Via The Cradle,

The US-led international coalition forces operating in northeastern Syria intend to establish a new military base in their controlled areas in the countryside of Raqqa. Local sources said that a convoy of US forces, including several armored military vehicles, arrived in Raqqa city as part of preparations to install a new base in the area.

On the field, the illegal troops began transferring the logistical equipment and necessary gear to the specified location, coinciding with heavy surveillance drone activity. The US army and international coalition occupy at least 28 declared military sites in Syria, distributed over three provinces, mainly Hasakah (17 sites), Deir Ezzor (nine locations), and Homs (two areas).

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) released photographs showing the construction of a new base near Al-Raqqa Bridge on the Euphrates River, south of the city. The distribution of Washington’s illegal bases resembles the cordon surrounding the sources of oil and gas located east of the Euphrates River, representing most of Syria’s underground wealth.

The eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor hosts the most strategic military bases, including the al-Omar oil field base – one of the largest in Syria – and the Conoco gas field base, which are regularly subjected to violent shelling by armed groups affiliated with Iran.

Nonetheless, the daily bombing prompted Washington to send massive military and logistical reinforcements aboard hundreds of trucks that crossed from Iraq into the US bases in Deir Ezzor, Hasakah, and Raqqa.

According to the SOHR, US troops recently established another military post in Naqara village, just three kilometers from Qamishli in the northeastern province of Hasakah.

Footage shows Deir Ezzor, Eastern Syria locals pelting US forces with rocks to make it known they’re no longer welcome in their oil-rich region, following suit of Syrian Arab Army earlier blocking U.S occupation troops from passing through a checkpoint pic.twitter.com/Tave8u5W9B

— Mats Nilsson (@mazzenilsson) November 6, 2022

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) constantly blocks US military convoys and patrols attempting to move through their checkpoints in multiple locations across the province, forcing them to turn tail. The Syrian authorities accuse the US of smuggling its oil and selling it abroad to deprive the Syrians of it in a flagrant violation of international law.

Western energy sanctions against Russia have helped Moscow achieve the second-ever sail of a crude tanker east through the Arctic Circle toward China, a route dubbed ‘Arctic Silk Road,’ that could one day revolutionize energy trade flows from Russia to Asia because it’s about half the time versus Russia’s Baltic ports through the Suez Canal. 

Vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg shows the Vasily Dinkov, a specialized ice-breaking tanker, departed from Murmansk, a city in northwestern Russia, off the Barents Sea, hauling a cargo of crude. The vessel traversed Russia’s northern coast between Oct. 27 – Nov. 4 and entered the Bering Strait, a strait between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans that separates Alaska and Russia, on Nov. 5.

As of Tuesday morning, the tanker is full speed ahead off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Its final destination is the Chinese port of Rizhao on Nov. 17.

“The journey is the shortest passage between Europe and east Asia, taking half the time to reach China from Russia’s Baltic ports than the conventional route through the Suez Canal,” Bloomberg said. 

Even before the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions on Moscow, trade flows were already in the beginning stages of shifting towards the Northern Sea Route. 

In 2017, we noted, “transit routes through the Arctic will assume a certain level of importance vis-à-vis the global geopolitics of Russia and China.” 

Visual Capitalist’s Nicholas LePan published a map of all the critical routes and resources in the Arctic in 2019. 

In early 2020, we detailed how Russia, owner of the world’s largest fleet of icebreakers, can plow through Arctic waters, clearing the way for vessels to traverse the northern routes. 

And last year, we cited Minister of National Resources and Environment Dmitry Kobylkin, who said cargo shipping in Russia’s northernmost territorial waters would top 80MM tons as early as 2024. 

However, there are significant logistical hurdles that rely entirely on weather conditions. 

Richard Matthews, head of research at E.A. Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd. in London, told Bloomberg that the Northern Sea Route is only viable in the warmer period of the year. 

“It looks unlikely that any significant volumes could be shipped along this route until summer,” Matthews said.

But Viktor Katona, a lead crude analyst at Kpler, said once spring arrives, the Northern Sea Route will be of “vital prevalence”: 

“Europe is already sealed off.

