First Thing: Trump welcomes Xi to Washington amid tensions over trade, AI and Taiwan

Good morning. Donald Trump has welcomed Xi Jinping to the US, greeting the Chinese leader on the asphalt at Joint Base Andrews at the start of his state visit. Xi’s trip coincides with the UN general assembly in New York, but he is not attending the gathering.

The pageantry will continue with a formal welcome on the South Lawn of the White House, private tea with the US president and first lady, and a tour of the National Archives, among other special events. The White House also invited major tech leaders to a state dinner being held for Xi.

In a defiant speech to the UN general assembly in New York, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian described the US as the true bully and terrorist in the Middle East while insisting that Iran had always shown a commitment to the negotiating table. But he balanced that with a willingness to talk, saying: “We are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations but without the language of force.”

Pezeshkian accused Washington of “terrorism” for assassinating the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, at the start of the US-Israeli war. He held up photographs of the ayatollah and some of the more than 150 schoolchildren killed in the opening days of the conflict. He also insisted that Tehran had never started a war.

In a blow for the administration and Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on US media outlets, a federal judge has ordered the White House to temporarily restore ⁠access ​to journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico. The US district judge Tim Kelly said the ban on the three media outlets was ⁠likely to be unconstitutional.

A lawyer for the Department of Justice told Kelly the administration had provided enough explanation for the revocation of the ​press passes, but the judge signaled skepticism of that argument, ​noting that the letters were sent after the revocation occurred and the lawsuit was filed.

Eight US navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group have attempted to take their own lives since the start of their lengthy deployment as part of the US war on Iran, the acting US navy secretary, Hung Cao, revealed in a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Donald Trump described reports of poor conditions on the ship as fake news in August.

• In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. International helplines can be found at befrienders.org

The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, received $4m in book advances over the last year from allies in the Make America Healthy Again movement. According to a 2024 ethics filing, however, he had pledged: “I will not engage in writing, editing, marketing or promotional services for any of these books during government service.” A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said Kennedy Jr “complies with all applicable federal ethics laws, regulations and financial disclosure requirements”.

The market for THC-infused seltzers and spirits has never been more full. Here are seven standouts.

Ana Diaz spoke to the volunteers who help to organise the game’s competitive communities around the world at the 2026 Pokémon world championships in San Francisco.

I am old enough to remember the 1990s when internet search was mostly haphazard guesswork, then Google came along and you could actually find things. Now you can’t again. Google’s insertion of AI overviews has profoundly changed the browsing habits of billions of people. Guardian readers explain their new search strategies.

Oliver Milman reports on how the former US vice-president is still optimistic about climate advocacy two decades after the groundbreaking documentary.

“This is the first documented case of a turtle nesting on the west coast,” Justin Viezbicke, the California stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (Noaa), said. What caused the turtles to begin nesting farther north than usual remains an open question.

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