FirstUp: Italy’s Giorgia Meloni to meet Trump in US, Xi Jinping visits Cambodia… The news today

Several important events are expected around the world today.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to meet Donald Trump during her visit to the United States. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping will continue his trip across Southeast Asia with a stop in Cambodia.

In Moscow, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks.

In the United Kingdom, a court hearing is due in the case of Dionne Marie Hanna, who faces five charges of fraud involving three individuals.

In another courtroom, a resentencing hearing will be held for the Menendez brothers, who were convicted of killing their parents and sentenced to life in prison

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Meanwhile, in Bangkok, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is expected to meet Myanmar’s military leader.

Here’s a look at the events in detail:

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni to meet Trump

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit the White House today for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The discussions are expected to centre around the ongoing tariff dispute between the United States and the European Union.

Notably, Meloni finds herself balancing her ideological alignment with Trump and her responsibilities to European allies, who have criticised his tariff hikes and his exclusion of the EU from talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine.

It is worth noting that the EU paused retaliatory tariffs on steel and aluminium after Trump announced a 90-day suspension of 20% tariffs on the EU.

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Meloni was the only European leader to attend Trump’s inauguration in January. Earlier this year, she visited him at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where Trump called her a “fantastic woman.”

Xi Jinping in Cambodia

As part of his ongoing South-East Asia tour, Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Cambodia today.

His trip to the region aims to strengthen diplomatic and trade ties amid China’s ongoing trade tensions with the United States.

Cambodia remains one of China’s most loyal allies in Southeast Asia, and Beijing has expanded its influence in the country in recent years.

In May 2024, the Cambodian government honoured Xi by naming a road in Phnom Penh “Xi Jinping Boulevard” to ‘honour’ his contributions to the country’s development, China Daily reported.

Qatar’s Emir to hold meeting with Putin

Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, will travel to Moscow today to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The discussions are expected to focus on several regional and international issues, including the situation in Gaza, developments in Syria, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Economic matters and strengthening cooperation across various sectors will also be on the agenda, according to the state-run TASS agency.

“There will definitely be an exchange of views between Putin and the Emir of Qatar on Ukrainian affairs,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Court hearing in ‘Con Mom’ Dionne Marie Hanna’s case

A hearing will take place in the case of British woman Dionne Marie Hanna , who has been charged with five counts of fraud involving three victims.

Hanna, 84, is featured in Netflix’s documentary Con Mum, which tells the story of how she allegedly deceived her son, Graham Hornigold, a pastry chef from London.

In 2020, she contacted him claiming to be his long-lost mother.

The documentary, released on March 25, shows how she allegedly scammed Hornigold out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Court records reveal that one of the charges involves Hanna allegedly telling a man in Singapore, identified as Paiman Bin Supangat, earlier this year that she was from the Brunei royal family.

According to Singapore police, preliminary investigations suggest that Hanna is believed to have been involved in at least five fraudulent cases, with losses totalling over $200,000.

Resentencing hearing in the Menendez Brothers case

The resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers will proceed after a Los Angeles judge denied a motion from Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to withdraw their resentencing petition.

The hearing is scheduled for today and tomorrow (April 18).

The Menendez brothers were convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989.

While the defence argued they acted out of self-defence after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister to meet Myanmar junta chief

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is set to meet Myanmar’s junta leader in Bangkok today to discuss extending the ceasefire between the military government and rebel groups, aimed at aiding earthquake relief efforts .

As this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) group, Anwar stated that the meeting with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing will be held on humanitarian grounds, as Myanmar has had no formal relations with Asean since the military coup.

The country was struck by a powerful earthquake last month, resulting in thousands of deaths and massive destruction.

Myanmar has been in a state of unrest since the military coup in early 2021, which led to civil war. Both the junta and the rebel groups have declared temporary ceasefires to support quake relief efforts, though accusations of violations have continued from both sides.

With inputs from agencies