“If they’re not buying, why circumnavigate the entire universe if you can use the Northern Sea Route to get to China in 20 days?” Katona said.

The first crude shipment across the Northern Sea Route took place in 2019. The second is currently underway. And as Western sanctions against Moscow rejigger global energy supply chains, Russia will have an advantage via the Arctic during warmer periods of the year in sending crude and crude products to Asia in an expedited fashion. 

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Two leaders of True the Vote organization will be released from jail after an appeals court overruled a judge’s order that they be locked up.

Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were ordered released by a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit late Nov. 6.

“IT IS ORDERED that Petitioners’ opposed motion for release from detention is GRANTED pending further order of this court,” the panel said in the order, which was obtained by The Epoch Times.

The panel consisted of Circuit Judges Catharina Haynes, a George W. Bush appointee; Kurt Engelhardt, a Trump appointee; and Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee.

Engelbrecht and Phillips were expected to be released on Nov. 7, a spokesman for True the Vote told The Epoch Times via email on Monday morning.

“They will be released when the paperwork is complete, probably sometime this morning,” the spokesman said.

Engelbrecht and Phillips were imprisoned on Oct. 31 after U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, a Reagan appointee, found them in contempt of court for not revealing the identities of people who were with them when information was accessed from Konnech, a Michigan-based election management software company whose founder was recently arrested for allegedly stealing poll worker data and hosting it on servers in China.

The order for confinement was to be in place until the defendants “fully comply” with an order that they reveal certain information, including the identities, Hoyt said.

Engelbrecht and Phillips say they passed on information that was legally obtained from Konnech to the FBI. One of their attorneys named one of the individuals in question, Mike Hasson, during an October hearing. But they have declined to share the name of the second person. Both the individuals are FBI informants, Phillips said during one hearing.

“Those who thought that imprisoning Gregg and I would weaken our resolve have gravely miscalculated. It is stronger than ever,” Engelbrecht said in a statement. “The right to free and fair elections without interference is more important than our own discomforts and even this detention, now reversed by a higher court.”

“We are profoundly grateful for that. We will continue to protect and defend those who do the vital work of election integrity, and we will make sure that their findings become a matter of public record,” she added.

The imprisonment order came after Konnech sued True the Vote and its founders for defamation.

Hoyt entered a temporary restraining order against the defendants, ordering them to return all property and data to Konnech and identify people who were involved in accessing the company’s computers.

In their filing for release from detention, Engelbrecht and Phillips said that Hoyt’s confinement order “represents a clear abuse of discretion and a manifest miscarriage of justice.”

“Petitioners pray that this Court enter an Order releasing them from the district court’s draconian order of detention for refusing to identity a federal confidential informant in open court whose identity in any event has no bearing on the merits of this defamation case hinging on competing accounts of alleged historical events,” they added.

Read more here…

In what is likely going to be another thorn in the side of Elon Musk, Tesla and Autopilot, it was revealed in a report last week that many self-driving features in vehicles can be “messed with” using lasers. 

A brand new study that was put together and uploaded in late October, called “You Can’t See Me: Physical Removal Attacks on LiDAR-based Autonomous Vehicles Driving Frameworks” made the revelation, which was also reported on by Cosmos Magazine. 

Researchers in the U.S. and Japan found that vehicles could be tricked into not seeing pedestrians (or other objects in their way) using lasers. These cars, which use LiDAR to sense objects around them, send out laser lights and then use the reflection back to judge how far away objects are. 

The study revealed that a perfectly timed laser shone back into a LiDAR system can create “a blind spot large enough to hide an object like a pedestrian,” according to Cosmos. 

The study’s abstract says: “While existing attacks on LiDAR-based autonomous driving architectures focus on lowering the confidence score of AV object detection models to induce obstacle misdetection, our research discovers how to leverage laser-based spoofing techniques to selectively remove the LiDAR point cloud data of genuine obstacles at the sensor level before being used as input to the AV perception. The ablation of this critical LiDAR information causes autonomous driving obstacle detectors to fail to identify and locate obstacles and, consequently, induces AVs to make dangerous automatic driving decisions”

University of Florida cyber security researcher professor Sara Rampazzi commented: “We mimic the LIDAR reflections with our laser to make the sensor discount other reflections that are coming in from genuine obstacles.”

