A Baltimore paperboy sold newspapers on the cities and streetcars of Baltimore in 1914, likely for one or two cents each. Along the way, he collected baseball cards of Baltimore Orioles players included in that day’s paper.

He treasured them — particularly one of George Herman Ruth, a 19-year-old pitcher for the minor league Orioles — for years, eventually passing them on to his son. That Ruth card is now one of only a handful still around. And soon, it will be auctioned for the first time since it was issued 109 years ago.

It’s expected to fetch at least several million dollars and could potentially compete for the title of priciest baseball card ever, a record currently held by a Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $12.6 million last year.

Archibald Davis, the paperboy who was 16 years old at the time, grew up to play semiprofessional baseball and later passed the cards down. Glenn Davis, Archibald’s grandson, remembered playing with them as he grew up in Towson in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Certainly, had we known how valuable they would become, we would have handled them with more care,” Glenn wrote in an email to The Baltimore Sun.

After a century of ownership, including many years in which the card was on loan at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore, the Davis family sold the cards to a private collector in 2021. That collector is now auctioning it off beginning Friday in what is expected to draw eye-popping bids as one of the most expensive cards ever sold.

First off, the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth card is rare. Issued in both red and blue, there are only 10 known to exist in either color. For comparison, there are at least 50 examples of the T206 Honus Wagner card, one of the most iconic and valuable cards of all time.

Secondly, the card is the first collectible of Ruth as a baseball player, issued before he’d ever played a Major League Baseball game. At the time, he was playing for his hometown team and listed as a “pitcher,” the position he first played for the Boston Red Sox before becoming a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees, changing baseball and becoming one of the country’s first athlete celebrities.

Before the two-week, online-only auction begins, the card will be displayed in Baltimore once more: The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum hosted a showing of the card Wednesday.

The card is the centerpiece of Robert Edward Auctions’ fall catalog. The auction house will start the bidding at $2.5 million, but it expects the card to fetch much more than that, likely becoming at least the second-most expensive card ever auctioned.

The Mantle rookie card, which was in mint condition and has the benefit of being auctioned just last year, is the only card to ever sell for more than $7.5 million. Brian Dwyer, the auction house’s president, thinks the Ruth card could reach or surpass $10 million because of its rarity and its unique provenance, having spent a century with one family. It could be many years, he projected, before another one of these 1914 cards is for sale.

“We believe that it has the potential to threaten the all-time record,” Dwyer told The Sun.

The Ruth card is not in mint condition, but Ruth’s esteemed place in sports history could make it tantalizing for wealthy sports collectors, a hobby that has skyrocketed in popularity — and in dollars spent — in recent years.

Before the past few years, a card being sold for millions was rare. Now, it’s becoming more commonplace.

“This is definitely rarefied air,” Dwyer said. “But if you look at all of the examples of cards that have commanded six, seven, 12 million dollars, none of them, in our opinion, has the significance of this Babe Ruth rookie card.”

The simple card features just Ruth’s last name on the front. When the card was issued, he was in the midst of acquiring his nickname, “Babe,” for his youthfulness.

On the back, it advertises the 1914 Orioles’ schedule against other International League teams — such as the Buffalo Bison, the Jersey City Skeeters and the Montreal Royals (the team Jackie Robinson would integrate decades later before breaking MLB’s color barrier).

The 2 5/8 inch-by-3 5/8 inch red card has spent much of the past quarter century on display at the museum near Camden Yards, first lent there by the Davis family in the 1990s. The Davis family decided to sell the card in 2021 and — despite an estranged relative challenging the family’s ownership, Glenn Davis said — moved forward with a sale.

The new owner, whose identity the auction house is keeping anonymous, agreed to keep the card on display at the museum until earlier this year.

The card is now in the care of Robert Edward Auctions in a secure, undisclosed location — “It is heavily fortified, we’ll put it that way,” Dwyer said — and will be until Dec. 3, when the auction ends and a new buyer will own the century-old keepsake. In addition to the Ruth card, the other 14 cards collected by Archibald Davis in 1914 will be auctioned in separate lots.

