North Korea fired more than 10 ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday, South Korea&#8217;s military said, as the U.S. and South Korean forces conducted military drills and U.S. President Donald Trump renewed overtures towards Pyongyang for dialogue.
The missiles were launched from an area near the capital Pyongyang, around 1:20 p.m. (0430 GMT) towards the sea off the country&#8217;s east coast, South Korea&#8217;s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
Japan&#8217;s coast guard said it had detected what could be a ballistic missile that fell into the sea. It appeared to have fallen outside Japan&#8217;s exclusive economic zone, public broadcaster NHK said, citing the military.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement on Saturday that it is aware of the missile launches and is consulting with allies and partners.
&#8220;Based on current assessments, this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies,&#8221; the USINDOPACOM posted on social media platform X.
North Korea has test-launched a wide range of ballistic and cruise missiles for more than two decades in a push to develop the means to deliver nuclear weapons, which it is believed to have successfully built.
As a result, Pyongyang has been under multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006 but it remains defiant, despite severe obstacles they created to its trade, economy and defense.
South Korea and Washington this week launched the annual major drills in South Korea, which they say are purely defensive, aimed at testing readiness against military threats from North Korea.
Hundreds of U.S. and South Korean troops conducted river-crossing drills on Saturday with hardware including tanks and armored combat vehicles, overseen by the commander of their combined forces. The U.S. military has about 28,500 troops and squadrons of fighter jets stationed in South Korea.
North Korea frequently displays its anger at such exercises, saying they are &#8220;dress rehearsals&#8221; for armed aggression against it by the allies.
On Thursday, South Korea&#8217;s Prime Minister Kim Min-seok met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington to discuss ways to reopen dialogue with the North. Trump is eager for any opportunity to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea&#8217;s Kim told reporters.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Sebin Choi, Heejin Kim in Seoul, Daewoung Kim in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Anton Bridge in Tokyo; Editing by William Mallard, Sergio Non and Chizu Nomiyama )

Kim Jong Un

North Korea Fires 10 Ballistic Missiles During U.S.-South Korea Military Drills

Baliistic Missiles

Donald Trump

Global Politics

Military

North Korea

South Korea

World

Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing six people and inflicting damage across several regions of the country, Ukrainian officials said.
Five of the dead were in Kyiv region outside the capital, where President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces targeted energy infrastructure, but also damaged residential buildings, schools and businesses. Fifteen people were injured.
Zelensky said the Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions were also targeted in an attack that included around 430 drones and 68 missiles, most of which were downed by air defences.
Later in the day, the governor of the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, Ivan Fedorov, said a residential area of the city of Zaporizhzhia had been hit by Russian-guided bombs, killing one person and injuring three.
Reuters Television footage showed emergency crews at work amid piles of rubble and twisted metal. Windows and frames on balconies were smashed.
&#8220;The second attack was strong. The kitchen window flew out, as did those in the living room and bedroom, everything went into a roar. I ran and got slightly injured,&#8221; Olha Kiyashko, 65, told Reuters.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve got no strength left. They took away our pension years — the years we could have lived on, the years we&#8217;d planned and counted on. All our health is gone.&#8221;
Saturday&#8217;s strikes come as the Iran conflict has distracted international attention from a U.S.-backed peace push in the four-year war, which Kyiv says Moscow has no interest in ending.
&#8220;Russia will try to exploit the war in the Middle East to cause even greater destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine,&#8221; Zelensky wrote on X.
He repeated his call for Kyiv&#8217;s partners to boost production of air-defense weapons, stocks of which have been diminishing as the U.S. and its allies in the Gulf have fended off Iranian strikes.
Russia&#8217;s winter attacks on Ukraine have left swathes of major cities without power or heating, part of a campaign to weaken resolve as Moscow&#8217;s troops press a battlefield offensive and demand Kyiv cede more territory in the east.
Ukraine&#8217;s forces have targeted Russian strategic infrastructure such as oil refineries, depots and terminals in long-range strikes.
Ukraine&#8217;s Energy Ministry said on Saturday that consumers in six regions were without electricity after the overnight strikes and Russian shelling of frontline areas.
&#8220;There&#8217;s no way Russia will stop,&#8221; said local resident Natalia Fetko, 57, whose building was damaged in the strike. &#8220;Nothing is enough for them.&#8221;
Damage was recorded in four districts outside the capital, according to regional military administrator Mykola Kalashnyk.
Saturday&#8217;s attack also prompted NATO member Poland to scramble jets to protect its airspace, but no violations were observed, Warsaw&#8217;s military said.
In Moldova, on Ukraine&#8217;s western border, the Foreign Ministry denounced what it said was an intrusion by a Russian drone into its airspace in a border district, saying Moscow&#8217;s actions undermined regional security and posed a danger to its citizens.
(Additional reporting by Yurii Kovalenko, Serhiy Chaliy and Alexander Tanas; Editing by Toby Chopra, Gareth Jones, Rod Nickel, Ron Popeski and Diane Craft)

