US President Donald Trump descended the steps of Air Force One in Beijing on Wednesday evening, greeted with pomp and pageantry ahead of a high-stakes summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. During his two-day visit, the global superpowers are expected to discuss tariffs, competition over technology, the war in Iran, and America's relationship with Taiwan. Trump returns to a more assertive China than the one he visited in 2017, as he faces mounting scrutiny over his military campaign in the Middle East.

The trip had originally been scheduled for March but was postponed because of the US and Israel's war in Iran, a conflict that continues to unsettle the global economy. Trump was greeted on the red carpet by Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng, one of China's top leaders. The move is being read as a show of respect for the US president from Beijing, after a lower-level leader received Trump on his last visit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the United Arab Emirates during the Israeli-US war with Iran, further strengthening ties with a Gulf nation that normalised relations with Israel in 2020, his office said Wednesday. Netanyahu met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a gathering that "resulted in a historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates," according to the statement.

The announcement came just a day after the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee revealed that Israel had sent Iron Dome air-defence weapons and personnel to operate them to the UAE. The publicly acknowledged deployment of Israel's military to the Emirates underlined the growing relationship between the two countries. The UAE, which has not commented on the reported visit by the Israeli leader, has faced Iranian missile and drone fire even after the ceasefire was reached last month. It has been trying to signal to nervous investors that it remains open for business and safe.

Over 1,700 passengers and crew on a British cruise ship were ordered to remain on board after an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness, French authorities said Wednesday. They dismissed any link to a deadly hantavirus outbreak on another vessel that has put European health authorities on alert. The Ambition was midway through a 14-night cruise from Belfast and Liverpool that was due to take in ports in northern Spain and along France's Atlantic coast. It reached Bordeaux on Tuesday evening, according to the operator, Ambassador Cruise Line.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks outbreaks on voyages that call on US and foreign ports, recorded 23 gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships last year. Most were caused by norovirus, including a new strain. Last week, a Caribbean Princess cruise ship reported a norovirus outbreak during a voyage with more than 3,100 passengers aboard, according to the US health agency. More than 140 passengers and 15 crew members fell ill during the trip, which ended Monday.

The remains of a US soldier who went missing during military exercises in Morocco a week ago were recovered in the Atlantic Ocean, the army said Sunday. Military teams were still searching for a second missing soldier. The remains were those of 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., a 14A Air Defence Artillery officer who was one of two U.S. soldiers who fell off a cliff during a recreational hike in Morocco while off duty. He was 27 years old. The two were reported missing May 2 after participating in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise held in Morocco.

"A Moroccan military search team found the Soldier in the water along the shoreline at approximately 8:55 a.m. local time May 9, within roughly one mile of where both Soldiers reportedly entered the ocean," US Army Europe and Africa said in a statement. The two went missing near the Cap Draa Training Area outside Tan-Tan, a terrain characterised by mountains, desert and semidesert plains.