The museum has had one of the few other examples of the card, a blue one, on display since July (thanks to a loan from a different collector) and on Wednesday, the one up for auction, a red one, will accompany it at the museum.

“We’re going to bring the Babe back to Baltimore and give collectors the opportunity to see both the red and the blue example together,” Dwyer said, “so two of the 10 known will be together for a two-hour period.”

Katie Dick, the museum’s director of external affairs called it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The card must remain behind layers of high-security glass, secured with motion detectors. When traveling, the multimillion-dollar card — the same one Glenn Davis casually played with as a boy in Towson — has its own cadre of professional guards.

“This card has to have its own security detail,” Dwyer said. “This card has to travel with armed security. If you think about any movie you’ve seen where there’s armored cars and armored guards, this is worthy of that type of protection.”

People interested in seeing the card can do so by paying the normal admissions fee ($13 for adults, $11 for seniors/veterans, $7 for kids) to the museum. Also on display now is an exhibit featuring the late Brooks Robinson, which has one of his gloves, one of the first examples of a batting helmet, worn by him, plus his first contract with the Orioles from 1955.

Wednesday could be one of the card’s last public appearances for some time. But whichever deep-pocketed individual is able to next lay claim to the card, Glenn Davis hopes they’ll consider making the card accessible to others, as his family did.

“We hope that the future owner will consider having them available for public display,” he wrote. “They are beautiful and amazing historical sports artifacts. Something to be treasured by those who love the sport of baseball.”

©2023 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Tyler Burrow, 24, and Bailey Blunt, 28, were each reported missing by their families in late September. According to an October news release from the Humboldt County sheriff’s office, Blunt was last seen on Sept. 22 when she went to retrieve her belongings from a property associated with Burrow near the community of Willow Creek.

Two days later, her pickup truck was detected by license plate readers in Redding and in Central Point, Ore., the sheriff’s office said.

The arrest on the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 14, near Trail, Ore., came after a hunter who had been in the area contacted Blunt’s sister Steffany Baroni, who had been coordinating a public search, and told her of finding an encampment in the woods.

She passed that information on to sheriff’s investigators in Oregon’s Jackson County, she told the North Coast news site Redheaded Blackbelt, and they found Burrow near the site, about 30 miles north of Central Point.

They also found Blunt’s dog, Hank, and her pickup truck, which had been spray-painted black, Baroni said.

A search party that Blunt’s family had organized for Saturday, Nov. 18, has been called off, Baroni’s Facebook page says.

Anyone with information regarding Blunt’s whereabouts is asked to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251.

Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504.

Read the House committee’s report here:

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Blackstone Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman and Visa Inc. CEO Ryan McInerney will also join them at the soiree in San Francisco, according to people briefed on the matter. Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Bourla earlier confirmed he would attend the event, as he spoke on the sidelines of a summit that’s part of this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meetings.

Technology CEOs including Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon and Broadcom Inc.’s Hock Tan are also on the guest list, said the people, who asked not to be identified sharing details of a private event.

Xi will have the chance to talk up China’s economy to some of the world’s most-powerful foreign investors at the event, after a post-pandemic reopening expected to spur global growth failed to deliver. The Chinese leader will go into the dinner after wrapping an afternoon of talks with US President Joe Biden, aimed at stabilizing a tumultuous bilateral relationship that’s also troubled investors.

China is a major market for consumer electronics, accounting for about one-fifth of sales for Cupertino, California-based Apple. Qualcomm and Broadcom are among the world’s largest makers of chips for mobile phones, and their components are used in millions of handsets sold across China. Representatives of Apple, Qualcomm and Broadcom either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment.

China sees investment by international companies as key to upgrading its faltering economy and has stepped up efforts to attract foreign investors this year. Its tightening of national security controls and messaging that foreign actors pose spy risks, along with years of policy crackdowns, have left some skeptical of that message.

“The Chinese economy is clearly weakening. There’s no question,” said Derek Scissors, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “But if you need to stay in China, and you’re worried about your position because of Chinese government behavior, it’s even more important to be able to talk to Xi.”

Details around the dinner have been closely guarded. Its hosts, the National Committee on U.S.–China Relations and the US-China Business Council, had in recent days remained silent even over which Chinese leader would attend the event, as well as its location.

