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Your Tuesday Briefing – The New York Occasions

The leaders of the U.S. and China held their third dialog in 10 months, a three-hour digital summit, in an effort to maintain “communication strains open” and keep away from army motion as tensions escalate.

Among the many prime points have been human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, commerce measures, the way forward for Taiwan and cybersecurity. China has constructed up its army presence within the South China Sea in recent times, and cyberclashes have intensified.

Xi was becoming a member of the digital assembly from China, the place he has been since January 2020, whereas Biden participated from Washington. Since changing into president, Biden has spoken twice with Xi, however they haven’t met in individual this 12 months.

Avoiding escalation: Biden has repeatedly mentioned he believes improving relations is possible and clever. Xi mentioned in his opening remarks that the international locations ought to work collectively.

Evaluation: “No relationship is shaping the planet extra,” writes our correspondent Raymond Zhong. “And no relationship seethes, throughout such a large and consequential set of points, with extra pressure and distrust.”


President Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into legislation yesterday, a bipartisan victory that can pour billions into the nation’s roads, ports and energy strains.

The invoice is a trademark of President Biden’s coverage targets. Whereas it stopped in need of realizing his full-scale ambitions for overhauling America’s transportation and vitality programs, Biden mentioned it was proof that lawmakers may work throughout get together strains and clear up main issues.

Among the many main bills within the legislation are $47 billion for local weather resiliency, $73 billion for the nation’s electrical energy grid, $66 billion for rail strains and $65 billion for high-speed web. Here’s a rundown.


Governments in Europe, once more the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, are singling out the unvaccinated.

Austria took the toughest line yesterday, beginning a lockdown of the unvaccinated because it offers with a 134 p.c improve in circumstances within the final two weeks. The unvaccinated should keep residence until they’re touring for work, college, meals or medical care.

In Germany, the incoming authorities has mentioned that unvaccinated folks will want a detrimental check to journey on buses or trains. In France, booster photographs might be required for people who find themselves 65 and older with a purpose to safe a well being cross. And in Italy, vaccinations or detrimental checks are required to work.

Some European leaders thought-about the tough steps a measure too far.

Regardless of Britain’s rash of latest circumstances in latest weeks, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resisted masks mandates and well being passes. Nonetheless, he mentioned he frightened about “storm clouds which can be gathering over the continent.”

Indicators of hassle: Jap Europe’s Covid surges proceed, particularly in Romania and Bulgaria. Latvia responded to an outbreak with a full lockdown. Russia and Ukraine additionally elevated restrictions.

Listed here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In different developments:

Information From Europe

In distant southwestern Bulgaria, the Rhodope Slender-Gauge Railway — a 100-year-old railroad and the final of its sort within the nation — is the one technique of transportation connecting locals to a close-by market city, which sustains their incomes. However ridership is down and upkeep prices are excessive, threatening the railway’s survival. See what it’s like for the daily riders who rely on the train.

A global cryptocurrency competitors appears to be underway. Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Malta, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam are all within the race. However tech entrepreneurs like Ukraine, above, and Ukrainians like crypto.

Ukrainians are among the many most avid cryptocurrency customers on this planet, rating fourth in an index compiled by Chainalysis, behind Vietnam, India and Pakistan. The quantity of cryptocurrency transactions every day, about $150 million, exceeds the quantity of interbank exchanges in government-issued forex.

Residents lack higher choices. Banks in Ukraine are so sclerotic that sending or receiving even small quantities of cash from one other nation entails an impediment course of paperwork. The nation itself has suffered by means of too many scandals to anticipate a serious inflow from worldwide funding banks.

The federal government is hoping to bury its unhealthy status with an help from cryptocurrency. The 1st step on this bold marketing campaign was legalizing and regulating Bitcoin.

However the established order remains to be engaging for some. “I like that it’s corrupt right here,” one crypto entrepreneur initially from New Jersey mentioned. “Right here, we get to play the sport that solely elites within the U.S. play.”

What to Prepare dinner

And right here is the Spelling Bee.

You can find all our puzzles here.


That’s it for right this moment’s briefing. Thanks for becoming a member of me. — Melina

P.S. Raymond Zhong, a expertise reporter at present based mostly in Taiwan, might be becoming a member of our Local weather Desk as a local weather science reporter.

The most recent episode of “The Daily” appears to be like at how the U.S. army hid a lethal airstrike in Syria.

Matthew Cullen and Victoria Shannon contributed. You possibly can attain the workforce at briefing@nytimes.com.

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