Our daily meander around the world

🇨🇳 On Friday, Xi Jinping officially secured an unprecedented third term as China’s president. Xi, 69, had previously named himself to another five-year term as leader of China’s ruling Communist Party last October, breaking with a tradition that started after Chairman Mao Zedong where leaders retire from office once they’ve served for a decade. The move has fueled widespread speculation that Xi will be the first Chinese leader since Mao to stay in power for life.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia had a big weekend. And as they say, things come in threes: 1. The country agreed on Saturday to resume diplomatic relations with Iran after seven years of estrangement. The surprise deal, which was brokered by China, marks a significant blow to Israel’s key foreign policy goal of establishing relations with Saudi Arabia, since the Israeli government considers Iran to be its top global enemy. 2. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Aramco oil company reported $161 billion in net income for 2022, up 46.5% from the previous year and the highest annual amount ever for an energy firm. 3. Also on Sunday, the Saudi government unveiled a new state-backed international airline called Riyadh Air, which is reportedly close to signing a $35 billion deal to purchase Boeing aircraft.

🌎🌀 The global weather phenomenon known as La Niña has come to an end after three years, per US weather officials. La Niña – which refers to the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central Pacific Ocean – typically results in colder and wetter conditions in the northern US, as well as warmer and drier conditions across the South. The NOAA said it expects El Niño, the opposite of La Niña, to begin at some point this summer or fall. Once that occurs, Americans can expect warmer and drier conditions in the North and colder and wetter conditions in the South for the next year or so.