“The LIDAR is still receiving genuine data from the obstacle, but the data are automatically discarded because our fake reflections are the only one perceived by the sensor,” she continued. 

Any laser used in this manner would not only have to be perfectly timed, but would have to move with the vehicle, the report says. 

University of Michigan computer scientist Yulong Cao, co-author of the report, said: “Revealing this liability allows us to build a more reliable system. In our paper, we demonstrate that previous defence strategies aren’t enough, and we propose modifications that should address this weakness.”

The research will be presented at the 2023 USENIX Security Symposium, the report says. 

By Joanna Marsh of FreightWaves

Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 19 narrowly approved the ratification of a labor agreement that has been nearly three years in the making.

Fifty-two percent voted in favor of accepting the agreement, IAM said Saturday. About 59% of IAM’s membership voted. Overall membership totals about 4,900 workers, who serve as locomotive machinists, roadway mechanists and facility maintenance personnel for the railroads.

The union, which spoke to FreightWaves this week about the contract negotiation process, said it was “confident that this is the best deal for our members” while acknowledging that the contract didn’t have universal appeal. 

“Our union recognizes that the agreement wasn’t accepted overwhelmingly, so our team will continue conversing with our members at our rail yards across the nation,” the union said in a statement Saturday. “This agreement is the first step in addressing some of the issues in our industry.”

IAM also said leadership “worked night and day to communicate the agreement’s benefits and what would happen if it was rejected.”

“Our fight was able to shine a light on the work-life balance issues as well as the lack of proper paid sick leave. Our union will continue to amplify the deficiencies in the carriers’ sick leave and attendance policies,” IAM said.

The National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC), the group representing the freight railroads, said it was pleased with IAM’s voting results.

“The IAM agreement, like the agreements with six other rail unions that have already ratified, implements the recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 250, including the largest wage package in nearly five decades, maintains rail employees’ platinum-level health benefits, and adds an additional day of paid time off for IAM-represented workers,” NCCC said.

“The successful result announced today follows an initial unsuccessful ratification attempt by the IAM last month. The ratified agreement is consistent with the framework recommended by the PEB,” NCCC continued, noting that this latest agreement followed one that was rejected by IAM’s membership in September. Representatives for IAM and the railroads went back to the negotiating table after that to com up with this latest iteration. 

According to IAM, the revised ratified agreement will include a cap in healthcare costs and addresses issues related to single-room occupancy and travel expenses and per diem. 

The agreement also includes plans to conduct a joint study with the railroads on overtime and overtime policies, as well as a “me-too” clause in which IAM would receive the same provisions should there be another agreement that appears to improve upon IAM’s agreement. 

A new labor agreement for each of the 12 unions has been in the works since January 2020, but negotiations between the unions and the railroads failed to progress. In July, President Joe Biden appointed three independent experts to serve on the PEB, which conducted hearings and received testimony from stakeholders about how the unions and railroads could resolve the impasse. PEB issued its recommendations, which were meant to serve as a jumping-off point for a new contract.

So far, seven unions have ratified their agreements, while another three still need to vote on whether to ratify their tentative agreements, according to NCCC. Two of the three include the two biggest unions representing train conductors and engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD). 

Two other unions, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way-Employes Division (BMWED) and the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, recently voted to reject their tentative agreements, and so both are back at the bargaining table with the railroads.

BMWED could initiate a work stoppage as early as Nov. 19, but that would be before BLET and SMART-TD would have completed voting on their tentative agreements, NCCC said. 

Submitted by Gun Owners Of America.,

Gun Owners of America secured a historic victory in the battle for gun rights on Monday when New York Judge Glenn Suddaby issued a preliminary injunction suspending many parts of New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA). 

This victory follows Gun Owners of America & Gun Owners Foundation securing a temporary restraining order against the aforementioned CCIA in October, which a federal appeals court then blocked.

Happy Election Day Eve, Gov. Hochul. One loss today and hopefully another tomorrow!

