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President Donald Trump said he has accepted an invitation from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit Beijing in April and that he reciprocated by inviting Xi for a state visit to the U.S. later next year. Trump made the announcement a few hours after he spoke with Xi on the phone on Monday morning, in which he said the two men discussed issues including Ukraine, fentanyl, and soybeans. The phone call came nearly one month after the two men met in person in the South Korean city of Busan. Our relationship with China is extremely strong! Trump said. Beijing, which announced the phone call first, said nothing about the state visits but said that the two leaders discussed trade, Taiwan and Ukraine. Xi told Trump in the phone call Monday that Taiwans return to mainland China is an integral part of the post-war international order, and he expressed hope for a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement over Ukraine, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. The conversation came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently said Japans military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its rule. Japan is an important ally of the U.S. in the region. The phone call also coincided with the latest push by the Trump administration to end the war in Ukraine. The Chinese, who in the past always pointed out that their leader picked up the call upon request, didnt say such for Mondays call. That means China called Trump, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center My best guest is China is worried about the escalation (in tensions) with Japan. The reference to Taiwan and the post-WWII order directly points to the spat with Japan over Taiwan, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center. They also talked about Ukraine. That is an issue China is interested in due to the new peace negotiation. China’s relations with Japan sour China-Japan relations have plunged to a new low following Takaichi’s remarks, with Beijing denouncing her words. Over the weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Japan crossed a red line that should not have been touched. Xi in the phone call said China and the U.S., which fought together during the war against fascism and militarism, should jointly safeguard the victory of World War II. The U.S. has taken no side on the sovereignty of the self-governed island but is opposed to the use of force to seize Taiwan. It is obligated by a domestic law to provide sufficient hardware to the island to deter any armed attack. Trump has maintained strategic ambiguity about whether he would send U.S. troops in case of a war in the Taiwan Strait. His administration has urged Taiwan to increase its defense budget. Earlier this month, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it received official notification that the Trump administration approved a US$330 million arms sales to Taiwan, including fighter jet parts. Beijing immediately protested the arms sale, saying it grossly violated the one-China principle, by which Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of Chinese territory. China deplores and opposes that, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said then. The two leaders also discussed the Ukraine crisis, the Chinese side said, with Xi saying the crisis should be resolved at its root. The Chinese leader stressed Beijing’s support for all efforts that are conducive to peace, according to the statement. However, western governments have accused Beijing of enabling the war through its industrial support for Moscow. Trump and Xi discussed trade Trump said he spoke with Xi about Fentanyl, Soybeans and other Farm Products, etc. We have done a good, and very important, deal for our Great Farmers and it will only get better, Trump wrote. Since he met Xi in Busan, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate, Trump said. In the call, Xi said the bilateral relationship has generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory following the Busan summit, and he said the two sides should strive to make more positive progress, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. It didn’t reveal any concrete agreements on matters such as purchases of American soybeans. Seung Min Kim and Didi Tang, Associated Press
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Two things that made massive cultural splashes this year Labubu and KPop Demon Hunters will fill the sky and streets of New York when the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade kicks off this year. Conan Gray and Lainey Wilson will bring the tunes. The Nov. 27 parade begins rain or shine on Manhattans Upper West Side and ends at Macys Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street, which serves as a stage and backdrop for performances. It will feature 34 balloons, four mini-balloons, 28 floats, 33 clown groups and 11 marching bands all leading the way for Santa Claus. Heres key things to know about the parade and how to watch it. What time does the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade start? It starts at 8:30 a.m. Eastern and airs at that time in all time zones. What channel is the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade on? It will be on NBC, available with an antenna or through cable and satellite providers. What if I want to stream it? For cord cutters, the parade is being simulcast on Peacock and an encore telecast begins at 2 p.m. EST/PST. A Spanish language simulcast will also be on Telemundo. Last year, more than 31 million people tuned in on NBC and Peacock, up 10% from the previous year and marking the biggest audience ever for the parade. Whats the weather going to be like? The Weather Channel predicts a high of 48 degrees and a partly cloudy day, with winds up to 13 mph. AccuWeather also predicts 48 degrees with intervals of clouds and winds at 12 mph. New York City law prohibits Macys from flying the full-size balloons if sustained winds exceed 23 mph or wind gusts are over 35 mph. Who are