News Snapshot:
French and EU leaders will on Thursday seek to make Europe's case for bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine in a Beijing meeting with Xi Jinping, a close ally of Vladimir Putin. French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will be greeted late afternoon by the Chinese president at the Great Hall of the People, the heart of power in the capital. Western pressure is mounting on China to take a more active role in the peace process in Ukraine -- though Beijing is officially neutral, Xi has never condemned the Russian invasion....