Both would be a win for the Second Amendment! https://t.co/ziOroPDjw3

— Erich Pratt (@erichmpratt) November 7, 2022

This ruling enjoins many of the worst provisions of New York’s ignorantly titled “Concealed Carry Improvement Act” such as the “good moral character” clause which allowed licensing officials to not only infringe on applicants Second Amendment rights, but also their First and Fourth Amendment rights by demanding they disclose social media accounts and personal relationships. 

Judge Suddaby also struck down many of the so-called “sensitive location” gun bans including all places of worship, buses, public parks, and many more.

Court strikes down gun bans at:
– “public parks, and zoos”
– “airports”
– “busses”
– bars
– “theaters”
– “conference centers”
– “banquet halls” pic.twitter.com/NK7PweZgc4

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) November 8, 2022

The entire ‘restricted locations’ applying to private property was enjoined, as well.. This law made it so that ALL private property was considered a gun-free zone. To allow concealed carry permit holders to exercise their rights, a private property owner would have been required to prominently display a sign that guns are welcome, the complete opposite of the rest of the country. This was government overreach on private property and was rightfully struck down.

GOA’s attorneys of record, Rob Olson and Stephen Stamboulieh, took on an army of anti-gun lawyers to defeat New York in an uphill court battle spanning the past few months.  

This decision also has national repercussions. New York has been a testing ground for ways to get around the NYSRPA v. Bruen Supreme Court decision since the High Court handed it down in late June. States like New Jersey have passed similar restrictions and have closely watched GOA’s legal challenge to New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act. Some states and localities are even waiting to pass such legislation pending the outcome of GOA’s challenge.

This victory sends a clear message to those anti-gun states that the courts will overturn unjust laws that infringe on the constitutional rights of American citizens.

Erich Pratt, GOA’s Senior Vice President, had this to say:

“Just like we warned politicians after the Bruen decision, fall in line, or we will force you to. We are excited to see Kathy Hochul finally served a plate of humble pie, and we are fully prepared to continue the fight should she again attempt to disarm the citizens of her state at a time when her party’s policies are only escalating the danger that everyday citizens face.” 

They fail. pic.twitter.com/qKgSwRZaEN

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) November 7, 2022

We’ll hold the line for you in Washington. We are No Compromise. Join the Fight Now.

*   *   *

[ZH: While Gun Owners of America rolled back most ‘sensitive place’ restrictions where people are barred from carrying concealed firearms, there are separate lawsuits concerning Times Square and subways, which weren’t included in this decision.]

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

17 percent believe they will spend less this year. Many are stressed over gifts and even the Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner…

Graphic courtesy of Morning Consult

A Morning Consult offers a First Look at Consumers’ 2022 Holiday Plans

Key Takeaways 

• Financial Service: To avoid going into debt this holiday season, consumers are being smarter about budgeting in advance and are more likely to favor a BNPL approach to cover holiday expenses over opening a new credit card. Though shoppers are feeling inflation’s pinch, spending levels will look similar to last year. 

• Retail and E-Commerce: Consumers will be looking for the best deals and making compromises so they can keep their holiday spending in check. While that may have previously been good for Black Friday retailers, less than half of shoppers plan to to take advantage of the sale event. 

• Travel and Hospitality: Travelers will need to make tradeoffs to combat cost concerns. Americans are looking forward to holiday travel after two years of scaled-back celebrations, but cost has replaced COVID as an influential factor. To avoid overspending, travelers plan to shorten trips, bunk with relatives and leverage points and rewards to cover costs. 

• Food and Beverage: Purchasing holiday groceries will be a stressor for some, but most feel excited about celebrations. Despite inflation, most consumers plan on sticking to a consistent foods and drinks budget. Hosts from different generations approach their holiday celebrations differently, an important factor for brands to consider.  

Stressed Over Groceries 

Looking for Deals 

• As a result of inflation, 82% of shoppers say they intend to look for more deals and discounts, while 72% plan to look for less expensive alternatives. 

• Millennials, the generation most worried about their finances this holiday season, are most likely to seek these lower-cost tradeoffs.  

56 Percent Plan to Give Gift Cards 

Gift cards are practical. But cash is even more practical. 

Regarding gift cards, I wonder “why bother?” 

