13: Morgan Freeman

Joe Biden’s suggestion of summit with Xi Jinping falls on deaf ears US president proposed face-to-face meeting in call last week but Chinese leader did not respond ....... Biden has taken a harsh line on China, criticising its treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and its military activity around Taiwan. Beijing has responded by accusing the Biden administration of interfering in China’s core strategic interests. ...... Xi has not left China since he went to Myanmar in early 2020 before the outbreak of the pandemic. ...... .it was possible that the two sides could agree to a video call — a step up from a phone call — around the time of the G20. But three people said the US was disappointed with Xi’s apparent lack of interest in a summit.....

quoted Xi as saying that US policies had caused “serious difficulties”

U.S. moves to prevent shortage of therapy as hospitalizing unvaccinated costs billions treating the nation’s hospitalized, unvaccinated population topped an estimated $5.7 billion. ......... Pfizer to seek FDA authorization for children ages 5 and older in early October ........ Pfizer expects to seek emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine from federal regulators to immunize children ages 5 to 11 in early October and ages 6 months to 5 the following month

Larry Ellison, Netanyahu Trial Witness, Offers ex-PM Seat on Oracle's Board Offer by billionaire Ellison is estimated at some $450,000 ■ The former prime minister would have to quit Knesset to accept a job in the private sector ■ Netanyahu, who recently stayed on Oracle founder's Hawaiian island, denies the report ....... . The average for the other board members is roughly $450,000 a year, but there are directors who earn $800,000. Most of the directors also receive corporate shares, which could boost the compensation considerably.



Pelosi lauds Taiwan, says China's fury cannot stop visits by world leaders China demonstrated its outrage over the highest-level U.S. visit to the island in 25 years with a burst of military activity in surrounding waters, summoning the U.S. ambassador in Beijing and halting several agricultural imports from Taiwan. ..... Some of China's planned military exercises were to take place within Taiwan's 12 nautical mile sea and air territory, according to Taiwan's defence ministry, an unprecedented move that a senior defence official described to reporters as "amounting to a sea and air blockade of Taiwan". ......... Taiwan scrambled jets on Wednesday to warn away 27 Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone, the island's defence ministry said, adding that 22 of them crossed the median line separating the island from China. ....... Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who Beijing suspects of pushing for formal independence - a red line for China ....... The last U.S. House speaker to go to Taiwan was Newt Gingrich in 1997. Pelosi's visit comes amid sharply deteriorating Sino-U.S. relations. During the past quarter century, China has become a far more powerful economic, military and geopolitical force. ........ In retaliation for her visit, China's customs department announced a suspension of imports of citrus fruits and certain fish - chilled white striped hairtail and frozen horse mackerel - from Taiwan, while its commerce ministry banned export of natural sand to Taiwan. ......... Fury on the mainland over Pelosi's defiance of Beijing was evident in Chinese social media, with one blogger railing: "this old she-devil, she actually dares to come!" Pelosi is 82. ........... The Chinese military said it was on high alert and would launch "targeted military operations" in response.

Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island's future.

......... "We can see China's ambition: to make the Taiwan Strait non-international waters, as well as making the entire area west of the first island chain in the western pacific its sphere of influence"