some of the stars performing? In addition to Gray and Wilson singing, Wicked star Cynthia Erivo will kick off the starry moving show. Audrey Nuna, EJAE and Rei Ami of HUNTR/X, the fictional girl group at the heart of the Netflix hit KPop Demon Hunters, will feature alongside Ciara, Foreigner, Lil Jon, Kool & the Gang, Busta Rhymes, Mickey Guyton and Teyana. An eclectic group of stars from ballet dancer Tiler Peck to YouTubes Hot Ones host Sean Evans will join the annual holiday kick-off. Broadway will be represented by cast members from Buena Vista Social Club, Just in Time and Ragtime, while the Radio City Rockettes will be there and some serious athletes three-time U.S. national champion figure skater Ilia Malinin and U.S Paralympian Jack Wallace. Alumni and students at LaGuardia High School in New York City the school featured in the movie and TV series Fame will help celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Chorus Line. Others on hand will be Alison Brie, Jewel, Debbie Gibson, Drew Baldridge, Matteo Bocelli, Colbie Caillat, Gavin DeGraw, Meg Donnelly, Christopher Jackson, Darlene Love, Roman Mejia, Taylor Momsen, Calum Scott, Shaggy, Lauren Spencer Smith and Luísa Sonza. Who is hosting the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade? For those watching on TV or computers, the trio of hosting stalwarts Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker from Today and their former colleague Hoda Kotb. On Telemundo, the hosts will be Andrea Meza, Aleyda Ortiz and Clovis Nienow. Kotb, who stepped down from Today in January, says working the parade was something she wanted to continue to do even after leaving the network, One was the Olympics and the other were these parades because theyre just such fun, this one especially. The timing is good this year for the Kotb family. Her youngest daughter, Hope, is obsessed with KPop Demon Hunters, maybe even more than with Taylor Swift or Labubu. This one is next level, Kotb jokes. Ive never seen anything like it honestly. Labubu does not hold a candle to KPop Demon Hunter’ stuff. What are the new balloons? This year, four new featured character balloons will debut, including Buzz Lightyear, Pac-Man, Mario from Super Mario Brothers and a 32-foot-tall (9.8-meter) balloon onion carriage featuring eight characters from the world of Shrek. KPop Demon Hunters will also be represented in the sky with the characters Derpy Tiger and Sussie. What about new floats? Several new floats will debut this year, including the first Pop Mart float, with Labubu, Skullpanda, Peach Riot, Dimoo, Molly, Duckoo and Mokoko. There will also be floats from Holland America Line, Lego, Lindt chocolates, Stranger Things featuring members of Foreigner, and a bunch of whimsical sheep trying to get to sleep courtesy of Serta. The fish-shaped snack Goldfish is returning to the parade with a tiny float that measures just 14 Goldfish crackers long. Is your state represented by any of the bands? The marching bands will hail from South Carolina, California, Texas, Arizona, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Santiago, Panama. The New York Police Departments marching band will also join. There will also be dancers and cheerleaders from Spirit of America Dance and Spirit of America Cheer. This story first moved on Nov. 3, 2025. It was also updated Nov. 18 to add additional details about the parade, new floats and other details and on Nov. 24 to add more details and quotes from Kotb. Mark Kennedy, AP entertainment writer
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Anthropic launched its newest model, Claude Opus 4.5, putting the company back atop the benchmark rankings for AI software coding. Opus 4.5 scores over 80% on the widely-used SWE-bench, which tests models for software engineering skill. Googles impressive Gemini 3 Pro, launched last week, briefly held the top score with 76.2%. Anthropics Claude product lead Scott White tells Fast Company that the model has also scored higher than any human on the engineering take-home assignment the company gives to engineering job candidates. Of course Opus 4.5 does a lot more than coding. Anthropic says Opus 4.5 is also the best model in the world for powering AI agents and for operating a computer, and that it’s meaningfully better than other models at tasks like deep research and working with slides and spreadsheets. Opus 4.5 also notched state-of-the-art (best) scores in several other key benchmarks, including Agentic coding SWE-bench Verified, Agentic tool use T-2 bench, and Novel problem solving ARC-AGI-2. A major challenge with applying AI in real-world work settings is the models ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity. White says Anthropic customers feel that Opus 4.5 is better than earlier models at dealing with uncertainty and handling trade-offs without a lot of hand-holding from human workers. Enterprise customers are increasingly using Anthropic models for office task automation, financial modeling, and document creation, White says. Customer Fundamental Research Labs reported 20% accuracy improvements and 15% efficiency gains on Excel automation tasks using the new model, he adds. Anthropic has been on a sprint for the past couple of months, releasing Claude Sonnet 4.5, Haiku 4.5, and new products including Claude Skills, Claude Code on the web, and industry-specific versions for financial services and life sciences. Opus 4.5 will become the new default model for subscribers of higher-end plans, and available as a drop-down menu option for Pro, Standard, Team, and Enterprise users. Its also available to developer customers via the company’s API, as well as via the Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex, and Microsoft Azure clouds. Anthropic says its also extending access to a beta version of the Claude plugin for Chrome, which has been in limited preview, to all Mac users. The company is also making Claude for Excel available to Mac Team and Enterprise users in beta, expanding beyond its previous invite-only research preview.
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