Ukraine

Russia Launches 400+ Drones, Dozens Of Missiles In Ukraine Strike, Killing 6

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

Anti-government protesters attacked a Communist Party office in northern Cuba early on Saturday, a state-run newspaper reported, in a rare outburst of public dissent triggered by worsening blackouts that have been exacerbated by a U.S. oil blockade.
A rally against power cuts and food shortages appeared to begin peacefully in the city of Moron late on Friday then turned violent in the early hours of Saturday morning, Invasor newspaper said.
Videos on social media showed a large fire and people throwing rocks through the windows of a building as voices shouted &#8220;liberty&#8221; in the background.
Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of videos that posters said showed the unrest in Moron, a city on Cuba&#8217;s northern coast about 250 miles (400 km) east of the capital Havana near the tourist resort of Cayo Coco.
US BLOCKADE TURNS THE SCREW
The ​United States has tightened the screws on Cuba this year since capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro &#8211; Cuba&#8217;s most important foreign benefactor &#8211; in January.
U.S. President Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened to slap tariffs on any country that sells oil to Cuba, piling pressure on the economy already struggling with shortages of food, fuel, electricity and medicine.
Trump has in recent weeks made a series of statements, saying Cuba was on the verge of collapse or eager to make a deal with the United States. Cuba&#8217;s government said on Friday it had begun talks with Washington to try to defuse the crisis.
Public protests, particularly violent ones, are exceedingly rare in Cuba. Cuba&#8217;s 2019 constitution grants citizens the right to demonstrate, but a law more specifically defining that right is stalled in the legislature, leaving those who take to the street in legal limbo.
&#8220;What initially began peacefully, and after an exchange with local authorities, turned into acts of vandalism against the headquarters of the Municipal Party Committee,&#8221; the Invasor newspaper said.
&#8220;A smaller group of people stoned the entrance of the building and started a fire in the street with furniture from the reception area,&#8221; it added.
Vandals targeted several other state-run establishments in the area, including a pharmacy and a government market, the report said.
In one unverified video on social media, a gunshot is heard, and the camera pans to a person lying on the ground. State media outlet Vanguardia de Cuba dismissed online reports that the person lying on the ground had been shot by police.
&#8220;The image circulating shows the scene of the protest, but it&#8217;s important for the public to know the truth: no one was injured by gunfire,&#8221; Vanguardia de Cuba said on X.
&#8220;Media manipulation seeks to sow fear and confusion among our people. Let&#8217;s not fall for provocations,&#8221; it added.
Police detained five people and one drunken participant fell over and was being treated for injuries in a local hospital.
Over the past week, several small groups of residents across Havana have banged pots in protest against extended blackouts.
Students on Monday staged a sit-in on the steps of the University of Havana after the government suspended in-person classes, blaming the U.S. oil blockade. Fuel shortages have vastly reduced public transportation, making it difficult, if not impossible, for teachers and students to get together for classes.
Moron was also the site of significant protests during anti-government riots on July 11, 2021, the largest since Fidel Castro&#8217;s 1959 revolution.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Cuba

