Today marks the end of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington, which was staged with great pomp by Donald Trump. Both sides emphasised the "friendship" and "progress" in their relations. The US administration has announced a two-month extension of the tariff suspension in the ongoing trade dispute between the two countries – and Xi promised to lend two pandas to the Atlanta Zoo. Europe's media take stock.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, have once again warned the UN Security Council in New York of the dangers of unregulated development of artificial intelligence. They called for internationally applicable control mechanisms to mitigate the potential risks posed by AI. The European press is concerned.
The situation in the straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab and the decline in Russian exports due to the war in Ukraine are putting pressure on global crude oil and fuel markets. Diesel prices in particular have been hitting record highs. European governments are once again trying to counter market trends with tax cuts or subsidies. In Germany, for example, filling up is to cost 17 cents less per litre as of October. Are such fuel discounts a good idea?
According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Miami in December. "In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with," he said. The EU has said it does not intend to boycott the summit, pointing out that it wants a say in any peace deal for Ukraine.
The EU has agreed at the last minute to extend the current sanctions against Russia – which target around 3,000 individuals and organisations – for another three years. However, at the instigation of France, Luxembourg and Slovakia, two oligarchs, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, have been removed from the list. Kyiv is outraged. Europe's press is incensed.
The case of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, who was evicted from the flat in Madrid where she had lived for more than 70 years, has triggered outrage in Spain. Real estate company Urbagestión had raised her rent from 500 to 2,650 euros, well beyond what Abascal could afford on a monthly pension of 1,350 euros. Hundreds of demonstrators tried to prevent the eviction, without success. Spain is currently facing a severe housing crisis.
Portugal implemented the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) in April with the introduction of the Volta bottle deposit scheme. However, the system is now under fire: Lisbon's mayor Carlos Moedas has called on the government to scrap it on the grounds that it encourages the city's homeless to rummage through bins in search of returnable bottles, scattering rubbish on the street in the process.
Xi Jinping, China's president and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is due in Washington for a state visit today. The talks between the two superpowers will focus on contentious issues of global relevance: the truce reached last year in the trade war over tariffs and rare earths is due to expire in November. The regulation of AI, Taiwan, Iran and Ukraine are also on the agenda.
US President Trump has banned several media outlets including the TV channel CNN and news website Politico, which is owned by the Springer-Verlag, from the White House. The President justified the move citing "fake news" about his activities. In response, TV channels ABC, CBS, Fox News, NBC and CNN have suspended their pool coverage of the president.
The United Russia party has secured a clear victory in the Russian parliamentary elections: according to the electoral commission it secured 58 percent of the vote. However, due to the allocation of direct mandates, the Kremlin's ruling party holds around 350 of the 450 seats in the Duma. The remaining seats go to four other pro-Kremlin parties; genuine opposition parties were not allowed to stand for election.
In state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the CDU has once again suffered major losses. While in the capital Die Linke (The Left Party) emerged as the strongest party, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the AfD will now be the largest group in the state parliament. The CDU didn't even clear the five-percent hurdle necessary to hold seats there. Europe's media examine the results – and the chancellor's chances of retaining his post.