AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

The exchange at a highly anticipated summit in Beijing underscored just how far apart Trump and Xi remain on thorny issues, including the war in Iran, trade disputes and Washington's relations with Taiwan, which is self-ruled but which China claims as part of its territory.

It also suggested that Trump’s three-day visit to China is likely to be longer on pageantry and symbolism than substantive political or economic breakthroughs.

The pair met for about two hours behind closed doors at the Great Hall of the People after an elaborate welcome ceremony featuring booming cannons, a band playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and China’s national anthem, and hundreds of school children waving flowers and American and Chinese flags.

According to a post on X by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.”

Ship is reported seized off the coast of the UAE and is heading toward Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ship anchored off the east coast of the United Arab Emirates has been seized and is heading toward Iranian waters, the British military said Thursday.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said it received reports that the vessel was taken by unauthorized personnel while anchored 38 nautical miles (70 kilometers, 44 miles) northeast of the UAE port of Fujairah, near the Strait of Hormuz.

The seizure comes as U.S. President Donald Trump was meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a much-anticipated visit to Beijing. The leaders' talks are expected to focus on the war with Iran, which has seriously disrupted trade in oil, gas and other products and rattled the global economy.

It happened hours after Israel said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had quietly visited the UAE during the Israeli-U.S. war with Iran, though the UAE swiftly denied that any secret visit had occurred.

The Gulf nation normalized relations with Israel in 2020. Iran has criticized that agreement and has repeatedly suggested over the years that Israel maintained a military and intelligence presence in the UAE.

Russia hammers Ukraine with drones and missiles as Trump meets Xi in China

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive Russian drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine that began before dawn Thursday demolished an apartment block in Kyiv, the capital city where four people were killed and 33 wounded, authorities said. Other cities across the country also reported damage and casualties.

Russia fired ballistic and cruise missiles in the mass attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centers since the start of Wednesday.

Thursday was the third straight day that Russia hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks following a May 9-11 ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to heed. Fighting continued over those 72 hours, although reportedly at a reduced intensity.

Russia appeared to be flexing its military muscle in a show of force with its latest aerial onslaughts on Ukraine. Its attacks undercut recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the more than four-year war, which began with Moscow's all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, is nearing its end.

Ukrainian officials noted that the attack coincided with Trump’s trip to China for a summit. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the bombardment proved that Moscow posed a threat to the international security that Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are trying to secure.

Asian stocks are mixed as investors watch takeaways from Trump-Xi summit

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Thursday and Chinese stocks traded lower after Wall Street set more records, as investors closely monitored takeaways from U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Trump met with Xi at the Great Hall of the People and they talked about U.S.-China relations and Taiwan, but analysts did not expect major breakthroughs.

U.S. futures edged higher.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was down 1% to 62,654.05, after briefly reaching another all-time intraday record at above 63,700, partly supported by robust corporate results. South Korea’s Kospi closed 1.8% higher at 7,981.41 at a fresh record helped by technology-related stocks on the artificial intelligence boom.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 1.5% to 4,177.92. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1% to 26,426.06.

Prosecutors to retry Alex Murdaugh in deaths of wife and son after high court overturned convictions

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions and life sentence for the deaths of his wife and son were overturned Wednesday by the South Carolina Supreme Court because the court clerk at his trial suggested he was guilty.

But the disgraced lawyer won’t be leaving prison anytime soon.

Prosecutors say they plan to retry Murdaugh, which likely means there will be another lengthy trial for the case that because of the combination of money, power, Southern accents and treachery has become a true crime sensation with several streaming miniseries, best selling books and dozens of true crime podcasts.

Murdaugh, 57, will remain in prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients and currently is serving a 40-year federal sentence at the same time as a 27-year state sentence for his financial crimes.

Prosecutors haven't closed the door on appealing the ruling, but said Wednesday they are concentrating on aggressively seek to try Murdaugh again on the murder charges preferably sometime in 2026. State Attorney General Alan Wilson saying he respected the court's decision but no one is above the law.