Anti-Government Riot Breaks Out In Cuba Over Blackouts

Communism

Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Latin American leaders to Florida on Saturday to launch a new coalition against drug cartels, telling officials their countries had allowed gangs to seize territory and joking that he had no time to learn their languages.
Trump framed the effort as an aggressive campaign to confront drug cartels, citing them as a primary reason for ramping up U.S. involvement in Latin America, including a pressure campaign against Venezuela that culminated in the January capture of President Nicolas Maduro. At one point, Trump suggested the United States could use missiles against cartel leaders if partners requested it.
He also singled out Mexico as the center of cartel activity and predicted major political change in Cuba, saying the country was &#8220;very much at the end of the line&#8221; and repeating previous statements that Cuban officials are negotiating with him and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
At least a dozen leaders from Central America, South America and the Caribbean joined the &#8220;Shield of the Americas&#8221; summit, where Trump signed a proclamation launching the coalition.
&#8220;Leaders in this region have allowed large swaths of territory in the Western Hemisphere to come under the direct control of transnational gangs, and they&#8217;ve run areas of your country,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;We&#8217;re not gonna let that happen.&#8221;
In an opening speech that ran more than 30 minutes, Trump also touched on topics far beyond drug cartels, including Iran, Ukraine, Pakistan and India, political endorsements, Dominican sugar, building battleships, and the importance of interpreters.
Trump joked about language differences between himself and the mostly Spanish-speaking group of leaders. &#8220;I&#8217;m not learning your damn language,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t have time.&#8221;
Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, later delivered brief remarks in English and Spanish, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed Trump&#8217;s stance.
&#8220;I only speak American,&#8221; Hegseth joked.
Trump has pushed to build a coalition of regional partners around a more forceful approach to combating drug cartels and organized crime. Saturday&#8217;s event also gave him an opportunity to project strength closer to home as the war with Iran escalates and threatens to push up global oil and gas prices.
Earlier in the day, Trump said Iran would be &#8220;hit very hard&#8221; on Saturday and that he was considering widening the areas and groups of people targeted, without providing details.
Among those who attended the summit were Argentine President Javier Milei, Chile&#8217;s President-elect Jose Antonio Kast and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whose gang crackdown, criticized by human rights groups, has become a model for parts of Latin America&#8217;s right.
Politicians from across the region have toured Bukele&#8217;s sprawling &#8220;mega-prison&#8221;, where the United States last year deported more than 200 Venezuelans without trial.
Also in attendance was Honduran President Nasry Asfura, who narrowly won a disputed election with Trump&#8217;s backing, and Ecuador&#8217;s President Daniel Noboa, who has echoed parts of Trump&#8217;s economic agenda and recently announced joint operations with the U.S. in a military crackdown on drug trafficking.
Many of the leaders share Trump&#8217;s hardline view of crime and migration, favoring crackdowns over deeper social fixes and private business over the state. Their rise reflects a broader rightward turn in parts of Latin America at a time when the region is being pulled between Washington and Beijing.
Trump did not mention China specifically but warned that the United States would not allow &#8220;hostile foreign influence&#8221; to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere, including in the Panama Canal, a key global freight route.
The comments, while not explicit, come as Washington increasingly views Latin America through the lens of strategic competition with Beijing.
China’s trade with the region reached about $518 billion in 2024 and Beijing has extended more than $120 billion in loans to governments across the Western Hemisphere, according to Ryan Berg of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
China’s growing footprint — from satellite tracking facilities in Argentina to a Chinese-backed port in Peru and economic support for Venezuela — has long troubled U.S. officials.
In response, the Trump administration has pressed governments across the region to curb Beijing’s role in ports, energy projects and other strategic infrastructure.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Miami, Florida, David Brunnstrom in Washington and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington and Natalia Siniawski in Mexico City, Editing by Sergio Non, Himani Sarkar, Alex Richardson and Alistair Bell)

