By KEN MORITSUGU, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as an “old friend” as the two held a series of meetings Tuesday at a time when their countries face both overlapping and differing challenges from the United States.

Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump’s unorthodox approach to the war has added a twist to the relationship but doesn’t appear to have fundamentally changed it.

Putin addressed Xi as “dear friend” and said that Moscow’s ties with Beijing are “at an unprecedentedly high level.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting at The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

In a sign of the importance China places on the relationship, their formal meeting was followed by tea with top aides at Zhongnanhai, the walled complex that is the center of power in China with residences and offices for its top leaders.

China announced after the talks that it would begin offering 30-day visa-free access to Russian travelers starting later this month.

The talks come the day after both attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the nearby Chinese city of Tianjin, and the day before a grand Chinese military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The Soviet Union was neutral for much of the war in Asia, but provided assistance to China in earlier fighting against invading Japanese forces in the 1930s. It also declared war on Japan in the waning days of World War II and sent troops over the border into Japanese-occupied northeastern China.

“We were always together then, we remain together now,” Putin said.

China says it is neutral in the Ukraine war but has provided an economic lifeline to Russia by continuing trade despite Western sanctions.

A memorandum was signed to build another natural gas pipeline to China, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in Beijing, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The Russian state gas company also signed agreements with a Chinese state energy company to increase deliveries via existing routes, the news agency said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a walk at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The U.S. and the European Union have also put sanctions on Chinese companies that they say have abetted Russia’s military industry.

“China and Russia face the same problem and must work together to jointly cope with the pressure from the U.S.,” said Li Xin, the director of the Institute of European and Asian Studies at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

China is also one of the main targets of Trump’s taxes on imports, though he has backed down from what was an escalating tariff war and his administration has begun negotiations with Beijing on a trade deal.

The summit of the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization brought Xi and Putin together with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held separate talks with both leaders on the sidelines of the Tianjin meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on India and the tone coming from the White House have pushed New Delhi closer to China and Russia, though Modi will not attend China’s military parade.

Xi has tried to position China as a leader of countries that feel disadvantaged by the U.S.-dominated, post-World War II order.

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At the Shanghai Cooperation summit and again in his meetings with Putin, he proposed an initiative to build “a more just and equitable global governance system.”

China doesn’t want to overturn the global order but change it so it better serves its interests, Li said.

“China and Russia do not yet have the power to change the world order but they are constantly pushing for reforms that benefit them,” he said.

Putin and Xi held a three-way meeting with Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa ahead of their talks. His landlocked country of grasslands and mineral resources is sandwiched between the two giants.

Putin said in opening remarks that the three countries are good neighbors, with a shared interest in developing ties.

In 2024, Putin made an official visit to Mongolia, where the government ignored calls to arrest him on an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the invasion of Ukraine.

Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu and researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press Business Writer

McDonald’s is cutting prices on some combo meals to woo back customers who’ve been turned off by the rising costs of grabbing a fast food meal.

The price drop may induce its rivals, who have run into some of the same pricing issues, to follow.

Starting Sept. 8, McDonald’s will offer Extra Value Meals, which combine select entrées like a Big Mac, an Egg McMuffin or a McCrispy sandwich with medium fries or hash browns and a drink. Prices will vary by location, but McDonald’s said Extra Value Meals will cost 15% less than ordering each of those items separately.

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To kick off the promotion, McDonald’s will offer an $8 Big Mac meal or a $5 Sausage McMuffin meal for a limited time in most of the country. Customers in California, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam will have to pay $1 more for those meals.

McDonald’s for years has seen a steady decline in visits from customers in the U.S. who have household incomes of less than $45,000 per year. CEO Chris Kempczinski said those consumers, and others, no longer see McDonald’s as a good value.

At a McDonald’s near the company’s Chicago headquarters, for example, a 10-piece Chicken McNugget meal costs $10.39.

Higher prices have been been a drag on sales. McDonald’s same-store sales – or sales at stores open at least a year – grew 2.5% in the April-June period, but that was mostly because of higher prices. Fast food visits by lower-income consumers dropped by double-digit percentages industrywide in the second quarter, McDonald’s said.

“Today, too often, if you’re that consumer, you’re driving up to the restaurant and you’re seeing combo meals priced over $10,” Kempczinski said during a conference call with investors in August. “That absolutely is shaping value perceptions in a negative way. So we’ve got to get that fixed.”

McDonald’s job has been made harder by prices that can vary widely around the country. In May 2024, after a post on X about a Big Mac meal in Connecticut that cost $18 went viral, McDonald’s called it an “exception” and noted that franchisees set prices for nearly all U.S. restaurants.

