Breaking the silence after a year

Laura L. Davis, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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For the first time since that spy balloon drove a wedge between them, President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping met up in San Francisco. After all these eye drops recalls, should we be worried about over-the-counter drugs? And microplastics are everywhere – even the clouds.

👋 Hello there! Laura Davis here. It’s Wednesday! Let’s get you caught up on the news.

But first: "Red Cup Rebellion." ☕️ Starbucks' famed Red Cup Day is Thursday. And thousands of workers are planning a walkout.

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After a year of silence, Biden, China's Xi meet

Nearly a year to the day since the last time they sat down together, Biden met up with China's Xi Jinping at a Wednesday summit that Washington hopes will result in Beijing being willing to pick up the phone the next time there's a crisis. With so many clashes taking place in the world, the U.S. says the world's two biggest military powers can't afford to be giving each other the silent treatment. Beijing formally suspended the military communication channel more than a year ago and declined the Pentagon's calls when a Chinese spy balloon was found floating over the U.S. earlier this year, derailing Biden's plan at the time to improve relations. 👉 What we know about the meeting.

US President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' week.
US President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' week.

War inside a hospital

Israeli special forces sweeping through the Gaza Strip's largest hospital Wednesday found "concrete evidence" Hamas was using the hospital as a military command center, multiple media outlets reported, citing Israeli military sources. A senior military official said Hamas weapons and other evidence were found at the sprawling Shifa campus. The U.N. estimates at least 2,300 staff, patients and displaced Gaza civilians have taken refuge there as Israeli forces have been rolling through Gaza since Hamas militants' violent border rampage on Oct. 7. Israel has claimed for weeks that Hamas was hiding militants and assets in Shifa and other Gaza hospitals. The White House said it had intelligence confirming the claim, which Hamas leaders have repeatedly denied. 👉 Follow our live coverage.

Displaced Palestinians sit by a lit fire in front of their tent and inspect the damage caused by rain on Wednesday in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Heavy fighting rages in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel encircles the area despite increasingly pressing calls for a cease-fire.
Displaced Palestinians sit by a lit fire in front of their tent and inspect the damage caused by rain on Wednesday in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Heavy fighting rages in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel encircles the area despite increasingly pressing calls for a cease-fire.

📬 Sign up for USA TODAY's Israel and Hamas war newsletter to receive weekday updates on the escalating conflict.

What everyone's talking about

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👀 Should we be worried about over-the-counter drugs?

It's a problem that was in plain sight. Over-the-counter eye drops used by millions of Americans for everything from allergies to dry eyes hadn't been as carefully monitored as prescription products. Since February, more than two dozen versions of over-the-counter eye drops have been recalled in the United States because they had been potentially contaminated.

  • Are OTC drugs safe? Doctors say the vast majority of drugs sold without prescriptions are safe – but not all of them. New research highlights gaps in the federal oversight of these nonprescription drugs that might have allowed a small number of tainted products to circulate, exposing consumers to serious risk. 💊 What to know.

Microplastics: Coming to a sky near you?

Pollution from microplastics is in our oceans and mountains, our food and even our bodies. Now, according to a new study published Wednesday, microplastics have been discovered in clouds – and they might be affecting our weather.

  • 🔎 What are we dealing with? Microplastics are teeny-tiny particles of – you guessed it – plastic that come from the breakdown of trash like clothes, packaging and tires. They consist of any type of plastic less than five millimeters long.

⛈️ Could microplastics affect the weather? What the study found.

A break from the news

Laura L. Davis is an Audience Editor at USA TODAY. Say hello: laura@usatoday.com. This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Support quality journalism like this? Subscribe to USA TODAY here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Israel-Hamas war, eye drops: Wednesday's news