Shortly before the event — being held at a San Francisco hotel where crowds gathered in support and in protest of China — the official program was available to attendees: Xi would address the dinner following an introduction from Chubb Ltd. CEO Evan Greenberg, chair of the committee.

Representative Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, claimed at an anti-CCP rally on Saturday that attendees were paying $40,000 to sit at Xi’s table. The Chinese leader is also expected to deliver an address to the dinner.

A group of Xi’s “old friends” from Iowa have also been invited to the dinner, Bloomberg earlier reported. The group hosted Xi during a visit to the US to learn about agricultural practices some 38 years ago, when he was a little-known Chinese Communist Party official.

–With assistance from Fran Wang, Gabrielle Coppola, Aisha Counts, Dawn Lim, Silla Brush, Mark Gurman and Ian King.

(Adds details on program starting in ninth paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee in a scathing report Thursday said it has amassed “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking by Republican Rep. George Santos of New York that has been sent to the Justice Department, concluding flatly that he “cannot be trusted” after a monthslong investigation into his conduct.

Shortly after the panel’s report was released, Santos blasted it in a tweet on X as a “politicized smear” but said he would not be seeking reelection to a second term. He gave no indication, however, that he would step aside before his term ends next year, vowing to pursue his “conservative values in my remaining time in Congress.”

But a renewed effort to expel him from the House was quickly launched. The House could vote on his expulsion as soon as it returns from the Thanksgiving holiday later this month.

The panel said that Santos knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission, used campaign funds for personal purposes and violated the Ethics in Government Act with financial disclosure statements filed with the House.

“Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit,” an investigative subcommittee said in a 56-page report detailing its findings to the full Ethics Committee.

The ethics panel also detailed Santos’ lack of cooperation with its investigation and said he “evaded” straightforward requests for information. “Particularly troubling was Representative Santos’ lack of candor during the investigation itself,” the committee determined.

The panel tasked with investigating the allegations against Santos provided him the chance to submit a signed, written statement in response to the allegations made against him, to provide documents responsive to the panel’s request for information, and to provide a statement under oath. But he did not do so, the report said. The information that he did provide, according to the committee, “included material misstatements that further advanced falsehoods he made during his 2022 campaign.”

The committee’s investigative panel said that without Santos’ cooperation it was unable to verify whether some expenses reported by his campaign were legitimate. But certain expenses on their face did not appear to have a campaign nexus. For example, it cited $2,281 spent at resorts in Atlantic City and $1,400 spent at a skin spa for what one spreadsheet described as “Botox.”

The panel also identified a $3,332 expense for a hotel stay, though the campaign’s calendar indicated he was “off at the Hampton’s for the weekend.” And there were tax and hotel charges on the campaign credit card from Las Vegas, during a time Santos told his campaign staff he was on his honeymoon and there were no corresponding campaign events on the calendar.

The report says that an investigative subcommittee decided to forgo taking steps that would have led to a lengthy sanctions hearing by the full Ethics panel, after which the panel could make recommendations about punishment to the full House. Instead, it urged House members “to take any action they deem appropriate and necessary” based on the report.

The findings by the investigative panel may be the least of Santos’ worries. The congressman faces a 23-count federal indictment that alleges he stole the identities of campaign donors and then used their credit cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. Federal prosecutors say Santos, who has pleaded not guilty, wired some of the money to his personal bank account and used the rest to pad his campaign coffers.

Santos, who represents parts of Queens and Long Island, is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Election Commission that he had loaned his campaign $500,000 when he actually hadn’t given anything and had less than $8,000 in the bank. The fake loan was an attempt to convince Republican Party officials that he was a serious candidate, worth their financial support, the indictment says.

The Justice Department declined to comment about the ethics report, as did the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, which is handling the case against Santos.

Earlier this week, a former fundraiser for Santos pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge, admitting he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while raising campaign cash for the embattled New York Republican.

Santos easily survived a vote earlier this month to expel him from the House as most Republicans and 31 Democrats opted to withhold punishment while both his criminal trial and the Ethics Committee investigation continued. But the committee’s report could prove to be a gamechanger.

