Xi, Trump and the battle for AI supremacy

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Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from China, Turkey and Brazil, and a tribute to late BBC correspondent Mark Doyle Xi Jinping met Donald Trump in Washington this week in the first Chinese state visit to the US in over a decade. Talking points included Taiwan, the Iran war, extending the two superpowers' trade truce – and the Artificial Intelligence industry. China correspondent Laura Bicker travelled to Inner Mongolia, where China is building data centres at a furious rate as the country's government chases technological dominance. A court in Turkey has sentenced the already-jailed former Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, to two more years in prison and banned him from politics. There's been a sweeping judicial crackdown on opposition figures, from MPs to mayors, which some civil rights groups have said is politically motivated. Journalists, comedians and members of the LGBT+ community have also been targeted by criminal investigations, charges and detention. Emily Wither reports from Istanbul. Brazil is split between those who believe in light regulation – and further exploitation of natural resources - and those who want to preserve Brazil’s rich natural eco-systems, even if it means slower economic growth. But can economic and ecological interests be reconciled? Kirsty Lang has just come back from one of the country’s major cattle-raising regions, where a new initiative to get jaguars and cowboys living in harmony might be part of a wider solution. And finally, the BBC’s World Affairs correspondent Mark Doyle died this week aged 67 after a short illness. He was best known for his reporting from across Africa, and his colleague and fellow Africa correspondent, Andrew Harding, wrote a tribute to him in 2015 when he left the BBC, which still resonates. Producer: Polly Hope Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison (Image: A visitor walks by a billboard for AI as they attend the PT Expo in Beijing, China in September 2026. Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)