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Russia could use tri leader summit to nudge China and US closer to its position on Ukraine, experts say. What we know on day 1,718

Beijing has confirmed that it is discussing a historic meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the US president, Donald Trump, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a press briefing this week in Beijing that China “is in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state”, which could take place on the sidelines of the Apec summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen this month.

Russia would probably use the summit to nudge China and the US closer to Moscow’s positions on Ukraine, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center. However, Trump has been warned by his advisers to steer clear of Ukraine as a topic of the discussions, said Danny Russel, a former senior state department official who served in Barack Obama’s administration and who is now a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Ukraine again came under attack from Russia on Saturday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his calls for allies to supply Kyiv quickly with missiles for the US-made Patriot system to defend Ukrainian cities. Zelenskyy on Friday had warned that the Ukrainian military was bracing for new ⁠strikes ​by Russian forces against important infrastructure. “We ⁠have intelligence at this time that Russia is preparing new strikes on energy, on ⁠bridges across the Dnipro, on civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said ​in his nightly ‌video address. “The ‌air force and the armed forces of Ukraine ‌as a whole are preparing for defence. It will not be easy.”

Kyiv, along with other Ukrainian cities, has been subjected to near-constant attacks for several weeks. A missile attack by Russian forces ⁠early on Saturday damaged a residential ⁠building in the Ukrainian capital, according to Mayor ​Vitali ‌Klitschko. The city’s military administration, also writing on Telegram, said two people were injured and a building housing a kindergarten was ‌damaged. Officials continued to warn residents of the potential for more strikes hours ​after the attack.

President Zelenskyy says he wants specific guarantees from western allies on how postwar security support would function when the war with Russia finally ends. Zelenskyy’s comments in an interview aired late Thursday followed two days of discussions among allies in Brussels that focused on postwar security and reconstruction. They also came before planned three-way talks next week in Abu Dhabi between Ukraine, Russia and the United States, the first trilateral peace discussions since February. “What matters is that it’s clear on paper,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukraine’s private 1+1 television broadcast late Thursday. “The question isn’t dozens of points, but simply an understanding of the outcome: If Russia starts [attacking] again, what will happen? Who will do what, with what means, and when?”

The Brussels meetings brought together officials from the US, UK, France, Germany and the European Union, along with representatives from the World Bank and the US investment group BlackRock, Ukrainian lead negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote in an online post. “We separately discussed the threats from Russia to Ukraine and all of Europe, as well as joint steps to counter them,” Umerov wrote.

She came from humble Italian origins to join India’s ruling family. Then both her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, and her husband, Rajiv, were brutally murdered. In a rare interview, the politician talks about her reluctant rise to power, Narendra Modi’s repressive regime – and why youth protests give her hope for the future

• Read an exclusive extract from Sonia Gandhi’s memoir here

For a woman who has been a witness to some of the most significant political moments in modern Indian history, Sonia Gandhi likes to insist her life has been far from remarkable. “Oh, I don’t know that I would say it’s an extraordinary story,” she says, shifting uncomfortably.

It’s hard to reconcile this modest characterisation with the course her life has taken over the last 79 years. Born to a working-class family in a small town in northern Italy, today she sits at the heart of Indian political power, having weathered assassinations and personal tragedy to become one of the country’s most influential figures. She held Indira Gandhi’s bloodied body after the then-prime minster, her mother-in-law, was gunned down at their home in Delhi in 1984. She then became India’s first lady when her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, took his mother’s place as prime minister. And when Rajiv, too, was killed, she threw aside her distaste for politics to step up and lead his fragmenting party. In 2004, having taken Congress to electoral victory, she famously turned down the prime minister post. She can still boast of being the longest-serving president of Congress, both when India’s oldest political party was in power and later, when it became the flailing opposition. When Gandhi stepped down in 2017, her son Rahul was appointed her successor.

Santiago Peña was detained minutes after he was impeached by Congress, as protesters took to the streets demanding answers after the suspension of the Ueno bank

Paraguay’s rightwing president has been placed under house arrest minutes after he was impeached by Congress, amid a severe crisis that left more than half the country’s population unable to access their bank accounts.

Santiago Peña is being investigated about allegations he used his political influence to favour a bank that expanded exponentially under his government and was suspended this week after irregularities.

• Warriors center, 31, announces decision on social media

• Latvian big man does not disclose nature of health issue

• Porziņģis leaves door open to return after long absence

Golden State Warriors center Kristaps Porziņģis announced he is stepping away from basketball to prioritize his health due to an undisclosed matter in a social media post on Friday.

Porziņģis did not reveal the nature of the issue in a message posted on his X account, and the 31-year-old did not make clear whether he will resume playing.

Stueyman has added a photo to the pool:

Boat ramp near Mandurah inlet

Stueyman has added a photo to the pool:

Locking important things