hello and welcome. the french president emmanuel macron and the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, are in beijing, where they re holding talks with the chinese leadership. the trip is the latest push by europe to engage with china, and they re expected to urge china to use its influence on russia to halt the war in ukraine. after meeting with china s premier li qiang preident macron has met president xi xingping in the last half hour. in his first comments, mr macron said the visit would focus on economic ties as well as international stability. joining me from the newsroom is our asia pacific editor, michael bristow. thank you for being with us. tell us how significant this meeting is. it is very significant, you have seen the pomp and ceremony of the welcome xijinping has given emmanuel macron and it starts on a note of something like optimism. president macron said his meetings with the chinese premier, president macron said this was a chance f
you re with bbc news, live from london. french president emanuel macron meets with president xijinping in beijing france faces another day of pension protests after talks between unions and the government break down here in the uk: serving london metropolitan police officers are moved from tackling serious crime to investigating wrongdoing in the force. we go behind the scenes with exclusive access in one of the uk s first gambling treatment centre for women. and a study of ancient norwegian ice suggests antarctica s glaciers could retreat faster than expected.