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Trump Says He Has Spoken to China’s Xi Since Inauguration 

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 05 February 2025. (EPA)
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 05 February 2025. (EPA)
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Trump Says He Has Spoken to China’s Xi Since Inauguration 

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 05 February 2025. (EPA)
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 05 February 2025. (EPA)

US President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking office on January 20, but did not offer details on the topics of their conversation.

Trump made the comments in an interview aired on Fox News on Monday.

"Yeah ... I have talked to him and I have talked to his people, too," Trump said when asked if he has spoken to the Chinese leader since the US president's inauguration.

"We have a very good personal relationship," Trump added.

The president did not provide details on when exactly the call happened or what was discussed.

Trump said last week he was in no hurry to speak to Xi to try to defuse a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. A conversation between Xi and Trump is seen as crucial to a potential easing or delay of trade tariffs.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's interview to Fox News.

Trump and Xi had spoken just before Trump took office on January 20 and discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan.

When asked at a regular news conference on Tuesday to confirm the call mentioned by Trump, the Chinese foreign ministry did not directly comment on it, instead referring reporters to the "scheduled" call before Trump took office.

"On January 17, President Xi Jinping had a scheduled phone call with US President Trump, and the Chinese side has already released the relevant press release," Guo Jiakun, a ministry spokesperson, told reporters.

China imposed targeted tariffs on US imports last week and put several companies, including Alphabet's Google, on notice for possible sanctions, in a measured response to Trump's across-the-board 10% duties, which had come on top of prior tariffs.

Washington and Beijing have had tense relations for years over differences ranging from trade tariffs and cybersecurity to Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and the origins of COVID-19.

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World

US Suspends Flights at El Paso Airport for 'Special Security Reasons'

FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
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US Suspends Flights at El Paso Airport for 'Special Security Reasons'

FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration sign hangs in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

The top US aviation agency said Tuesday it is stopping all flights to and from El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days over unspecified "security reasons."

The flight restrictions are in effect from 11:30 pm on Tuesday (0630 GMT Wednesday) until February 20 for the airspace over El Paso and an area in neighboring New Mexico's south, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"No pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas" covered by the restrictions, the FAA said in a notice, citing "special security reasons" without elaborating.

El Paso International Airport in a social media post said all flights, "including commercial, cargo and general aviation," would be impacted by the move.

The airport, which is served by major US airlines like Delta, American and United, encouraged travelers to "contact their airlines to get most up-to-date flight status information."

In a separate statement to the New York Times, it said that the restrictions had been issued "on short notice" and that it was waiting for guidance from the FAA.

World

Russia Says It Won’t Breach Limits of Expired Nuclear Treaty if US Does the Same 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reacts during a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. (EPA)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reacts during a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. (EPA)
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Russia Says It Won’t Breach Limits of Expired Nuclear Treaty if US Does the Same 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reacts during a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. (EPA)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reacts during a meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mahmoud Thabit Kombo (not pictured), in Moscow, Russia, 09 February 2026. (EPA)

Russia will keep observing the missile and warhead limits in the New START nuclear treaty with the United States, which expired last week, as long as Washington continues to do the same, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

The 2010 treaty ran out on February 5, leaving the world's two biggest ‌nuclear-armed powers ‌with no binding constraints on their ‌strategic ⁠nuclear arsenals for ⁠the first time in more than half a century.

US President Donald Trump declined a formal proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin to voluntarily abide by the New START limits for another year. ⁠Lavrov said Moscow would stick ‌to the limits ‌itself for now anyway.

"Our position is that this ‌moratorium on our side that ‌was declared by the president is still in place, but only as long as the United States doesn't exceed the said limits," ‌Lavrov told parliament's lower house, the State Duma.

The treaty's expiry has ⁠spurred ⁠fears of a three-way arms race involving Russia, the US and China, which has far fewer warheads than the other two countries but is arming rapidly.

Some analysts say, however, that Russia is keen to avoid the cost of such a contest at a time when its state budget is feeling the strain from its four-year-old war in Ukraine.

World

After Vance Visit, the Kremlin Says Russia Will Develop Ties with Armenia and Azerbaijan 

A handout photo made available by the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (R) and US Vice President JD Vance (L) during a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, 10 February 2026. (EPA/Azerbaijan Presidential Press Service Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (R) and US Vice President JD Vance (L) during a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, 10 February 2026. (EPA/Azerbaijan Presidential Press Service Handout)
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After Vance Visit, the Kremlin Says Russia Will Develop Ties with Armenia and Azerbaijan 

A handout photo made available by the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (R) and US Vice President JD Vance (L) during a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, 10 February 2026. (EPA/Azerbaijan Presidential Press Service Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (R) and US Vice President JD Vance (L) during a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, 10 February 2026. (EPA/Azerbaijan Presidential Press Service Handout)

Russia intends to further develop its relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after US Vice President JD Vance visited the two South Caucasus nations.

The United States and Azerbaijan signed a strategic partnership, and Vance signed a nuclear deal with Armenia which operates an ageing ‌Soviet-era nuclear ‌power plant and is ‌looking to ⁠commission a new ⁠one.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Azerbaijan and Armenia were sovereign countries who had the right to develop their own foreign policies and that Moscow had deep mutually-beneficial ties with both nations.

"We have ⁠a huge range of bilateral ‌relations with both Baku ‌and Yerevan, covering all possible areas. These ‌include mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation, ‌mutual investments, cultural relations, and so on.

"And, of course, we intend to further develop our relations with our partners so that they ‌are beneficial not only for us, but also for them."

Peskov said ⁠Russia ⁠was well placed to tender for any new nuclear power plant in Armenia.

"As the most advanced country in the world in this field, Russia is capable of withstanding the highest level of international competition," said Peskov. "If such competition is demanded by partners, Russia is capable of providing better quality for many years to come at a lower cost."