NPR News: 05-13-2026 12PM EDT
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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump has arrived in Beijing for a two-day bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. NPR's Jennifer Pak reports it is the first time a U.S. president has visited in nearly a decade.
Trump was the last U.S. president to visit since 2017. And after all of the ceremonial pomp, Trump still launched a trade war with China. He imposed even more tariffs and sanctions last year when he returned to office. Chinese officials retaliated. And the two sides reached a sort of pause last fall. But it's fragile. The two leaders are keen to stabilize the relationship. Chinese media showed roads leading out of the Beijing capital airport were lined with U.S. and Chinese flags side by side to greet Trump's arrival. An editorial in the state-owned People's Daily said, China-U.S. relations cannot go back to what it was in the past, but there could be a better future. Jennifer Pak, NPR News, Beijing.
NPR's Kirk Sigler reports the state visit has major implications for American farmers who've been severely affected by inflation and flat commodity prices.
Joe Vaclavik is a former Chicago trade board analyst who hosts the closely followed podcast Standard Grain. He's been skeptical that a solid deal will come out of this summit.
Is China really going to buy 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans next year, despite the fact that Brazil's got more than ever to export? Chinese demand may be falling off a little bit. I don't know. It's a hot topic and a good question.
Hope that any trade deal with China includes a firm commitment to buy a lot of soybeans.
That's NPR's Kirk Sigler reporting. As redistricting battles lean more heavily in favor of Republicans vying to win seats in this year's midterms and keep control of Congress. South Carolina's gone the other way. Gavin Jackson with South Carolina Public Radio says a handful of Republicans in the state Senate joined their Democratic colleagues to push back on President Trump's nationwide call to Republicans to redraw legislative maps.
The Senate defeated a last minute redistricting push in the state as a legislative session nears its end. Five South Carolina Republican senators joined Democrats in killing a bill. that would allow lawmakers to take up congressional redistricting after session ends. The five Republicans included Majority Leader Shane Massey, who fielded several calls from President Trump to consider drafting a new map to eliminate Congressman Jim Clyburn's seat, the lone Democratic district of the state's seven. Massey said the map, hastily crafted without public input or thorough vetting, could actually make several districts more competitive for Democrats. Even if the House passes a new map it is considering, time is not on its side in the Senate.
For NPR News, I'm Gavin Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina.
The South Carolina Supreme Court has granted a new trial for Alec Murdoch, the disgraced former attorney who was convicted three years ago of murdering his wife and son. Murdoch's defense team argues that a court clerk tampered with the jury in the original murder trial. This is NPR News. Gunshots were heard Wednesday at the Philippine Senate, where authorities had been trying to arrest a sitting senator wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes against humanity during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte. It was unclear who fired first. This week, judicial police in the Philippines had been trying to detain Senator Ronald De La Rosa, who'd been sheltered by allies after fleeing officers inside the Senate and taking refuge in his office.
The ICC issued a warrant for his arrest. De La Rosa is a former national police chief under Duterte. The Eurovision Song Contest launched today in Vienna, Austria. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports on the geopolitical rifts that are casting a shadow over the annual extravaganza.
The 2026 Eurovision entry from Israel performed by Noam Betan is sung in three languages, English, Hebrew and French, to both reflect the artist's multilingual background and potentially increase the song's international appeal.
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