which was “capable of operating at “65,000 ft – 328,000 ft and for months at a time”, in 2019, according to the report seen by CNN. The report did not make clear when the US became aware of the 2019 balloon. News…

‘Extinction is on the table’: Jaron Lanier warns of tech’s existential threat to humanity

Jaron Lanier, the eminent American computer scientist, composer and artist, is no stranger to skepticism around social media, but his current interpretations of its effects are becoming darker and his warnings more trenchant. Lanier, a dreadlocked free-thinker credited with coining the term “virtual reality”, has long sounded dire sirens about the dangers of a world over-reliant on the internet and at the increasing mercy of tech lords, their social media platforms and those who work for them. Nothing about the last few weeks – of chaos on Twitter and the…

Chinese president Xi Jinping to visit Saudi Arabia next week

The Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit Saudi Arabia next week, where plans are under way for a gala reception to match that given to Donald Trump on his first trip abroad as president. The welcome being prepared for the Chinese leader is in stark contrast with that afforded to Joe Biden in June, when the US president received a low-key reception, reflecting strained ties between the two countries and personal distaste between Biden and the de facto Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman. Xi, however, is instead expected to receive…