China's Xi accepts invitation to Biden's climate summit
21 April 2021
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend President Biden's virtual climate summit on Wednesday, according to China's foreign ministry.
Why it matters: It'll mark the first time the two leaders have met face to face — albeit virtually — since Biden took office. China and the U.S. are the world's two largest carbon emitters.
The big picture: During a visit to Shanghai by special climate envoy John Kerry last weekend, the U.S. and China agreed to work together to tackle global climate change, including by "raising ambition" for emissions cuts during the 2020s.
- The cooperation reflects the reality that climate action cannot be effective without the participation of the two world's largest economies.
- The virtual summit will take place under the backdrop of an increasingly fraught U.S.-China relationship, with tensions running high over Hong Kong, threats to Taiwan, the origins of the coronavirus and the human rights situation in Xinjiang — where the U.S. has accused China of carrying out a genocide.
Go deeper: What to expect from this week's White House climate summit
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.