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Diplomats from Iran, Russia and China are meeting in Beijing for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme that could lead to negotiations following years of delay.

The meeting was attended by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who “exchanged views on the Iran nuclear issue and other issues of common concern,” according to Chinese media.

Donald Trump, a year into his first term as United States president in 2018, withdrew from a landmark pact Iran reached in 2015 with the US, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, in which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

Tehran continued to abide by the terms of the deal – which was considered a milestone for the administration of then-US President Barack Obama – but began slowly rolling back its commitments after Trump ended the deal.

The meeting in Beijing between the three diplomats follows a series of overtures from Trump since his return to the White House in January to resume nuclear talks with Tehran.

The US president this week sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for new talks but also warning that the US was within its rights to take military action against the country’s nuclear programme.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded that he would not negotiate with the US while being “threatened”, and Iran would not bow to US “orders” to talk.

Ayatollah Khamenei maintains Tehran does not have or want nuclear weapons, but a recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was close to the requirements for a nuclear bomb.

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China said it would host nuclear talks with Iran and Russia, days after US President Donald Trump urged Tehran to negotiate a new deal over its atomic work or face military action.

“The three parties will exchange views on the Iranian nuclear issue and other issues of mutual interest,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The meeting will take place in Beijing on Friday and be attended by deputy foreign ministers from Moscow and Tehran, it said.

The summit comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity on Iran’s expanding nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency said last month that Tehran’s uranium enrichment has surged since Trump’s election victory in November. While Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, the West has longstanding concerns that the country wants to develop atomic weapons.

Last week, Trump said he had written a letter to Iran’s leadership, urging it to enter talks on a new agreement. The US President walked away from an earlier deal during his first term in 2018 and little progress has been made since then to revive the accord.

Iran has signaled it’s not ready for talks with the US. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says his country won’t be bullied into negotiations and that Trump’s decision to tear-up the original 2015 accord showed he cannot be trusted or taken seriously. Still, the country’s economic strains have led some senior officials to conclude that negotiations are needed to get sanctions eased.

Friday’s gathering in Beijing comes after two rounds of preliminary nuclear talks between Iranian and European diplomats in Geneva in recent months.

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Today, an important agreement was signed with the People's Republic of China at the ministry's premises.

The documents regulate veterinary, sanitary, and phytosanitary requirements for the supply of the following products to the Chinese market:

• Wild-caught aquatic products (fish and seafood harvested from natural waters);
• Peas.

The signing of these agreements is the result of active cooperation between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, Ukrainian agricultural associations, and the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China. The Embassy of China in Ukraine and Ambassador Ma Shengkun also played a significant role in the negotiation process.

The new protocols continue the agricultural trade cooperation between Ukraine and China, which has been actively developing since 2019. It is expected that Ukrainian companies will soon be able to start supplying products to China under the new requirements.

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Key organizers of last year’s student-led uprising in Bangladesh have launched a new political party, setting the stage for an intense electoral battle in the South Asian nation, which is expected to hold polls by December.

Nahid Islam, who played a crucial role in mobilizing protesters and forcing Bangladesh’s then-prime minister to flee Bangladesh last August, will lead the National Citizen Party.

The formation of the party comes during a turbulent time in Bangladesh. After the ouster of former leader Sheikh Hasina, who held her position for 15 years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus stepped into the leadership vacuum. His interim government has tried to stabilize the country of nearly 170 million people, but flareups of violence have become common and the economy is struggling.

Yunus recently said Bangladesh will hold a national election between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026.

Having an elected government in place is key for Bangladesh. To shore up foreign exchange reserves, the country is seeking more funds from creditor countries like China and the International Monetary Fund.

This week, Islam, 27, resigned from his posts in the interim government. Over the past six months, he headed two ministries and was instrumental in advocating for a corruption-free Bangladesh.

“To strengthen the students who have participated in the mass uprising, I have realized my role will be more impactful on the streets than within the government,” Islam said after submitting his resignation letter to Yunus.

On Friday, Islam spoke about the goals of the National Citizen Party at a venue near the parliament building in Dhaka. He was accompanied by other leaders, including Akhter Hossen, the member secretary.

“This will be a party founded on democratic principles, equality, and true representation of the people,” Islam said in his speech. The NCP will work to build “a self-reliant national economy with a balanced focus on agriculture, the service sector, and industry — one that is free from income discrimination and sensitive to both life and nature,” he said.