Rep. Susan Wild, for example, the ranking Democrat on the Ethics Committee, said she was no longer obligated to maintain neutrality because the committee’s work is now complete.

“I intend to vote yes on any privileged expulsion resolution that is brought forward,” Wild said.

Expulsion, the sternest form of punishment, has occurred just five times in the history of the House — three times during the Civil War for disloyalty to the Union and twice after convictions on federal charges, most recently in 2002.

If Santos were to be expelled, it would narrow the GOP’s already thin majority in the House, which now stands at 221-213. But many of his Republican colleagues from New York support booting Santos from the House as they seek to distance themselves from his actions.

While Santos now says he won’t seek reelection, his campaign was already woefully short on resources and candidates from both parties were scrambling at the chance to challenge him. Campaign records show he had about $28,000 on hand at the end of the fundraising quarter ending Sept. 30, an incredibly small sum for an incumbent.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of U.S. Rep. George Santos at https://apnews.com/hub/george-santos.

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Associated Press staff writers Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

All 30 owners of Major League Baseball voted Thursday morning in favor of approving the Oakland A’s relocation to Las Vegas.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is scheduled to meet with reporters later this morning after the vote’s completion at the owners’ meetings in Arlington, Texas.

The owners’ approval — it required 23 votes to pass — was the final step for A’s owner John Fisher as he looks to move his club 550 miles southeast, leaving the Bay Area behind after the team’s nearly-60-year run in Oakland.

If completed, it will mark the second relocation for an MLB team in the last 52 years, and the first since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C. to become the Nationals in 2005.

Las Vegas would become the fourth home for the A’s since the franchise began playing in Philadelphia in 1901. The A’s moved to Kansas City in 1955, then to Oakland to begin play in 1968. No other MLB franchise has had four different cities to call home.

“We are disappointed by the outcome of this vote,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement. “But we do not see this as the end of the road. We all know there’s a long way to go before shovels in the ground and that there are a number of unresolved issues surrounding this move.

“I have also made it clear to the commissioner that the A’s branding and name should stay in Oakland and we will continue to work to pursue expansion opportunities. Baseball has a home in Oakland even if the A’s ownership relocates.”

It remains undetermined when the A’s will leave Oakland, however.

The A’s proposed ballpark in Las Vegas wouldn’t open until 2028. The club secured $380 million in public funding from the Nevada legislature in June, and it is believed the A’s were finally able to provide their own private financing plan to reach the estimated $1.5 billion cost for a new retractable-roof stadium. But the A’s have not yet explained where they will play until the stadium is ready.

Club president Dave Kaval has publicly stated that the three most likely options would be to extend their lease in the Coliseum, share Oracle Park with the San Francisco Giants or borrow the A’s Triple-A stadium in Vegas, where the 10,000-seat ballpark would require renovations before it could earn the approval of the MLB Players Association.

If the A’s complete the move, it will put an end to the club’s years-long effort to get a new stadium built in the Bay Area.

It was back in 2001 that city officials began publicly discussing efforts for a new ballpark for the A’s. Over the next decade, ideas were tossed around about new ballparks in Oakland, Fremont and San Jose, but none came to fruition. When the A’s turned their attention inwards and thought about rebuilding on the Coliseum site, those efforts failed, too. They missed again when trying to build on land owned by Laney College.

Then there was the Howard Terminal project, a $12-billion plan to build a ballpark as well as both commercial and residential real estate on the waterfront.

Renderings were released and last September, an 82-page preliminary document plan was shared between the A’s and the city, according to the document released by Thao this summer.

Thao has said that the city raised more money than the A’s asked for to help fund the new stadium and off-site infrastructure. It didn’t matter. In April, the A’s announced that they were done negotiating with Oakland and had agreed on a deal to move the team to Las Vegas.

Kaval later explained to The Nevada Independent that the A’s didn’t think the Howard Terminal project would be complete for another 15 years. Thao responded by saying a stadium could’ve been fast-tracked with construction beginning in 18 months, while “a whole grand scheme” could’ve begun construction in two years.