The company also blames higher costs. The average price of its menu items rose 40% between 2019 and 2024, McDonald’s said, to account for a 40% increase in the cost of labor, packaging and food.

But within a month, McDonald’s introduced a $5 Meal Deal, which combined a McDouble burger or a McChicken sandwich with small fries and a small drink. That deal proved so popular it was extended through this summer.

In January, McDonald’s added another promotion, letting customers buy a limited number of items for $1 if they bought one full-priced item. Those deals will remain alongside the Extra Value Menu for now, McDonald’s said.

Other chains are also seeking to grab the attention of potential customers. In late August, Domino’s launched its Best Deal Ever promotion, offering any pizza with any toppings for $9.99.

Overall U.S. fast food customer traffic fell nearly 1% in the second quarter, according to Revenue Management Solutions, a consulting company. The company said price increases were sharply lower than previous quarters, suggesting that chains are already offering more deals.

By VALERIE GONZALEZ, Associated Press

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration has started requiring parents looking to reunite with their children who crossed into the U.S. alone to show up for interviews where immigration officers may question them, according to a policy memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Legal advocacy groups say the shift has led to the arrest of some parents, while their children remain in U.S. custody. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not confirm that or answer questions about the July 9 directive, instead referring in a statement to the Biden administration’s struggles to properly vet and monitor homes where children were placed.

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and which takes custody of children who cross the border without a parent or legal guardian, issued the directive. The agency said the goal is to ensure that sponsors — usually a parent or guardian — are properly vetted.

The memo said sponsors must now appear in person for identification verification. Previously, sponsors could submit identity documents online. The directive also says “federal law enforcement agencies may be present to meet their own mission objectives, which may include interviewing sponsors.”

Neha Desai, managing director of human rights at the National Center for Youth Law, said the change provides U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a “built-in opportunity” to arrest parents — something she said has already happened.

Mary Miller Flowers, director of policy and legislative affairs for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said she knew of a case in which immigration officers arrested the father of a child under the age of 12 who had shown up for an identification check. “As a result, mom is terrified of coming forward. And so, this child is stuck,” Miller Flowers said.

Desai also said the interviews are unlikely to produce information authorities don’t already have. Vetting already included home studies and background checks done by Office of Refugee Resettlement staff, not immigration enforcement.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement said it communicates “clearly and proactively” with parents, telling them they may be interviewed by ICE or other law enforcement officials. It said parents can decline to be interviewed by ICE and that refusal won’t influence decisions about whether their children will be released to them.

“The goal is to ensure that every child is released to a stable and safe environment and fully vetted sponsors by ensuring the potential sponsor is the same individual submitting supporting documentation, including valid ID,” it said in a statement.

However, Desai is aware of a situation in which a sponsor was not notified and only able to decline after pushing back.

“We know of sponsors who are deeply, deeply fearful because of this interview, but some are still willing to go forward given their determination to get their children out of custody,” she said.

Trump administration points to Biden

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokesperson, issued a statement that did not address any arrests or mention the specific changes. Instead, she said the department is looking to protect children who were released under President Joe Biden’s administration.

A federal watchdog report released last year addressed the Biden’s administration struggles during an increase in migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021. The Trump administration has dispatched Homeland Security and FBI agents to visit the children.

Another recent change allows ICE to interview children while they are at government-run shelters. That took effect July 2, according to a separate directive that the Office of Refugee Resettlement sent to shelters, also obtained by the AP.

The agency said it provides legal counsel to children and that its staff does not participate in interviews with law enforcement. Child legal advocates say they get as little as one-hour notice of the interviews, and that the children often don’t understand the purpose of the interview or are misled by officers.

“If we don’t understand what the interview is for or where the information is going, are we really consenting to this process?” said Miller Flowers, with the Young Center.

Jennifer Podkul, chief of global policy at Kids in Need of Defense, said some officers lack language skills, trauma-informed interviewing techniques and knowledge of the reunification process.

“It seems like it’s designed just to cast the net wider on immigration enforcement against adults,” she said.

String of policy changes adding hurdles to reunification process

The July changes are among a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to ramp up vetting of parents seeking to reunite with children.

The administration has required fingerprinting from sponsors and any adults living in the home where children are released. It has also required identification or proof of income that only those legally present in the U.S. could acquire, as well as introducing DNA testing and home visits by immigration officers.