You give a gift card and get a gift card. Why not just stop the exchange and say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever greeting you prefer?

OK , if its a targeted gift card to a sporting goods specialty store the money goes to an designated idea. But what if the recipient would rather have something else?

Things like Harry & David fruit baskets, Omaha Steaks, and numerous cheese shops are ridiculously expensive for what you get. 

My suggestion, other than gifts for your kids: Just stop. And tell your kids you don’t want anything other than to see them more often if that is indeed the case. 

Buy Now Pay Later 

BNPL vs Credit Card 

I don’t understand this pairing at all. What does difference does a new credit card vs an old one make? 

OK. For those who carry a balance, the initial purchase on a new card does not have interest for a month.

But if you are carrying a balance month after month, you are already spending too much. 

Will You Spend Less or More?

Holiday Spending Plans vs 2021
How much do you expect to spend?

— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) November 6, 2022

Mish Suggestions and Tips

If you routinely carry a credit card balance, then look in the mirror and admit that you are a sucker. 

Instead of giving or getting presents pay down your debt.

BNPL is a trap. You pay in installments, but with few exceptions you will be paying built-in credit fees that may be even worse than credit card fees. 

Stressed over holiday groceries? Then make lasagna or stuffed shells or something you don’t normally cook to make it special. Jumbo shells stuffed with ricotta cheese and pepperoni bits would probably look special, be very inexpensive, tasty, and provide as many leftovers as you want. 

Slice and cook the pepperoni first and drain the grease. You can put some pepperoni inside each shell or cover the tops of the shells with pepperoni and a layer of mozzarella cheese. 

Want another food suggestion? Try Rock Cornish hens stuffed with rice instead of a big turkey. 

If you are stressed over groceries, then you have to be stressed over everything else as well.

My number one stress-reducing recommendation is simple: Just stop the gifts except for the kids, and then don’t splurge.

Other than the kids, only buy what you can afford and would have purchased anyway. Then wrap it up if you want, and give it to yourself tagged from whomever. Then you get exactly what you want, no exchanges necessary. 

For many, exchanging gifts is a stressful waste of time, energy, and money. So stop!

But if you can afford to exchange and it makes you happy, then go ahead. Be happy.

*  *  *

Like these reports? I hope so, and if you do, please Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

Before we dive into the latest comments of Citadel’s billionaire founder, Ken Griffin, praising Florida for all its beauty after he moved his firm from the hellhole of Chicago. We want to remind readers about the events that led to Griffin’s decision. 

In May, Griffin was becoming increasingly frustrated with the eruption in violent crime across Chicago and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s inability to solve those issues. 

At the time, he said, “We’re getting to the point that if things don’t change, we’re gone. Things aren’t changing.” 

By June, Griffin sent a letter to Citadel employees that he had moved to Florida and that his market-making business, Citadel Securities, would also migrate to Miami. He noted in the letter that he views Florida as a better corporate environment, and though he didn’t specifically cite crime as a factor, company officials said it was a consideration.

Later that month, Bloomberg reported the new headquarters of Citadel would be at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive. The secret deal to obtain the property closed in April and was shielded from the public by a limited liability company with a Chicago mailing address.  

In mid-August, CNBC noted Griffin had already spent a billion dollars on Florida real estate. This includes the plot of land for the new headquarters building and a massive estate in Palm Beach. 

On Monday, Griffin, now Florida’s richest man, spoke with Francis Suarez, Miami’s Republican mayor, who said the real reason he moved his market-making operation and residence to South Florida wasn’t because of taxes but the positive atmosphere, according to Bloomberg. 

“It’s gonna get me thrown out of here, but taxes weren’t part of our decision to come to Florida.

“When you’ve got great schools, a great environment and your streets are safe and clean, that’s when you’ve got a place you want to live in and call home.

“There’s something very special about the government in Florida and their focus on delivering traditional values for the community,” he told Suarez in a conversation. 

Griffin is one of the most high-profile individuals to pack up his bags and head to a conservative-friendly state after living in a progressive-run city that had social justice reforms backfire and spark even more violent crime. 

The billionaire isn’t alone. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of everyday Americans have made the same decision to flee imploding liberal-run cities in the last few years because of high taxes and socio-economic collapses. Many have fled to more prosperous and safer conservative-run cities. 