The disconnection was crystal clear in July, when Thao flew to Seattle to have a secret meeting with Manfred, hoping she could convince him that the city did its part to get a stadium deal done. But over and over, Manfred and the other owners have contended that Oakland hasn’t been a realistic possibility.

Without a lease extension, the A’s will have one more season in 2024 to finish their relationship with the Coliseum, their home since 1968.

Thao has said she won’t extend the agreement without some guarantee from MLB that Oakland would receive an expansion franchise. It’s not unusual for a city to get a replacement team after losing its original club to relocation. MLB is hoping to add two expansion teams as soon as the A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays get new stadiums.

Manfred has not yet made any public remarks about the viability of Oakland as an expansion site.

An ownership group led by former A’s pitcher Dave Stewart is seen as a favorite to land an expansion team in Nashville, while Portland, Salt Lake City, Charlotte and Montreal are other cities said to be in contention.

There is no known ownership group trying to lead expansion efforts in Oakland, but Warriors owner Joe Lacob told the San Francisco Chronicle last year that he has had a standing offer to buy the A’s for a decade. Fisher has shown no desire to sell the team.

Stewart thinks time is running out if Oakland is going to be a viable expansion city.

“Expansion is moving,” he told the Bay Area News Group in September. “It’s not going to wait for a group out of Oakland to show themselves in 2025. It’s my belief by 2025, expansion will be down the road and Oakland will have missed out.”

For A’s fans hoping the team is forced to rethink its departure, the only hope remaining should rest in the hands of a Nevada teachers’ union.

“Schools over Stadiums,” a political arm of the teachers’ union, is pursuing two separate paths to restrict public funding from reaching the A’s. Tuesday, the union announced it was pursuing litigation against the Nevada legislature. The teachers argue that any bill increasing taxes must be passed with a two-thirds supermajority vote, but this bill did not reach that threshold. The teachers believe the bill is unconstitutional.

The union is also pursuing a petition that could create a referendum on the ballot next November, giving taxpayers a say in whether or not they’d like to fund Fisher’s stadium. If the teachers can find a way to stop the funding, it could delay the move to Las Vegas long enough to put the A’s in a bind.

A long shot, it might be. But at this point, it’s all that’s left for local baseball fans who aren’t ready to say goodbye.

SAN FRANCISCO  — Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that China will send new pandas to the United States, calling them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”

“We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” Xi said Wednesday during a dinner speech with business leaders.

The gesture came at the end of a day in which Xi and President Joe Biden held their first face to face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions. Xi did not share additional details on when or where pandas might be provided but appeared to suggest the next pair of pandas are most likely to come to California, probably San Diego.

The bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Later, Beijing loaned the pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going back to panda conservation programs.

The National Zoo’s three giant pandas, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji, eight days ago began their long trip to China. After their departure, only four pandas are left in the United States, in the Atlanta Zoo.

“I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas, and went to the zoo to see them off,” Xi said in his speech. He added that he learned the San Diego Zoo and people in California “very much look forward to welcoming pandas back.”

Xi is in California to attend a summit of Indo-Pacific leaders and for his meeting with Biden. He made no mention of the pandas during his public remarks earlier in the day as he met with Biden.

But relations showed signs of stabilization as Xi traveled to San Francisco to meet with Biden. The two men met for about four hours Wednesday at the picturesque Filoli Historic House & Garden, where they agreed to cooperate on anti-narcotics, resume high-level military communications and expand people-to-people exchanges.

The National Zoo’s exchange agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association had been set to expire in early December and negotiations to renew or extend the deal did not produce results.

The San Diego Zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year.

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Associated Press writer Ashraf Khalil in Washington contributed to this report.

A Taylor Swift themed cruise is setting sail in 2024. The fan sponsored event organized by Marvelous Mouse Travels will take Swifties on a Royal Caribbean cruise sailing from the port of Miami to Nassau, Bahamas. According to a post by event organizers in the Facebook group for the Taylor Swift themed cruise, because of limited capacity they are operating on a waitlist model, showcasing the impact a Swift theme can have on businesses.

This experience is a chance for Swifties to make the friendship bracelets yet again, connect with other fans and make memories to hold onto.

