BBC News Briefing

15 August, 2025

Alex has short blonde hair and blue eyes. She is smiling and wearing a black turtleneck

Alex Binley

Hello. After three and a half years of war, Ukrainians are exhausted. But they fear Friday's summit on their future between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin could result in an unjust peace. In China, 80 years after Japan's occupation ended, a wave of films about the invasion are striking a nerve. And finally, watch as the first international robot games get under way with a level of sporting prowess that leaves a lot to be desired.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Left out of Alaska talks, exhausted Ukrainians fear an unjust peace

A soldier wearing camouflage fatigues rubs a dirsty hand across his face. He has very short dark hair and a beard that is going grey. Military equipment and another soldier can be seen in the background.

Ukrainians are still training to fight as few expect the war will end soon. Credit: Getty Images

With just hours to go until Trump and Putin meet to discuss Ukraine's future without anyone from the country present, many Ukrainians are concerned about the concessions they could be strong armed into. While some are resigned to the fact that, as Russia continues to ramp up attacks, they may have to give up land for a ceasefire, others believe that Moscow will not stop the war, no matter what happens in the talks. While "Ukraine may gradually be losing this war... it's not yet been defeated", writes defence correspondent Jonathan Beale from eastern Ukraine. "That makes it harder for anyone else to force through a peace it cannot accept."

More from Jonathan's dispatch

Latest updates: As the clock ticks down to the summit, stay up to date with all the developments and analysis on our live page.

On the ground: Here's what Alaskans had to say as a geopolitical circus descends on the state capital.

Track record: Trump and Putin have met several times before. Here's how the encounters went, and what we can expect this time round.

WORLD HEADLINES

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What the US president sees as he drives to his golf course through Washington DC helps explain this week's push.

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Newsom in vote plan to counter Texas Republicans

California's Democratic governor has unveiled a high-stakes plan to redraw voting lines in his state.

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Plastic talks collapse as countries remain divided

Global talks to develop a landmark treaty to end plastic pollution have once again failed.

What happened >

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Stranded passengers make precarious railway walk

Train passengers in Singapore had to walk high above the ground to get back to the station after a power fault.

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BEYOND THE HEADLINES

'We were never friends': Massacre on eve of WW2 still haunts China-Japan relations

Film fans queue outside a cinema in China by the promotional poster of the film 'Dead To Rights'. The poster shows a group of people dressed in clothes from 80 years ago stood outside a door.

Nanjing Photo Studio is the first of several movies this year about the horrors of Japanese occupation. Credit: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Eighty years since the end of World War Two in Asia and the Pacific, a wave of Chinese films about the horrors of Japanese occupation are fuelling anger. China fought Japan for eight years, from Manchuria in the north-east to Chongqing in the south-west and an estimated 10-20 million Chinese people were killed. Now, that period is being revisited under a regime that holds patriotism as central to its ambitions. Experts say Beijing is using the trauma of what happened as a unifying narrative, leading some to believe that "while the military war has ended, the history war continues".

The idyllic sands of Maronti Bay are home to geothermic cooking pit (Credit: Eva Sandoval)

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Cooking in volcanic sand

On Italy's Ischia island, some restaurants specialise in geothermal cuisine.

Here's how