Trump Launches New America-Led Security Push To Crush Cartels, Counter China

Communist China

Drug Cartels

South America

Tornadoes and strong storms killed at least four people and injured more than a dozen in southern Michigan on Friday, destroying multiple homes and leaving hundreds of residents without power, local authorities said.
Soon after the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for the area on Friday, videos on social media claiming to be from the towns of Three Rivers and Union City showed massive whirlwinds tearing roofs off buildings and lifting debris into the air.
Local media footage showed smashed buildings and cars, and poles, trees and road signs that had been blown over.
Three fatalities and a dozen injuries were reported in Branch County, where Union City is located, the county&#8217;s sheriff&#8217;s office said.
One person was killed and several injured in Cass County, according to local authorities there.
<div id="attachment_1055343" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055343" class="size-full wp-image-1055343" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264669957.jpeg" alt="Debris is wrapped around a tree following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264669957.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264669957-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264669957-864x576.jpeg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264669957-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Bill Pugliano/Getty Images</div>
&#8220;Multiple large structures &#8211; including homes and pole barns &#8211; sustained damage ranging from major structural impacts to complete destruction,&#8221; according to a statement on a website for Cass County.
Power outages had affected hundreds of people, local officials said.
&#8220;We have multiple utility poles down, transformers damaged, and long stretches of power lines on the ground. The north side of Union Lake sustained some of the most severe damage, with roughly two miles of line brought down in that area alone,&#8221; according to a posting on Union City&#8217;s official Facebook page that said restoration may take several days.
<div id="attachment_1055345" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055345" class="size-full wp-image-1055345" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264663705.jpeg" alt="A Chevy Trailblazer SUV is seen crushed by a falling tree that was uprooted by a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264663705.jpeg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264663705-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264663705-864x576.jpeg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2264663705-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Bill Pugliano/Getty Images</div>
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she activated a State Emergency Operations Center for monitoring the situation.
&#8220;The state is ready to fulfill any resource requests that may arise. We&#8217;ve yet to receive any just yet. It&#8217;s sounding like the local response is and has been able to address what&#8217;s been a very devastating afternoon and evening in southwest Michigan,&#8221; Clayton Cummins, a spokesperson for Michigan emergency services and police, told Reuters.
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Donna Bryson and Tom Hogue)

Tornado Damage

Tornadoes Kill Four, Injure More Than A Dozen In Michigan

Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan

Severe Weather

Tornado

U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump met executives from seven defense contractors on Friday, he announced in a social media post, as the Pentagon works to replenish supplies drawn down by U.S. strikes on Iran and other recent military operations.
The meeting underscores the Trump administration&#8217;s drive to shore up weapons stocks after the Iran operation drew on munitions.
&#8220;We just concluded a very good meeting with the largest U.S. Defense Manufacturing Companies where we discussed Production and Production Schedules,&#8221; Trump said in a social media post.
Companies including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon parent RTX, BAE Systems, Boeing , Honeywell Aerospace, L3Harris and Northrop Grumman, attended the meeting, Trump said.
Pentagon negotiators have not been able to reach terms with large defense contractors as quickly as they would like, a U.S. official told Reuters earlier this week.
The administration has been steadily ratcheting up pressure on defense contractors to prioritize production over shareholder payouts. Trump signed an executive order in January to identify contractors deemed to be underperforming on contracts while distributing profits to shareholders.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Israel&#8217;s military operations in Gaza, the U.S. has drawn down billions of dollars&#8217; worth of weapons stockpiles, including artillery systems, ammunition and anti-tank missiles.
In a sign of the preparations underway ahead of Friday&#8217;s gathering, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg held a call with select defense contractors on Wednesday evening, a previously unreported development, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
At the center of the talks are deals with large contractors like Lockheed Martin, two government sources and one industry executive said. In January the company reached a seven-year agreement with the Pentagon to increase annual production capacity for its PAC-3 missile interceptors to 2,000 units a year from about 600 previously. The company has announced it expects to quadruple production of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile interceptors to 400 per year from 96.
In the social media post following Friday&#8217;s meeting Trump said the companies had agreed to quadruple production of precision-guided munitions &#8211; but clarified efforts to increase production began three months ago.
Demand for air defense systems such as the PAC‑3 has surged among the United States and its allies amid heightened geopolitical tensions and the conflict in Iran.
The White House meeting also may coincide with the release of a supplemental budget request of around $50 billion, which Reuters was first to report on Tuesday. The new money would pay for replacing weapons used in recent conflicts including those in the Middle East. The figure is preliminary and could change depending on the length of the operation.
The supplemental request would come on top of an additional $150 billion in defense spending included in Republicans&#8217; sweeping &#8220;one big beautiful bill.&#8221;
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Diane Craft)