Related: ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ is one of the greatest concert films of all time

Here’s what you need to know:

When is it?

The 5 day/4 night cruise departs on Oct. 21, 2024 from Miami, Florida and returns on Oct. 25.

How much is it?

Originally, prices were advertised from $1,573-$1,967 depending on your room for the 4 night stay onboard the Allure of the Seas. However, Jessica Malerman, one of the event organizers, shared in the Facebook group that this price has changed because they got additional rooms from Royal Caribbean to accommodate the demand and that the new rates are slightly higher. There are three room options available; Interior, Boardwalk Balcony and Oceanview Balcony.

What’s included?

For meals, dinner is included in the main dining room, as well as some buffet and a la carte options on board. Entertainment such as stage shows, game shows and karaoke.

For an additional fee, there are premium add-ons guests can choose from including speciality dining, beverage packages, and excursions.

What is the itinerary for Swifties?

As far as travel goes, after departing the Port of Miami on day one, the second day will be spent at Coco Cay which is Royal Caribbean’s private island. Day three is spent in Nassau, Bahamas. The fourth day is at sea before returning to the Port of Miami on day five.

Who is organizing it?

Marvelous Mouse Travels is organizing the “In My Cruise Era” event. The group began in 2014 and this year became a Disney Diamond Earmarked Agency. Additionally, it is a Preferred Universal Agency, Presidents Club at Travel Leaders Network, Mark Travel 500 Club, and a Preferred Sandals Agency. It is not endorsed or affiliated with TASRM or Taylor Swift.

The Taylor Swift Fan Cruise is being led by three travel agents, Jessica Malerman, Nicole Rivera and Shelby Reyes, who are also Taylor Swift fans.

Because of capacity restrictions, only those who book with Marvelous Mouse Travels are guaranteed to participate in the Eras-themed events the group is organizing.

Will Taylor Swift be there?

Taylor Swift is not affiliated with the cruise so it is unlikely that she will attend. However, if you want a chance to see her before the cruise sets sail, you could visit Miami a few days before. Swift is performing for three nights at the Hard Rock Stadium from Oct. 18-20.

President Joe Biden hailed his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Wednesday as the two agreed to take steps to curb fentanyl production and restore military communication during their summit.

The results, which were expected ahead of the talks, amount to progress in improving the still-tense US-China relationship. During a news conference following the summit, Biden said the negotiations with Xi were “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had.”

“We haven’t always agreed,” Biden said, but his talks with Xi are always “straightforward.”

Biden had aimed to use the meeting to put the US-China relationship on steadier footing after months of tension between the two superpowers. Ahead of the talks, US officials were careful to manage expectations, saying they did not expect a long list of outcomes or even a joint leaders’ statement, as is customary after such summits. The primary objective for the talks appeared to be the restoration of channels of communication, principally through the military, to avoid the type of miscommunication or miscalculation US officials fear could lead to open conflict.

Biden said China agreed to go after companies who produce precursor chemicals to fentanyl, the powerful narcotic that has fueled a drug crisis in the United States. The US will watch closely to see if China follows up on the commitments made in the summit.

The president said the agreement from China to reduce precursor chemicals for fentanyl would “save lives” and said he appreciated Xi’s commitment on the issue.

Xi also agreed to mechanisms that would address potential military miscalculations, and agreed to forums for the two sides to present their concerns.

Senior Biden administration officials said leading up to Wednesday’s summit that their Chinese counterparts had been “reluctant” over the past few months to agree to re-establishing military-to-military communications.

But it was an issue that Biden himself and his top advisers like Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin raised in “nearly every conversation we’ve had with the Chinese,” as the US tried to underscore that it was “absolutely critical” that this channel be re-opened.

US officials said that the Chinese spy balloon incident, in particular, underscored the importance of military-to-military communications.

Trying to keep tension from tipping into conflict

Despite a deep and apparently warm personal relationship cultivated during their time as vice presidents – Biden wished Xi’s wife a happy birthday at one point during the summit, with the Chinese leader thanking him for the reminder – the two men have overseen a deterioration in US-China relations to the lowest level in decades.

