SHANGHAI, CHINA —Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived late Wednesday in China for an official visit aimed at boosting the deep ties between the Asian giant and Latin America's biggest economy.The veteran leftist, who is to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday in Beijing, arrived first in Shanghai with his wife, Rosangela Janja da Silva.Before departing Brazil, Lula said he planned to invite President Xi to visit but didn’t specify a date.We're going to consolidate

MOSCOW/UNITED NATIONS —The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that the outlook for extending a deal beyond May 18 that allows the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizer from several Ukrainian Black Sea ports was not great because Russia's own such exports still face obstacles.The Ukraine grain Black Sea export deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July to help ease a global food crisis that United Nations officials said had been worsened by the deadliest war in Europe since

HATAY PROVINCE, TURKEY/LONDON —More than two months after the February 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria that killed more than 50,000 people, millions of survivors are still living in tents with little hope of returning home anytime soon.As Turkey’s presidential election campaigns enter full swing ahead of the May 14 first-round vote, some survivors say they feel forgotten.Yunus Emre Yildiz, his wife and their three children live in a tent on stony waste ground in their hometown of Hassa in Hat

ROME —Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalized Wednesday in intensive care because of a problem related to a previous infection but was alert and speaking, Italy's foreign minister said.He's stable. He's a rock, Berlusconi's brother Paolo said after visiting him Wednesday afternoon at Milan's San Raffaele hospital.The 86-year-old three-time premier was admitted to the ICU because of an unresolved problem related to a previous infection, said Foreign Minister

WASHINGTON —As Vietnamese durian farmers celebrate the opening of trade with China, experts are cautioning against becoming reliant on a market that can disappear if consumer tastes change or long-running friction between Beijing and Hanoi erupts again over competing claims to the South China Sea.“The Chinese market is so huge. When they are into a certain fruit, we’re actually struggling to grow enough to supply to them,” said Vo Tan Loi, director of Phuong Ngoc-Cai Be Company, a veteran fr

BEIJING —President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron are to land in China on Wednesday seeking to reset ties with an important economic partner while broaching thorny issues like Ukraine and trade risks.Macron last visited China in 2019. It will be von der Leyen's first trip since becoming European Commission president that year.Since then, China's strict pandemic controls forced all diplomatic meetings online as relations with Europe s