Authored by Svetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

The world’s energy needs will only grow, and it would be “foolish” to think that rising demand can be met with renewables alone, Oman’s Energy Minister Salim Al-Aufi told CNBC on Tuesday.  

Oman’s energy minister tells CNBC’s @_hadleygamble it would be “foolish” to assume that the world’s growing energy needs can be met with renewables. pic.twitter.com/BL0TUcWhFz

— CNBC Middle East (@CNBCMiddleEast) November 8, 2022

Energy needs to be affordable and this is the first pillar of energy supply when the energy transition is concerned, the minister said.  

Oman’s official also defended, again, the OPEC+ decision to reduce the headline target oil production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) as of this month, saying that the group is proactive in trying to balance the market.

Al-Aufi also said that he wasn’t surprised by the U.S. blowback after the OPEC+ decision was announced.

“It was expected,” he told CNBC.

Referring to the energy transition and renewables, Oman, like many Middle Eastern oil and gas producers, believes that all forms of energy will be needed to meet the world’s growing energy demand in the coming years and decades.

Back in September, Saudi Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser said that years of underinvestment, a lack of a backup plan, and alternatives not ready to step up and replace conventional energy are the real causes of this state of energy insecurity today.

The world and policymakers need a more credible energy transition plan, which has to recognize that “supplies of ample and affordable conventional energy are still required over the long-term,” Nasser said in a speech at the Schlumberger Digital Forum 2022 in Switzerland. Aramco’s CEO reiterated the long-held view of Saudi Arabia that the world will need oil and gas for the foreseeable future and will need more investment in the industry just to keep supply steady amid declining output from maturing wells, and even more investment to boost production capacity to meet the world’s energy needs.

European Council president Charles Michel was set to deliver an address at the opening day of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) hosted in Shanghai on Friday, but Chinese authorities have pulled the pre-recorded video address in a very brazen act of censorship of a top official and diplomat, Reuters reports.

“As requested by the Chinese authorities, we had indeed provided a pre-recorded message which was ultimately not shown. We have addressed this through the normal diplomatic channels,” a statement from EC President Michel’s office confirmed. 

The high-profile speech was likely canceled by Chinese authorities as it was expected to criticize Russia’s war in Ukraine while also provocatively urging the European Union to reduce trade dependency on China.

What’s more is that he was expected to call on Beijing to pressure Moscow to halt the ongoing attack on Ukraine, and heap criticism of the Russia-China “no-limits” partnership declared just before the war’s start in February. 

According to statements from diplomatic sources cited in Reuters, the rebuke of Russia was going to be scathing, at an event where President Xi Jinping is to speak as well: 

Mr Michel’s speech included strong criticism of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. “In Europe, we want balance in our trade relations… to avoid over-dependencies,” his speech said, reported Reuters citing the diplomats familiar with what he was to say.

“This is also true of our trade relations with China.”

“China has a role in using its influence to stop Russia’s brutal war… through your so-called ‘no-limits’ partnership with Russia,” Mr Michel was to say, referring to a pact announced by Mr Xi and Mr Putin in Beijing before the war began.

“You, China, can help put an end to this.”

Xi and Michel are expected to meet in person next week at the G-20 summit in Bali. Biden will also meet with Xi – a moment that will drive headlines, likely overshadowing everything else.

#Chinese authorities behind a major trade expo in Shanghai pull an address by the #EU chief #CharlesMichel that was set to criticize Russia’s “illegal war” in Ukraine and call for reduced trade dependency on China, diplomats say.https://t.co/qb3TIFz2lQ

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) November 8, 2022

But a Sunday report in the South China Morning Post noted that “Beijing has yet to officially confirm either Xi’s attendance at the summit or a meeting with Biden, who will be in Bali from November 13 to 16.”

If it happens, it will be the first face-to-face meeting with Xi since Biden took office in 2021. According to the US side, via US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, “There’s an awful lot of issues for us to talk to China about. Some issues are fairly contentious and some should be collaborative.” The US confirmed ongoing intense discussions and planning with the Chinese side for the meeting.