Trump Meets Defense Executives, Touts Production Boost As U.S. Strikes Iran

Defense

Iran

The U.S. and Ecuador carried out a joint operation targeting drug trafficking operations in the South American country, authorities in both countries said on Friday, with the U.S. calling the move &#8220;lethal kinetic operations.&#8221;
Neither the U.S. Southern Command, a branch of its military that oversees forces in Latin America, nor Ecuador&#8217;s defense ministry, said if anyone was killed or captured in the strike, which Ecuador dubbed operation &#8220;Total Extermination.&#8221;
The operations used helicopters, aircraft, river boats and drones to locate and bomb a drug traffickers&#8217; training camp in north-east Ecuador near the Colombian border, Ecuador&#8217;s defense ministry said in a statement.
The camp belonged to the Comandos de la Frontera (CDF), a Colombian crime group made up of FARC dissidents, and had a capacity for 50 people, it added.
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa has made a military crackdown on organised crime a cornerstone of his administration, and his government imposed tariffs on its larger neighbor Colombia, accusing it of not doing enough to fight drug trafficking.
He is set to travel to Miami this weekend to take part in the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;Shield of the Americas&#8221; summit, which brings together many right-wing leaders across the region with a focus on regional security and organized crime.
&#8220;The United States is a key ally in this fight,&#8221; the defense ministry said.
&#8220;At the request of Ecuador, the Department of War executed targeted action to advance our shared objective of dismantling narco-terrorist networks,&#8221; Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on X.
The operation followed a similar U.S-Ecuadorean operation announced by the U.S. Southern Command earlier this week.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington, Alexandra Valencia in Quito and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Christian Martinez and Diane Craft)

Ecuador Military

U.S., Ecuador Bomb Drug Trafficker Camp Near Colombia Border, Militaries Say

Ecuador

U.S. Gulf Coast heavy grades continued to surge on Friday as the Iran conflict spurred several Middle Eastern producers of heavy crude to curtail production and drove buyers to scoop up U.S. barrels.
Prices of Mars sour crude, the flagship crude produced in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and favored by refiners globally, traded at a $11 premium to U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude on Friday, brokers said. That was the highest since April 2020, and up $4 from Thursday.
Just a week ago it traded at a premium of $1.50.
Other heavy grades such as the Heavy Louisiana Sweet and the West Texas Sour also rose.
Benchmark crude oil prices have surged since the initial attacks last week, with Brent crude settling at $92.69 a barrel, its highest level since October 2023 on Friday.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced several countries, including Iraq, to curb output. The strait is a key route for medium and heavy sour crude from the Persian Gulf, and those flows are now largely cut off. Additional production cuts announced in Kuwait on Friday also helped lift Mars prices, a trader said.
“Refiners that rely on these grades will need to find similar, or roughly similar, alternatives to replace the lost barrels, so Mars and other U.S. Gulf sour heavies and mediums are natural substitutes and are getting bid up aggressively,” Kpler lead Americas oil analyst Matt Smith said, adding that buyers, especially in Asia, are scrambling for more of these medium and heavy crude barrels.
&#8220;This time of year also marks the shift from winter into driving season, when demand typically rises across all crude grades,&#8221; said Tim Snyder, chief economist at Matador Economics, adding that ultimately the supply disruption caused by war was driving prices.
&#8220;In the short term we will continue to see these grades rise until we see the Strait of Hormuz open up,&#8221; Snyder said.
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York and Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio)

