China

• Pres. Biden’s three-hour meeting with Pres. Xi yesterday seemed to go well: after the session, Biden said he was confident Taiwan does not face an “imminent” threat of invasion and rejected the idea of a “new cold war.”
• The success of this meeting seems to bode well for U.S.-China relations: SecState Blinken will visit China for follow-up meetings in 2023.
• Separately, Canada passed a new foreign investment rule that bans Chinese investment in key strategic minerals – lithium, cadmium, nickel, and cobalt – and requires three Chinese companies that are already invested in Canadian mining to divest their stakes in the ventures. Canadian intelligence cited national security grounds as the basis for evicting the three companies.

Ukraine

• Pres. Zelensky visited a newly liberated Kherson and told a crowd there that Ukraine was “ready for peace” and calling the recapture of Kherson the “beginning of the end of the war.”
• Ukraine accused Russia of mining key infrastructure in the city, though. The city still lacks heat, water, electricity, or cell phone service.

Afghanistan

• The Taliban ordered Afghanistan’s judges to implement Sharia law. There’s no universal form of Sharia – each interpretation of it is different – but analysts generally agree Afghanistan’s implementation will be a step backwards from modern justice.

Other News

• The world’s population is expected to reach eight billion today, but its growth rate has slowed: this year it rose by just 0.8%, which is the slowest growth rate since the 1950s.
• A bomb exploded on a busy street in Istanbul, killing at least six and injuring over 80. Turkish police say they arrested someone suspected of planting the device: a Syrian national with ties to Kurdish groups.