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Tensions over Taiwan, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are likely topics for a call expected this week between US President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping, the White House said on Tuesday (Jul 26), Reuters reported.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that managing economic competition between the two countries would also be a focus of the call, which Biden said on Monday is expected later this week.

It will be the fifth call between the leaders, and comes as China has delivered heightened warnings to the Biden administration about a possible visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to democratically governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

“Everything from the tensions over Taiwan, to the war in Ukraine, as well as how we better manage competition between our two nations, certainly in the economic sphere,” Kirby said of the topics to be discussed.

“This is a call that has been scheduled for a long time and there’s already a pretty robust agenda of things for these two leaders to talk about,” he said.

Under its one-China policy, the United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is bound by US law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. The White House has been quick to reiterate that stance has not changed despite speculation over a possible trip by Pelosi, according to Reuters.

Kirby said that Pelosi is in the line of succession to the presidency and as such, her overseas travel was a matter of US national security. But only she could make decisions about her travel.

“Bellicosity” in rhetoric from Beijing over the potential trip only escalates tensions, he said.

“We find that unhelpful and certainly not in the least bit necessary given the situation,” he said.

The administration has been debating whether to lift some tariffs on Chinese goods as a way to boost the US economy, but Kirby said a decision was not expected ahead of the call.

Biden could head into the call with momentum if the US Congress passes legislation to provide about US$52 billion in subsidies for the US semiconductor industry, as well as an investment tax credit for chip plants estimated to be worth US$24 billion, which Biden has urged as crucial for competing with China economically.

The Senate is expected to vote on final passage in coming days and the US House could follow suit as soon as later this week, Reuters reported.

More than 200 people have been killed in gang violence in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, in the space of 10 days, United Nations figures reveal, BBC reported.

Almost half of those who died were residents without ties to the gangs which are fighting for control of the Cité Soleil neighbourhood, the UN says.

Locals say they are running out of drinking water and food as deliveries have been halted amid the shoot-outs. 

One resident described his life as "a cycle of fear, stress and despair".

Gang violence had already shot up since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by mercenaries a year ago, but it has reached shocking new levels since a battle erupted on 8 July between two criminal alliances, known as G9 and G-Pèp.

The UN says that 209 people were killed between 8 and 17 July, of which 114 were gang members. A further 254 people have sustained gunshot wounds, more than half of them residents without links to the gangs. 

A youth leader from Brooklyn, the area within the sprawling Cité Soleil neighbourhood which has been worst hit by the fighting, described how his life had changed, according to BBC.

"I go to bed and wake up to the sound of gunfire, which is very stressful. But even if the shooting terrifies me, I try to use the rhythmic sounds of bullets being fired to lull me to sleep; this is the only way I can survive," the young man told the UN.

"Sometimes you can use music to escape the constant shooting noise, but not when shots are being fired so close to your house; it's just too loud," said the man, who withheld his real name for security reasons. 

About 3,000 residents have been forced to flee. Many have nothing to go back to after their homes were destroyed or burned down by the gangs. 

Others do not dare leave their homes for fear of being killed by stray bullets.

With fuel, food and drinking water supplies disrupted, the World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund have started delivering aid directly to the most vulnerable people in Cité Soleil, BBC reported.

Hundreds of children have also taken refuge at a high school in the capital. 

The youth leader from Cité Soleil said he hoped the violence would stop so he could return to his work bringing together young people from areas controlled by rival gangs to play sports together.

European Union members have agreed to cut gas use in case Russia halts supplies but some countries will have exemptions to avoid rationing, BBC reported.

EU members, locked in talks since the idea was suggested last week, have now agreed to voluntarily reduce 15% of gas use between August and March.

"This was not a Mission Impossible!", tweetedthe Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

However, the deal was watered down after previously not having exemptions.

The EU has said its aim from the deal is to make savings and store gas ahead of winter, warning that Russia is "continuously using energy supplies as a weapon".

The voluntary agreement would become mandatory if supplies reach crisis levels.

However, some countries not connected to the EU's gas pipe lines, such as Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, would be exempt from any mandatory gas reduction order as they would not be able to source alternative supplies.

Elsewhere the Baltic nations, which are not hooked up to the European electricity system and are heavily reliant on gas for electricity production are also exempt from compulsory targets in order to avoid the risk of an electricity supply crisis.

Countries can also ask to be exempt if they exceed gas storage filling targets, if they are heavily dependent on gas for "critical" industries, or if their gas consumption has increased by at least 8% in the past year compared to the average of the past five years.

Nathan Piper, an oil and gas analyst for Investec, said there is a "high political and economic price" as the EU looks to reduce its dependence on Russian gas - and that price was being reflected in the exemptions for members, which would likely reduce the impact of the measures, according to BBC.

But Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, said initial calculations indicated that even if all exemptions to ration were used, the EU as a whole would still reduce demand to a level "that would help us safely through an average winter".

She also outlined work to boost alternative gas supplies from countries including Azerbaijan, the United States, Canada, Norway, Egypt and Israel.

Ahead of the deal announcement, Germany's Economy Minister Robert Habeck said: "Of course there are a lot of compromises in this text now. This is how Europe works."

Mr Habeck said a "problem might occur" that all the exemptions cause "too much bureaucracy so that we are too slow in times of crisis", but he added the exemptions were "reasonable".

Hungary was the only member to oppose the deal, BBC reported.

A member of Viktor Orban's inner circle has resigned after the Hungarian prime minister spoke out against becoming a "mixed race". 

Zsuzsa Hegedus, who has known the nationalist Mr Orban for 20 years, described the speech as a "pure Nazi text", according to Hungarian media, BBC reported.

The International Auschwitz Committee of Holocaust survivors called the speech "stupid and dangerous".

Mr Orban's spokesman said the media had misrepresented the comments. 

The speech took place on Saturday in a region of Romania which has a large Hungarian community.

In it, Mr Orban said European peoples should be free to mix with one another, but that mixing with non-Europeans created a "mixed-race world". 

"We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed-race," he said. 

Mr Orban's anti-migration views are well known, but for Ms Hegedus Saturday's speech crossed a line. 

"I don't know how you didn't notice that the speech you delivered is a purely Nazi diatribe worthy of Joseph Goebbels," she wrote in her resignation letter, according to the Hungarian hvg.hu news website.

Goebbels was the head of Adolf Hitler's propaganda ministry, according to BBC.

Hungary's largest Jewish group also condemned the speech and called for a meeting with Mr Orban.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rumoured plan for a trip to Taiwan has infuriated China and left the White House with a serious geopolitical headache. How big a problem is this?

On Monday, China warned of "serious consequences" if Nancy Pelosi were to proceed with a visit to Taiwan in the coming weeks, BBC reported.

Second in line to the presidency, Mrs Pelosi would be the highest ranking US politician to travel to the self-governing island democracy since 1997.

However, China sees self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be part of the country again - and has not ruled out the possible use of force to achieve this.

The potential trip has not only rankled Beijing - the Biden administration has reportedly tried to dissuade the California Democrat from going.

Last week, President Joe Biden told reporters "the military thinks it's not a good idea", but his White House has called Chinese rhetoric against any such trip "clearly unhelpful and not necessary".

The state department says Mrs Pelosi has not announced any travel and the US approach to Taiwan remains unchanged, according to BBC.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Thapaliya hinted that the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly will be held on November 20.

During a press conference organized by the Election Commission on Tuesday, he said that it would not be surprising if the next meeting of the Cabinet announced the date of November 20 for the elections.

He said that the expenses may increase in the elections.

Saying that the poll body had printed 20 billion ballot papers for the local level elections, Thapaliya said that 80 million ballot papers should be printed for the upcoming elections.

The Chief Election Commissioner said that the Election Commission has already started internal preparations for the elections.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday went to the office of the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi for the second round of questioning in connection with the National Herald-money laundering case, Hindustan Times reported.

As part of the planned protest, Congress MPs marched from the Gandhi Statue on the Parliament premises towards Vijay Chowk. Several of them, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ranjeet Ranjan, KC Venugopal, Manickam Tagore, Imran Pratapgarhi and K Suresh were detained during the march.

Before being detained, Rahul said discussions are not allowed inside Parliament, while MPs are arrested out for protesting. “All (Congress) MPs came here. They talked about inflation, unemployment. They (Police) are not allowing us to sit here. Discussions are not allowed inside (the Parliament) and here they are arresting us,” the Wayanad MP was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The Congress leadership has planned a ‘satyagrahs’ (peaceful protests) across the national capital and elsewhere in protest against the interrogation. The Delhi Police has denied the party permission to agitate at the Raj Ghat and imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the area.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied their mother to the ED office. Rahul Gandhi has been questioned extensively in the same case recently.

Congress MPs met at the office of Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Parliament premises and are likely to stage a march towards the ED office to protest against the questioning.

Workers of the All India Mahila Congress have begun their stir outside the party headquarters in Delhi.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said the central is trying to harass Opposition leaders and his party will fight against it. “They’re trying to harass Opposition leaders, we’ll fight it. We’re with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. You can’t harass us anymore.”

Gandhi was earlier questioned for a few hours on Thursday last week and Congress leaders had staged a protest across the country. Party MPs had also courted arrest in Delhi against her questioning, according to Hindustan Times.

The ED probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper.

Nepal recorded 638 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 215 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 400 returned positive. Likewise, 2, 840 people underwent antigen tests, of which 238 tested positive.

As of today, there are 3, 714 active cases in the country.