Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Beijing for talks with China’s Xi Jinping
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Contributor/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit Beijing this week for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Putin is scheduled to be welcomed at the airport upon landing in Beijing on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin, which said he will be greeted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Then on Wednesday, talks between Putin and Xi are set to occur at the Grand Hall of the People, followed by a formal reception, according to the Kremlin.
The two leaders “will discuss China-Russia relations, cooperation in various fields and international and regional issues of mutual interest,” the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The state visit marks Putin’s 25th trip to China, according to the spokesperson.
The two discussed the U.S. war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, fentanyl and increasing Chinese purchases of American farm products, according to a White House official.
Xi also warned that if the issue of Taiwan is handled “improperly,” the two nations could “come into conflict,” according to China’s official state broadcaster Xinhua.
Automobiles pass a former postal and telegraph building, where Bank of America Corp. is leasing space for 400 workers, in Paris, France, on Wednesday April 10, 2019. (Photographer: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two additional teenagers have been detained in what authorities in France are investigating as an attempted terrorist attack in which a third teenager allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device outside a Bank of America in Paris, according to a police source close to the investigation.
The incident occurred shortly before 3:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, according to police and the French Interior Ministry. Police were patrolling the street near where the Bank of America is located in the 8th arrondissement neighborhood, authorities said.
One suspect was arrested after he allegedly left two bottles of flammable liquid attached with adhesive tape and 650 grams of explosive powder, authorities said. The suspect was attempting to set fire to the device with a lighter, according to police.
Two suspects were detained on Sunday, a law enforcement source close to the investigation told ABC News. All three suspects, including one arrested at the scene on Saturday, are under the age of 18, according to the source.
The French Interior Ministry confirmed that two additional suspects were detained in the case.
One of the teenagers detained on Sunday is believed to have fled the scene of the thwarted alleged attack after being spotted across the street from the Bank of America building allegedly filming the incident, officials said.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez congratulated French police for thwarting the “violent” attack in Paris overnight Saturday, where the suspect attempted to set off the explosive outside the Bank of America building in the central part of the city.
The “swift intervention” of police prevented the attack, which Nuñez described as a “violent action of a terrorist nature” in a post on X.
“Vigilance remains at a very high level,” Nuñez wrote. “I commend all the security and intelligence forces fully mobilized under my authority in the current international context.”
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office is leading in the investigation, Nuñez said.
(LONDON) — An American fighter jet appears to have been shot down by Iran, according to three U.S. officials. Search and rescue operations are currently underway, the officials said.
A view of gigantic poster as daily life continues despite the ongoing conflict in Tehran, Iran on April 1, 2026. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump is set to address the nation on Wednesday evening with an “important update” on the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which was launched on Feb. 28.
ABC News has collated a timeline of the key events in the conflict to date.
Feb. 28: Combined U.S.-Israeli airstrikes began, with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed alongside dozens of senior political and military leaders in strikes on his office in Tehran. Iran immediately began retaliatory attacks targeting Israel, U.S. facilities and allies across the Middle East.
The opening salvo of strikes targeted Iranian government and military sites across the country, but there were allegations of collateral damage. The most significant was an airstrike on a girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab, which Iranian state media said killed 168 people.
March 1: Six American troops were killed in an Iranian drone strike on a U.S. base in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait — the first U.S. personnel to be killed in the conflict. Three U.S. F-15 fighter jets are also shot down by friendly fire from Kuwaiti air defenses.
The first commercial tankers were struck by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the beginning of Iran’s efforts to choke the flow of shipping through the strategic chokepoint.
March 2: The Iran-aligned Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon launches attacks into northern Israel, framing them as retaliation for several months of Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon. Israel responded by intensifying its campaign — including with fresh strikes in Beirut — and launching new ground operations along the shared border.
March 4: The Iranian IRIS Dena frigate was sunk by a U.S. submarine off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 104 crew members, according to the Iranian military.
The Israeli military issued an “urgent warning” to all residents of southern Lebanon located south of the Litani River ahead of intended strikes, ordering them to immediately evacuate and head north of the river — highlighting a vast area.
March 8: Mojtaba Khamenei was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts as the country’s next supreme leader, succeeding his father who was killed on Feb. 28. Mojtaba Khamenei’s candidacy was reportedly backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in which the new leader once served.
March 12: A U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft went down over western Iraq, killing six airmen. Another aircraft involved in the incident was damaged but able to land safely.
March 17: Ali Larijani, the influential secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was killed in an Israeli strike in Tehran.
March 18: The Israeli military strikes the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, which is shared by Iran and Qatar. The attack signaled a move toward the targeting of energy and critical infrastructure targets, prompting Tehran to warn it would target energy targets across the Gulf.
March 20: Iran is accused of launching a missile attack targeting Diego Garcia, a U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean, around 2,500 miles from Iranian territory. The U.S. and Israel said the attacked showed that the range of Iranian missiles was longer than Tehran previously admitted.
March 22: Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face punishing strikes on critical energy infrastructure. The president later extended his deadline.
March 24: Airstrikes targeted three major Iranian steelworks, reflecting an apparent shift in U.S.-Israeli strategy toward degrading Iran’s economic base.
Iranian drones and missiles targeted the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, damaging several American aircraft — among them an E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft — and wounding multiple service members.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military will destroy homes in southern Lebanon, just as it did in the war-torn Gaza Strip, in a continued effort to eliminate Hezbollah militants from the area. Israel will implement “the Rafah and Beit Hanoun models,” Katz said, referring to two Gaza border towns that Israel destroyed in its offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
March 28: The Iran-aligned Houthis rebels in Yemen fired a ballistic missile toward Israel, marking their first involvement in the conflict.
March 28: U.S. Central Command announces the arrival of some 3,500 U.S. sailors and Marines in the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli, amid reports of a possible American ground operation against Iran. Around 1,500 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division are also expected in the region.
March 30: Trump again demanded the end of Iranian harassment of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to broaden U.S. strikes to target Iranian energy facilities and desalination plants.
March 31: Katz says Israeli forces will occupy Lebanese territory up to the Litani River — around 18 miles north of the Israeli border — and block the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced residents.
April 1: Trump prepares for an “important” address to the nation related to the war in Iran.
