President Trump told Axios in an interview Sunday that negotiations over his plan to end the war in Gaza are “at their final stages” and contended a deal could open the way for wider peace in the Middle East.

“Having set the stage for a year of high-level engagement with the Trump administration, Xi Jinping is now chasing his ultimate prize, according to people familiar with the matter: a change in U.S. policy that Beijing hopes could isolate Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“As President Trump has shown interest in striking an economic accord with China in the coming year, the people said, the Chinese leader is planning to press his American counterpart to formally state that the U.S. ‘opposes’ Taiwan’s independence.”

“Since coming to power in late 2012, Xi has made bringing Taiwan under Beijing’s control a key tenet of his ‘China Dream’ of national revival. Now, well into an unprecedented third term, he has repeatedly emphasized that ‘reunification’ is inevitable and can’t be stopped by outside forces—a reference to Washington’s political and military support to Taipei.”

“Russia launched more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine on Saturday night and Sunday morning, one of the largest aerial attacks of the war, while the United Nations General Assembly remains in session,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Several official congressional trips that were scheduled for next week have been canceled due to the possibility of a government shutdown,” Axios reports.

“It’s one of the starkest indicators yet that lawmakers on Capitol Hill are hunkering down for a shutdown as Republican and Democratic leadership appear far from a deal.”