Oil Rig

Iran Conflict Boosts U.S. Gulf Oil Prices To Highest Since 2020

Crude Oil

Gulf of America

Oil and Gas

U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2 for a highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world&#8217;s two biggest economies, a trip announced as the Supreme Court overturned Trump&#8217;s sweeping tariffs on imported goods.
A White House official confirmed the trip on Friday, just before the highest U.S. court dealt Trump a stinging defeat by striking down many of the tariffs he has used in a global trade war, including some against rival China.
Trump&#8217;s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on an extended visit to Beijing had been expected to revolve around extending a trade truce that kept both countries from further hiking tariffs.
But the Supreme Court&#8217;s reversal created new questions for tense U.S.-China relations that had recently stabilized after Trump trimmed tariffs on Chinese goods, in exchange for measures from Beijing, including cracking down on the illicit fentanyl trade and pausing export restrictions on critical minerals.
Twenty-percent tariffs on China&#8217;s U.S.-bound exports were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, which the court ruled Trump had overstepped. Those tariffs were tied to national emergencies related to fentanyl distribution and trade imbalances.
Other duties on Chinese goods, including those implemented under legislated trade authorities known as Section 301 and Section 232, remain in place.
It was not immediately clear how many of the tariffs Trump would restore, but he told a press conference that he would impose a new 10% global tariff for 150 days.
Trump&#8217;s last trip to China, in 2017, was the most recent by a U.S. president.
&#8220;That&#8217;s going to be a wild one,&#8221; Trump told foreign leaders visiting Washington on Thursday about the upcoming China visit. &#8220;We have to put on the biggest display you&#8217;ve ever had in the history of China.&#8221;
The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on the dates of the trip, which were first reported by Reuters. Beijing has not confirmed the trip.
The Trump administration has said the global tariffs were necessary because of national emergencies related to trade imbalances that have weakened U.S. manufacturing.
Trump had already been &#8220;playing defense&#8221; in the trade war, given the effectiveness of Beijing&#8217;s threat to cut off rare earths, said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The tariff defeat likely &#8220;cements his weakness in their eyes,&#8221; he said.
Chinese officials &#8220;like the direction of travel of the bilateral relationship in which the U.S. is diminished and they want to keep things from re-escalating,&#8221; Kennedy said.
Trump&#8217;s visit will be the leaders&#8217; first in-person talks since an October meeting in South Korea, where they agreed on the trade truce.
While the October meeting largely sidestepped the sensitive issue of Taiwan, Xi raised U.S. arms sales to the island when the two leaders spoke this month.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a position Taipei rejects. The U.S., bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, has formal diplomatic ties with China, but it maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island&#8217;s most important arms supplier.
Washington announced its largest-ever arms sale approval with Taiwan in December, including $11.1 billion in weapons that could ostensibly be used to defend against a Chinese attack. Taiwan expects more such sales.
Xi also said during the February call that he would consider further increasing soybean purchases, according to Trump. Struggling U.S. farmers are a major political constituency for Trump, and China is the top soybean consumer. Analysts said on Friday that China may be less likely to follow through on another big purchase of U.S. soybeans after the Supreme Court ruling.
Although Trump has justified hawkish policy steps from Canada to Greenland and Venezuela as necessary to thwart China, he has eased policy toward Beijing in the past several months in areas from tariffs to advanced computer chips and drones.
The global trade war Trump initiated after he began his second term as president in January 2025 has alienated other trading partners, including allies.
Critics had argued that imposing steep tariffs on countries across the board actually insulated Beijing from the tariff barrage and reduced incentives to move supply chains out of China.
Friday&#8217;s ruling could indirectly increase pressure on Beijing if the effective tariff rates on other countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, fall more than those on China, said Martin Chorzempa, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics.
&#8220;Unlike with many other countries, there is a well-established, much more legally durable mechanism for most of the tariffs on China that make them less affected than those on other countries,&#8221; Chorzempa said.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Colleen Jenkins, Rod Nickel, Patricia Zengerle)

