Macron arrives in China for state visit

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping after meeting the press at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 6, 2023. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 03 December 2025
Follow

Macron arrives in China for state visit

  • Macron is on a fourth state visit to China since taking office in 2017

BEIJING: French President Emmanuel Macron touched down on Wednesday in China, an AFP journalist saw, where he is expected to put pressure on his counterpart Xi Jinping to help secure a ceasefire in Ukraine and discuss trade relations.
Macron, on a fourth state visit to China since taking office in 2017, will hold talks with Xi and Premier Li Qiang at the capital’s Great Hall of the People before heading to the southwestern city of Chengdu.


Hot winds fan dozens of bushfires across eastern Australia

Updated 7 sec ago
Follow

Hot winds fan dozens of bushfires across eastern Australia

SYDNEY: Dozens of bushfires burned along Australia’s eastern seaboard on Saturday, destroying several houses as a blistering heatwave set in.
More than 50 bushfires were burning in New South Wales on Saturday afternoon, the state’s Rural Fire Service said, although the vast majority were considered “under control.”
A blaze north of Sydney had destroyed six houses, national broadcaster ABC said, while a small number of homes were lost in a bushfire on the state’s mid-north coast.
One bushfire had burned through more than 9,000 hectares (20,000 acres) in the Goulburn River National Park.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Narramore said hot and dry winds were fanning temperatures across the state nearing 40C.
“This is a dangerous few hours,” he said.
“Unfortunately this heat has been associated with hot and gusty winds as well, and that’s what really driving these dangerous and extreme fire dangers.”
Bushfires are a common occurrence in Australia’s summer months, and it is not unheard for dozens of blazes to burn through sparsely populated areas on hot and windy days.