Kouri Richins, author of a children’s book on grief, gets life sentence for killing her husband

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband will serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Kouri Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing her husband Eric Richins’ cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich.

Judge Richard Mrazik said Richins is “simply too dangerous to ever be free” when handing down the sentence on the day that her husband would have turned 44.

Her attorneys said they will appeal the conviction and sentence. Richins has been adamant in maintaining she is innocent, saying Wednesday that the verdict was “an absolute lie.”

Richins stood at the podium in a lime-green jail uniform as she asked her sons, who were not present in court, “Please just don’t give up on me.” She encouraged them to always “be like your dad.”

Somalia is in a deadly drought again. Most humanitarian aid isn't there this time

PUNTLAND, Somalia (AP) — Most of Abdi Ahmed Farah’s hundreds of goats have died. It has not rained steadily in this part of Somalia for three years, something the 70-year-old never thought possible.

He is in debt from buying water. The reservoir outside his tent is nearly empty. His family is down to one meal a day: rice with sugar and oil. The youngest of his 22 children was born three weeks ago and his wife produces only occasional drops of breast milk.

“I have considered abandoning my family because I cannot provide for them,” said Farah, sitting in front of dwindling food supplies, as if on guard.

Yet another drought is affecting millions of people across Somalia, one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate shocks. Some rivers are dry. Crops have withered. Experts say the drought could be among the worst in Somali history.

The crisis is compounded by aid cuts, most dramatically by the Trump administration, and rising prices from the Iran war. Somalia buys most of its fuel from the Middle East, and 70% of its food is imported.

Dust storms and lightning kill at least 96 people in northern India

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Dust storms, heavy rain, and lightning damaged homes and other structures and killed at least 96 people in northern India, officials said Thursday.

The storms also injured more than 50 people as they swept across several districts late Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.

Officials said some deaths were caused by falling trees, collapsing structures and lightning. Police and disaster response teams used chainsaws and cranes to clear fallen trees from roads and railway tracks in several districts.

Storms are common in northern India during the hot season from March to June, before the annual monsoon rains arrive.

Narendra N. Srivastava, an administrative official, said emergency teams were deployed across the affected areas and that homes, crops and power infrastructure were widely damaged, particularly in rural districts.

Doctor on ship who helped care for passengers with hantavirus leaves medical isolation unit

An oncologist traveling on the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak has been cleared to leave a special biocontainment unit in Nebraska, where he was the lone American placed in isolation after he helped care for fellow passengers who became sick on board.

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld of Bend, Oregon, was among more than 120 passengers and crew evacuated from the ship and flown to different countries to enter quarantine. Kornfeld was brought to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha with 15 other Americans, but he was the only one taken to an isolated biocontainment unit after a nasal swab he took on the ship produced inconclusive results about whether he had the virus.

On Wednesday, the hospital announced that Kornfeld will now join the 15 other Americans who were taken for monitoring at the National Quarantine Unit, instead of the biocontainment unit, according to hospital spokesperson Kayla Thomas.

Kornfeld appeared on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” on a video call from his hospital room Tuesday, saying, “I feel wonderful, 100%."

He said there was a period on the ship when he came down with flu-like symptoms including night sweats, chills and fatigue but he said he has no symptoms now.

Senate confirms Trump pick Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve, following Powell

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, bringing new leadership to the world's most powerful central bank at a fraught moment for the global economy.

Warsh, 56, a former top Fed official, was confirmed Wednesday in a largely party-line 54-45 vote and will replace Jerome Powell as chair at an unusually difficult time for the independent agency.

Inflation has topped the Fed’s 2% target for five years and is now rising faster because of spiking gas prices. The Fed’s interest rate-setting committee is divided and saw the most dissenting votes in more than three decades last month. And Powell, after years of personal attacks from Trump and an unprecedented Justice Department investigation, plans to remain on the Fed’s board even after his term as chair ends, potentially creating a competing power center.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a floor speech that it's critical that a Fed chair “understand not only the macro” but also “appreciate the microeconomy: and that’s the hardworking Americans, their jobs and their livelihoods.”

“Kevin Warsh is just such a person,” Thune said.