WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will have a rare virtual encounter this week as they gather online with other Pacific Rim leaders to chart a path to recovery out of the crisis brought on by the pandemic.

New Zealand is hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which culminates in a leader’s meeting on Saturday. Continued outbreaks of the coronavirus and related travel restrictions have confined the meeting to the virtual realm for a second straight year.

NEW YORK, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Four astronauts with the SpaceX Crew-2 mission returned to earth on Monday night via a splashdown off the coast of Pensacola in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The webcast by NASA shows that astronauts came out of the cabin in good condition following over six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum says it has compiled evidence of increasing government repression against Uyghur Muslims in China’s western Xinjiang region.

In a new report released Tuesday, the museum’s Center for the Prevention of Genocide says there is now “a reasonable basis” to believe that previously alleged crimes against humanity versus the Uyghurs are growing amid a concerted campaign to hide their severity.

KAPCIAMIESTIS, Lithuania, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Lithuania's parliament on Tuesday declared a state of emergency at the country's border with Belarus and at camps hosting migrants who arrived from there, a tally of votes showed.

The state of emergency, which begins at midnight local time (2200 GMT) in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday and is to last a month, allows border guards to use "mental coercion" and "proportional physical violence" to prevent migrants from entering Lithuania.

BEIJING, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- China has once again confirmed its consistency in furthering environmental protection efforts, and has shown the determination to take on the hardest issues in combating pollution with more ambitious goals.

In a recently issued circular, the country pledged in-depth efforts in the nationwide battle to prevent and control pollution, and detailed major targets for the improvement of its ecological environment, aiming to continuously reduce the total discharge of major pollutants over the coming years.

09 Nov 2021; MEMO: Several pictures of billboards advertising Al Jazeera are back in the streets of Cairo and are circulating around social media.

WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - More than 150 U.S.-trained Afghan pilots and other personnel, held in neighboring Tajikistan for nearly three months since escaping with their planes as the Taliban seized their country, were preparing to depart on Tuesday on a flight arranged by the U.S. government, two of the pilots and others close to them said.

The Afghans had spent a full day waiting at the airport in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, for a flight that appeared to have been delayed. They were hoping it would not be canceled and they would depart before the end of the day.

BEIJING, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- China believes there is wide room for global infrastructure cooperation and various initiatives don't have to counter or replace each other, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday.

Wang Wenbin made the remarks when asked to comment on the U.S. administration's plans to launch a global infrastructure program, which is intended to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative, according to media reports.

PRAGUE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Czech President Milos Zeman has asked opposition leader Petr Fiala to lead talks on forming a new government, the presidential office said on Tuesday, a next step in a handover of power to centre-right parties.

Fiala leads a coalition of five parties which together won the majority of votes in an Oct. 8-9 lower house election.

However, uncertainty has hung over talks on the formation of a new government as Zeman, 77, has been hospitalised since Oct. 10. He only addressed the election in a radio interview at the end of last week.

09 Nov 2021; MEMO: The head of the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, has said that the dismissal of Information Minister George Kordahi is the only way to solve the crisis in Lebanon-Gulf relations.

In an interview with MTV aired on Monday, the veteran Druze leader added that he is very patient with Hezbollah. The movement has, he said, "destroyed the homes" that Lebanese people have in the Gulf States. He also described Prime Minister Najib Mikati's performance as "excellent at this stage."

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian island north of Japan has become a testing ground for Moscow’s efforts to reconcile its prized fossil fuel industry with the need to do something about climate change.

More than two-thirds of Sakhalin Island is forested. With the Kremlin’s blessing, authorities there have set an ambitious goal of making the island — Russia’s largest — carbon neutral by 2025.

AMMAN, Nov 9 (NNN-PETRA) – Jordan yesterday, warned against the continued absence of serious and effective negotiations, to achieve a just and comprehensive peace, based on the two-state solution.

There is no alternative to the two-state solution that guarantees an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, said, during a meeting in the capital, Amman, with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland.

Safadi said that, Jordan will continue to exert efforts to reach the two-state solution.