Donald Trump, Xi Jinping

Trump To Travel To China In March, With Tariffs In Focus

Tariffs

Xi Jinping

Ukraine hit a Russian plant manufacturing ballistic missiles in a missile strike in the remote Udmurtia region, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Saturday.
Ukraine said its forces attacked the plant manufacturing Russian missiles, including the short-range Iskander and intercontinental Topol-M, in Votkinsk, east of Moscow and about 1,400 km (800 miles) from Ukraine.
It said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the Ukrainian forces used domestically produced ground-launched Flamingo cruise missiles. The attack caused a fire on the site, the Ukrainian military said.
Alexander Brechalov, the governor of the Udmurtia region in Russia, had earlier said a site there had been attacked overnight with drones.
&#8220;There has been damage and injuries as a result,&#8221; Brechalov said in a video posted on the Telegram app. He provided no other details.
The airport in Udmurtia&#8217;s main city, Izhevsk, and those in cities in nearby regions suspended operations, the civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said.
The unofficial Russian Telegram channel SHOT, which often quotes contacts in the security services, said residents in Votkinsk reported hearing at least three explosions and the humming of drones.
Russia uses its ballistic missiles to reinforce its drone attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, knocking out electricity and heating supplies for millions across Ukraine during the cold winter months.
Ukraine is increasingly targeting military and energy infrastructure deep inside Russia. Kyiv says that hitting the weapons producers and the energy system that fuels Russia&#8217;s military is the best way to gain leverage over its bigger enemy as the war enters its fifth year next week.
The Ukrainian military said it also hit a gas processing plant in the Russian Samara region. Russian officials in the Samara region issued no report of such an attack.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by Alex Richardson)