Children have been spending more time in government-run shelters under increased vetting. The average length of stay for those released was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217 days in April but well above 37 days in January, when Trump took office.

About 2,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody in July.

Shaina Aber, an executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice analyzing child custody data, attributes the longer custody times to the policy changes.

“The agency’s mission has been conflated and entangled,” she added. “It seems ORR’s mission has been somewhat compromised in that they are now doing more on the immigration enforcement side, and they’re not an immigration enforcement entity.”

Lake St. Croix Beach officials recently informed residents that the city mistakenly gave everyone a property tax break over the past three years.

City Clerk/Administrator Dave Engstrom said the city’s former contract accountant did not account for the city’s fiscal-disparity tax benefit in the city’s certified tax levy starting in 2023. “The wrong information was submitted by the contract accountant,” he said.

The total shortfall over the three-year period was $178,197. In 2023, for example, the city should have submitted to the county a tax levy of $630,597 instead of $560,829, an almost $70,000 shortfall, he said. The 2024 shortfall was $51,215; the 2025 shortfall was $57,214.

Lake St. Croix Beach residents learned about the error in a post written by City Attorney Christina Benson in the city’s August newsletter. “Residents will find, if they look at their 2023 tax record, that there was a significant percentage drop compared to the previous year,” Benson wrote. “The result of the Fiscal Disparity Levy not being accounted for is that residents were undercharged for taxes dating back to 2023.”

The Lake St. Croix Beach City Council went into closed session during a special meeting on Aug. 18 to discuss “potential litigation against … the city’s former financial consultant, regarding claims the city has asserted for professional malpractice,” Mayor Tom McCarthy said prior to the session. Engstrom said Thursday that he could not comment on what happened during the closed session, citing possible pending litigation.

The shortfall “did not cause any disruption to the day-to-day running of the city,” McCarthy wrote in the August newsletter. “All projects were completed as scheduled drawing from reserves. The micro-surfacing projects throughout the city streets were not impacted and will keep the roads in good condition. Rest assured that the budget for 2026 will reflect the Fiscal Disparity Levy.”

Fiscal-disparity revenue is property tax money collected on new commercial and industrial tax base growth in the seven-county metro area, Engstrom said. The money is placed in a pool and redistributed to communities and taxing districts. The system shifts the property tax base from the wealthiest areas to those with less tax base.

“It is a way to spread the wealth from the Bloomingtons and Woodburys of the metro area to smaller cities and cities that have minimal commercial and industrial development,” Engstrom said.

The city’s 2025 budget is $992,000; the city has a population of 1,060. City officials may decide to increase the city’s levy for 2026 and beyond to help make up for the shortfall; Engstrom said the city has until Sept. 30 to submit a preliminary levy for 2026. After that, city officials can adjust it lower, but not higher, by the end of the year, he said.

Residents seek investigation

A group of Lake St. Croix Beach residents has obtained the necessary number of signatures – 20 percent of the city’s voters in the last presidential election – to ask the Office of the State Auditor to investigate, said Cindie Reiter, who served on Lake St. Croix Beach City Council for more than 10 years, most recently from 2021 to 2024.

“We are concerned about the repetitive errors that have been made,” Reiter said. “They didn’t let anyone know that there was a shortfall when it was confirmed in early 2024. We are worried about the lack of transparency.”

Once that petition is received, the Auditor’s Office will likely meet with residents and decide whether to examine the books, records, accounts and affairs of the city, Reiter said.

Engstrom said the city would be responsible for covering the cost of the audit, which he estimated would cost around $30,000.

“We would have to take that $30,000 out of something else, probably road repairs,” he said. “I don’t think it would prove anything that the city audit didn’t already show.”

Reiter said: “Cost of the state audit is unknown until OSA reviews our request. We don’t know what it will cost. It’s based on what they determine they will look into. We think it’s worth asking for the review. It’s up to them to decide what they will review.”

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Doug Williams, who has lived in Lake St. Croix Beach since 1985, said he can’t fathom how such an error could have recurred over the course of three consecutive years and not been caught.

“That is stunning to me,” he said. “I find it to be extremely unusual. If I had made a substantial mistake like that when I was working, my employer would have taken immediate, substantive, substantial corrective action.”

He and others hope the Auditor’s Office will decide to investigate.

“It would be good to have the state come in and look at everything and say, ‘This is good, this needs to be fixed,’” he said. “And then there could be a reasonable sit-down to figure out how to fix it, and it gets taken care of, and life goes on. There’s no need for confrontation, conflict in a community of this size. I would really like to see that as the outcome.”