While the new party wields significant influence within Yunus’s administration, its leaders still face a formidable rival. Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the main opposition when Hasina was in power, has a strong nationwide following and is expected to perform well in the national election.

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China has reaffirmed its support for a Palestinian state after Donald Trump’s surprise proposal that the United States should take control of Gaza.

“Gaza belongs to Palestinians and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,” Chen Xiaodong, China’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, told a group of ambassadors from Arab states in a meeting in Beijing on Friday.

Any arrangements regarding the future of Gaza must respect the will of the Palestinian people, Chen added, according to a statement from the foreign ministry.

“China has always firmly supported the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people and the effective jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority over all Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the West Bank,” he said.

He added that Beijing would continue to maintain “close communication and collaboration” with Arab countries.

Friday’s meeting was held upon the request of the Arab states, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The statement added that the ambassadors had said they “expected China to continue to play a constructive role in safeguarding international fairness and justice and supporting Palestine’s legitimate national rights”.

On Thursday, Guo Jiakun, the foreign ministry’s spokesman, also underlined Beijing’s long-held position against the forced displacement of people, saying that Gaza should never be turned into a “bargaining chip for political gains”.

Beijing has been a long-standing supporter of Palestinian statehood and has repeatedly said that a two-state solution is the only way out of the cycle of violence in the region.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his team was working with US counterparts to coordinate with Donald Trump’s administration, after the US president suggested earlier on Friday he would be willing to meet.

In a post to Telegram, Zelensky said that he valued cooperation with Trump and that Ukrainian and American teams are working out details. Separately, Zelensky said in an interview that he was willing to make a deal to secure more US backing in exchange for some of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals.

Trump, meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, was asked by a reporter if he would help coordinate a meeting between Zelensky and US Vice-President J.D. Vance, who is travelling to Europe for summits in Paris and Munich next week.

Trump seemed to mishear the question, and responded by saying that he himself “will probably be meeting with President Zelensky next week”.

“One of the things we’re looking at with President Zelensky is having the security of their assets,” he continued. “They have assets underground, rare earth and other things but primarily rare earth.”

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China’s central bank set a stronger-than-expected fixing rate for the yuan against the US dollar on Wednesday, signalling that China does not plan to offset the impact of US tariffs by allowing its currency to weaken.

The fixing rate – also known as the midpoint rate – plays a crucial role in determining the onshore yuan’s exchange rate, as the PBOC only allows trading to rise or fall up to 2 per cent above or below its set rate each day.

Many analysts had expected the PBOC to set a lower rate for the yuan this year, as a weakening of the Chinese currency would mitigate the impact of US tariffs on Chinese exporters. The US government raised duties on Chinese imports by 10 per cent on Tuesday.

“Today’s fixing rate was set stronger than market expectations. This sends a signal that China is unlikely to counter the impact of tariffs through yuan depreciation,” said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

“The trade negotiation between China and the US hasn’t started. Setting a strong fixing rate could contribute to a good negotiation atmosphere, as the US does not want the yuan to depreciate sharply either.”

On Tuesday, the Chinese government responded to the US tariff hike by announcing that it would impose its own tariffs on certain US imports from February 10. It also placed export restrictions on several mineral products and launched an anti-monopoly investigation into US tech giant Google.

China may choose to counteract US tariffs by boosting domestic demand through fiscal stimulus, rather than resorting to currency tools, Ding said, meaning that depreciation of the yuan may be limited in the future.

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Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is up against the AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, which runs New Delhi and has built a vast support base on its welfare policies and an anti-corruption movement. Kejriwal, a popular crusader against corruption, suffered a setback as he himself faced corruption allegations.

The AAP won 62 out of 70 seats in a landslide victory in the last election, held in 2020. leaving BJP with only eight and the Congress party with none. The AAP had also swept the 2015 state elections, winning 67 seats, with the BJP taking three.

Modi and Kejriwal have both campaigned vigorously in roadshows with thousands of supporters tailing them. They have offered to revamp government schools and provide free health services and electricity, and a monthly stipend of over 2,000 rupees (US$25) to poor women.

Delhi, a city of more than 20 million people, is a federal territory that Modi’s party has not won for over 27 years despite having a sizeable support base there.

Kejriwal was arrested last year along with two key leaders of his party ahead of national elections on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor. They have consistently denied the accusations, saying they are part of a political conspiracy. The Supreme Court allowed the release of Kejriwal and other ministers on bail.

