Bill Gates Meets President Xi Jinping on China Visit

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
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Bill Gates Meets President Xi Jinping on China Visit

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)

Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping just days after a visit to Beijing by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
According to The Associated Press, the state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi saying he was happy to see Gates, who he called an “old friend,” after three years without meeting during the pandemic.
“I believe that the foundation of Sino-US relations lies in the people,” Xi said to Gates. “Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”
Gates told Xi he was “very honored” to meet with Xi.
The visits by leading foreign business people have coincided with efforts by the ruling Communist Party to revive investor interest in China’s slowing economy. Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China in March.
Tensions between the US and China have festered in recent years, but recently the two sides have held talks on trade and other issues. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to arrive in China on Sunday for a two-day visit.
He will be the first secretary of state to visit China since 2018 and is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and possibly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to U.S. officials.
On Thursday, the Gates Foundation pledged $50 million to bolster the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute’s capacity to develop drugs to fight diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. The institute was jointly founded by the Gates Foundation, Tsinghua University and the Beijing municipal government.



Days of Monsoon Rains and Flash Floods Kill at Least 72 in Pakistan

Children playing in the water after a heavy rain in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Children playing in the water after a heavy rain in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
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Days of Monsoon Rains and Flash Floods Kill at Least 72 in Pakistan

Children playing in the water after a heavy rain in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Children playing in the water after a heavy rain in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Ten days of heavy monsoon rains and flash floods across Pakistan killed at least 72 people and injured more than 130, the National Disaster Management Authority and local officials said Monday.

The fatalities, since June 26, were reported in several provinces: the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eastern Punjab, southern Sindh and southwestern Balochistan provinces, The Associated Press reported.

The National Disaster Management Authority urged local officials to remain on high alert and advised tourists to avoid visiting affected areas, as more rains could block highways and trigger flash floods.

Emergency services have been on maximum alert since last month after 17 tourists from the same family were swept away by the Swat River in the northwest. Four were rescued and the bodies of the other 13 were later recovered. Videos circulating online of the family, stranded on a rooftop and pleading for help, sparked outrage and accusations of slow response by emergency crews.

Authorities have warned they cannot rule out a repeat of extreme weather like the 2022 devastating floods when rains at one point inundated a third of the country, killing 1,737 people.