The talks in California were “very direct” and included more back-and-forth discussion between the two men than their meeting a year ago, a senior US official said. The US president was “very direct” with Xi on a number of topics, the official said, while Xi also raised his concerns about rhetoric inside the United States about China.

Pressed on whether he trusts Xi, Biden said, “Trust but verify, as the old saying goes. That’s where I am,” describing the relationship between the US and China as “competitive.”

“My responsibility is to make this rational and manageable so it doesn’t result in conflict. That’s what I’m all about. … To find a place where we can come together and where we find mutual interest, and most importantly, in the interest of the American people. And that’s exactly what we’ll do,” he said.

According to readouts provided by US officials and Chinese state media, it appeared both leaders were very frank with one another.

Xi at one point called on the United States to “not scheme to suppress or contain China,” Chinese state media reported.

“China has no plans to surpass or unseat the United States, and the United States should not scheme to suppress or contain China,” Xi said, according to a readout released by China’s state news agency Xinhua.

The men had a “substantial” exchange on Taiwan and Xi made clear that concerns over the island were the biggest and most dangerous issue in US-China relations. Xi said China’s preference was for peaceful reunification and laid out conditions under which use of force would be utilized. Biden responded by reiterating the US position was to maintain peace and stability in the region.

“President Xi responded: Look, peace is all well and good, but at some point we need to move towards resolution more generally,” the senior US official said. Xi also urged the US to stop arming Taiwan and support China’s “peaceful reunification,” according to a readout released by Xinhua.

In the meeting, the US asked China to respect Taiwan’s electoral process in the lead-up to a vote in January. Despite continuing concerns about China’s massive military buildup around Taiwan, American officials emerged from the meeting believing Xi was not preparing for a massive invasion.

“Look, I reiterated what I’ve said since I’ve become president, and what every previous president of late has said: That we maintain an agreement that there is a One China policy and that I’m not going to change that. That’s not going to change,” Biden told reporters traveling with him in San Francisco. “And so that’s about the extent to which we discussed it.”

Other areas of discussion

During an exchange over the war between Israel and Hamas, Biden did most of the talking and Xi mostly listened, a senior US official said. Biden encouraged Xi to use China’s leverage with Iran to warn against a wider escalation. In the talks, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said they’d already held discussions with the Iranians on the topic.

It remained unclear to Biden’s aides afterward how seriously Iran was taking China’s messages. In the talks, Biden made clear to Xi that he viewed Hamas as separate from the Palestinians.

In one exchange about restrictions the US has applied on technology exports to China, Xi likened the steps to “technological containment.” Biden responded directly to say the US was not going to provide technology to China that could be used militarily against it.

Biden also raised direct concerns to Xi about harassment of American businesses in China, the official said.

The two men discussed artificial intelligence, and agreed to work together moving ahead on the new technology.

And Biden told Xi it was important China be more transparent on nuclear issues, as it rapidly expands its arsenal.

Biden did not “pull any punches,” the official said, noting Xi experiences little pushback within the Chinese system, adding that the US president was “respectful” but “clear.”

A highly choreographed meeting

With conflicts raging in the Middle East and Europe as he prepares to fight for reelection, Biden hoped to prevent another crisis from exploding on his watch. He was not only looking to demonstrate to Americans – but also to Xi directly – why an improved relationship with Beijing is in everyone’s interests.

“I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication,” Biden told Xi as their talks got underway in a secluded estate south of San Francisco.

Speaking afterward, Xi offered his own view of the complex moment in US-China ties.

“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” he said.

The optics of the summit were carefully negotiated between the two sides and the formal welcome to the estate was highly choreographed. As host of the meeting, Biden walked out of the building first to welcome Xi. A red carpet had been rolled out, with Marine guards and flags from both countries. The Chinese president’s black sedan pulled up and stopped at the end of the carpet. Xi emerged with a smile and the two men shook hands, each grasping the others’ wrists.

As the meeting got underway, Biden told Xi it is essential the two men have a frank understanding of each other.

Biden said the leaders had a responsibility to their populations to work together, including on issues of climate change, countering narcotics trafficking and approaching artificial intelligence. He added competition between US and China could not tilt toward conflict.