Kejriwal later relinquished the chief minister’s post to his most senior party leader.

The BJP, which failed to secure a majority on its own in last year’s national election but formed the government with coalition partners, has gained some lost ground by winning two state elections in northern Haryana and western Maharashtra states.

Modi’s party hopes to benefit after last week’s federal budget slashed income taxes on the salaried middle class, one of its key voting blocks.

Opposition parties widely condemned Kejriwal’s arrest, accusing Modi’s government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken political opponents, and pointed to several raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures in the months before the national election.

Kejriwal vowed to be an anti-corruption crusader and formed the AAP in 2012 after tapping into public anger against the then-Congress party government over a series of corruption scandals. His pro-poor policies have focused on fixing state-run schools and providing cheap electricity, free healthcare and bus transport for women.

The BJP was voted out of power in Delhi in 1998 by the Congress party, which ran the government for 15 years. In the 2015 and 2020 elections in Delhi, the AAP won landslide victories.

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China's finance ministry announced the measures in response to 10% tariffs on Chinese products imposed by President Trump's administration, which took effect Tuesday.

China's government would impose 15% tariffs on U.S. coal and LNG starting this coming Monday, per a finance ministry statement.U.S. crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars and pickup trucks would face 10% tariffs.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said tariffs "will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains."China's government said Trump's action "seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization" and it's announced plans to file a legal complaint with the WTO.

The WTO's dispute system has been hampered since 2019 when the first Trump administration blocked the appointment of judges.

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Billionaire Elon Musk, who is heading US President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, gave an update on the effort early on Monday, saying they were working to shut down the US foreign aid agency USAID.

Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, discussed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a Monday social media talk on X, which he also owns. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel.

The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“It’s beyond repair,” Musk said, adding that Trump agrees it should be shut down.

On Sunday, it was reported that the Trump administration had removed two top security officials at USAID during the weekend after they tried to stop representatives from Musk’s DOGE from gaining access to restricted parts of the building, three sources said.

The website of USAID appeared to still be offline on Saturday and some users could not access it on Sunday. USAID has a staff of more than 10,000 people.

Speaking more broadly about cutting US expenses and fraud, Musk estimated the Trump administration can cut US$1 trillion from the US deficit next year.

Musk did not offer any evidence to support his fraud claim or explain how he reached the amount of US$1 trillion.

Since taking office 11 days ago, Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.

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China and India agreed Monday to resume direct flights between the Chinese mainland and India, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong and Indian Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri held a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism between China and India on Monday in Beijing, focusing on promoting the implementation of the common understandings reached between Chinese and Indian leaders at their meeting in Kazan and discussing measures to improve and develop China-India relations, the statement said.

The two sides reached common understandings on the following specific measures:

First, India is willing to fully support China's work as the rotating chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and will actively participate in various activities hosted by China under the framework of the SCO.

Second, the two sides agreed to utilize bilateral and multilateral occasions to carry out active interactions at all levels, strengthen strategic communication, and enhance political mutual trust.

Third, the two sides agreed to jointly commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India in 2025, and carry out media and think tank exchanges, Track II talks and other people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Fourth, the two sides agreed to resume direct flights between the Chinese mainland and India, support the coordination and promotion of the competent departments of the two countries, and take measures to facilitate personnel exchanges and mutual dispatch of journalists between the two countries.

Fifth, the two sides agreed to promote the resumption of pilgrimage by Indian pilgrims to the sacred mountain and lake of Xizang in China in 2025, and will negotiate relevant arrangements as soon as possible.

Sixth, the two sides agreed to continue cooperation on cross-border rivers and to maintain communication on the early holding of a new round of meeting of the expert level mechanism on cross-border rivers.

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President Donald Trump's administration is offering federal workers the chance to take a "deferred resignation," which would mean they agree now to resign but get paid through September.

A senior administration official told NBC News that they expect 5%-10% of the federal workforce to quit, which, they estimate, could lead to around $100 billion in savings.

All full-time federal employees are eligible, except for members of the military, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security and other jobs excluded by agencies.

The offer went out to the federal workforce through a new system the Trump administration set up that gives officials the ability to email all federal employees at once.

The email included a draft resignation letter for them to review. If a person wishes to resign, they will be able to reply with the word "resign."

The resignation period will begin Tuesday and go through Feb. 6.

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