Missile

Ukraine Strikes Ballistic Missile Producer Deep Inside Russia, Kyiv Says

Russia

Germany&#8217;s ruling conservatives on Saturday passed a motion to ban social media use for under 14s and introduce more stringent digital verification checks for teenagers, building momentum for such limits in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
At a party conference in the city of Stuttgart, Chancellor Friedrich Merz&#8217;s Christian Democratic Union also called for fines for online platforms that failed to enforce such limits, and European Union-wide harmonisation of age standards.
A growing number of countries, including Spain, Greece, France and Britain, are looking at similar social media bans or restrictions on accessing platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
It follows the example of Australia, which last year became the first country to force platforms to cut off access for children.
European nations are more broadly ratcheting up pressure on social media companies, risking a backlash from the United States. President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs and sanctions if EU countries impose new tech taxes or online regulations that hit U.S. firms.
&#8220;We call on the federal government to introduce a legal age limit of 14 for the use of social networks and to address the special need for protection in the digital sphere up to the age of 16,&#8221; said the motion that passed on Saturday.
Merz&#8217;s coalition partners the Social Democrats have also backed social media curbs for children. Pressure from both parties in the coalition makes it increasingly likely that the federal government will push for restrictions.
However, under Germany&#8217;s federal system, media regulation is a state‑level responsibility and states must negotiate with each other to agree consistent nationwide rules.
The ban could affect children like those at the Cardinal Frings Gymnasium in the city of Bonn, several of whom a day earlier were scrolling on their phones in the school grounds.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s fair, but I think it should be up to the parents to decide whether to forbid it, not the state,&#8221; said 13-year-old Moritz, who says he only watches YouTube.
&#8220;For children under 12 it should be forbidden, but from age 12 onwards I think children can already distinguish between what is fake news and what is not.&#8221;
His classmate Emma, 13, almost exclusively uses Snapchat, but has a time limit on her phone.
A ban would be &#8220;kind of unusual, because you get used to sending your snap in the morning before school, or what my friends do, like just scrolling through Instagram or TikTok for a bit,&#8221; she said.
Ella, 12, scrolls through social media several times a day.
&#8220;So I have TikTok and Instagram myself, but I understand that it&#8217;s all addictive, and the more you scroll, the more you want to see.&#8221;
Teacher Till Franke said that for many of the children, &#8220;it would be a shock at first, because of this daily use of social media.&#8221;
But eventually, the students would get used to it, he said, &#8220;because they would find other niches where they could communicate with each other.&#8221;
(Andreas Rinke, Stephane Nitschke and Petra Wischgoll; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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Bayer said on Tuesday its Monsanto unit had reached an agreement worth as much as $7.25 billion to resolve tens of thousands of current and future lawsuits claiming that its Roundup weedkiller caused cancer.
The German company said the proposed nationwide settlement, filed on Tuesday in state court in St. Louis, Missouri, would establish a long-term claims program funded by capped annual payments over up to 21 years.
The company, which acquired Roundup as part of its $63 billion purchase of agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018, is facing claims over Roundup from approximately 65,000 plaintiffs in U.S. state and federal courts.
The plaintiffs say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other forms of cancer after using the weedkiller, either at home or on the job.
Following the announcement, Bayer shares rose as much as 7.7% to reach their highest level since September 12, 2023. Frankfurt-listed Bayer shares were up 7.2% by 1839 GMT.
Bayer said it expects its provisions and litigation liabilities to rise from 7.8 billion euros ($9.24 billion) to 11.8 billion euros. It anticipates around 5 billion euros in litigation-related payouts in 2026, and now expects negative free cash flow for the year.
Roundup is among the most widely used weedkillers in the United States. Bayer has said decades of studies have shown Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, are safe for human use.
The deal covers the bulk of the lawsuits, but requires a judge&#8217;s approval and a minimum number of plaintiffs to opt in. It does not require Bayer to admit liability or wrongdoing and allows the company to back out if too many plaintiffs decline to participate.
It is also designed to head off future lawsuits, and allows people who can prove they have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and were exposed to Roundup prior to Tuesday to file claims to receive a portion of the settlement up to 21 years from now.
The agreement was negotiated with Motley Rice, Seeger Weiss and other law firms that would represent a nationwide class of plaintiffs, if the court allows the deal to proceed.
Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said on a call with investors and reporters that he is confident the proposed class action settlement will resolve the vast majority of the claims, although he declined to say how many people currently support the deal.
Attorneys who negotiated on behalf of the plaintiffs said the deal represents the best path forward. Payouts will be determined by a tiered system that considers exposure, age at diagnosis and cancer type. Individuals could receive up to $198,000 or more, according to attorney Eric Holland.
The company said it had separately reached confidential settlements to resolve other Roundup cases with specific law firms, although the company would not name the firms or specify the amount of those deals.
Tuesday&#8217;s proposed settlement comes after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in a case that Bayer argues will sharply limit its liability in the litigation.
The company said the Supreme Court case, scheduled for oral arguments at the end of April, remains essential to resolving the Roundup litigation.
Bayer is arguing that consumers should not be able to sue it under state law for failing to warn that Roundup increases cancer risk because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found no such risk and requires no such warning. Bayer argued that federal law does not allow it to add any warning to the product beyond the EPA-approved label.
A favorable ruling would wipe out several large verdicts that remain on appeal and could also prevent future claims from individuals who choose to opt out of the nationwide settlement.
Bayer investors welcomed news of the proposed settlement but some, like Markus Manns, portfolio manager at Bayer shareholder Union Investment, cautioned it was &#8220;not yet the breakthrough that many investors had hoped for.&#8221;
&#8220;The settlement buys Bayer time, but without a win in the Supreme Court, a new wave of lawsuits could roll over Bayer in a few years,&#8221; Manns said.
The company had previously paid about $10 billion to settle most of the Roundup lawsuits that were pending as of 2020, but failed to get a settlement then covering future cases.
It has had a mixed record with cases that have gone to trial. It prevailed in a series of Roundup trials, but has been hit with large jury awards in the past few years, including a $2.1 billion verdict in a case in the U.S. state of Georgia in March.
The verdicts shattered both investor confidence and company hopes that the worst of the Roundup litigation was over, and put pressure on Bayer to find a comprehensive solution to the lawsuits.
(Reporting by Diana Jones and Kirsti Knolle; Additional reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Writing by Linda Pasquini and Friederike Heine; Editing by Alexander Smith, Alexia Garamfalvi and Jan Harvey)

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