“As always, there is no substitute to face-to-face discussions. I’ve always found our discussions straightforward and frank,” Biden said.

Speaking after Biden, Xi offered starker view of US-China ties.

“The China-US relationship has never been smooth sailing over the past 50 years and more, and it always faces problems of one kind or another. Yet it has kept moving forward amidst twists and turns,” he said through a translator.

“For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option,” he went on. “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.”

Seeming to reject Biden’s view of “competition” between the US and China, Xi said he was “still of the view that major country competition is not the prevailing trend of current times and cannot solve the problems facing China and the United States or the world at large.”

A political tight rope

The overtures have been extended in the other direction too, with China’s senior-most officials – including its foreign minister – traveling to the US to meet with their American counterparts. US officials said that working-level consultations had been established with Beijing on especially sensitive topics like arms control and maritime issues.

Sources familiar with those efforts say that Washington has seen signs in recent months that the Chinese are beginning to accept the wisdom of both countries working together to strengthen their lines of communication and mitigate misunderstandings.

Still, as Biden was preparing for Wednesday’s summit, Republicans questioned his decision to seek a meeting with Xi. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor seeking the GOP presidential nomination, claimed Biden had “begged” for the meeting.

Republicans on a House select committee on China sent Biden a letter spelling out areas they believe he must challenge Xi, including wrongful detention of Americans and the production of fentanyl.

Biden and his aides are acutely aware of the political backdrop for his meeting. Sullivan said Biden was “looking for … practical ways to show the American people that sitting down with Xi Jinping can defend American interests and also deliver progress on the priorities of the American people.”

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday adopted its first resolution since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza to address the escalating crisis for Palestinian civilians during Israel’s aerial and ground attacks.

The vote in the 15-member council was 12-0 with the United States, United Kingdom and Russia abstaining. The U.S. and U.K. abstained because of the resolution’s failure to condemn the Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas, and Russia because of its failure to demand a humanitarian cease-fire, which Israel and the United States oppose.

The final draft watered down language from “demands” to “calls” for humanitarian pauses, and for “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.”
Still, the resolution, which was sponsored by Malta, managed to overcome the serious differences that had prevented the council from adopting four previous resolutions.

In their Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and took some 240 others hostage. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which Gaza’s health ministry says have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia tried unsuccessfully to amend the resolution just before the vote with language from a resolution adopted Oct. 27 by the 193-member General Assembly. It calls for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”

The vote on the amendment was five countries in favor, the U.S. opposed, and nine abstentions. It was not adopted because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes.

United Arab Emirates Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the Arab representative on the council, said its members supported the resolution, which she said will change the world’s perception that the Security Council “is indifferent.”

“This is a first, important and overdue step,” she said, stressing that it must be followed by work toward a lasting humanitarian cease-fire.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan issued a statement saying the resolution “is disconnected from reality and is meaningless.”

He criticized the council’s failure to condemn Hamas, claiming the militants were deliberately allowing the humanitarian situation to deteriorate so the United Nations would pressure Israel to back off of Gaza.

“It will not happen,” Erdan said. “Israel will continue to act until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned.”

U.N. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, unlike General Assembly resolutions, but in practice many parties choose to ignore the council’s requests for action.

Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group, said the Security Council has called for cease-fires in wars from the Balkans to Syria “with little or no impact.”

The General Assembly resolution was approved on Oct. 27 by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. Since then, Israel agreed Nov. 9 to four-hour pauses. But only limited aid has been delivered to Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt, and a humanitarian catastrophe has been brewing.

“The resolution is drafted in a way that puts no real political pressure on Israel, but the U.S. will likely urge Israel to show more flexibility on aid issues to satisfy global opinion,” Gowan told The Associated Press. “The council will not move from this text to a call for a cease-fire, unless facts change significantly on the ground.”

The resolution calls for humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a “sufficient number of days” for unhindered access by the U.N., Red Cross and other aid groups to get water, electricity, fuel, food and medical supplies to all those in need. It says the pauses also should allow for repair of essential infrastructure and enable urgent rescue and recovery efforts.

The resolution demands that “all parties comply with their obligations under international law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians, especially children.”