Shenzhen, the Guangdong technology and manufacturing hub, will keep cars off its streets and close schools during the APEC summit it hosts this month, Nikkei Asia reported, as the city prepares for a leaders' meeting that foreign wires say may draw the presidents of the United States and Russia alongside China's leader.

The restrictions reported by the Japanese business paper are the kind of security and traffic measures that accompany a major summit in a dense urban centre. Nikkei Asia did not, in the wire summary available, give the exact scope or duration of the measures.

The summit's timing and format have themselves drawn attention. NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, reported that the APEC foreign and trade ministers' meeting opened online on the evening of 3 November, an unusual format for a gathering normally held in person ahead of the leaders' summit.

The ministerial session, held by video, preceded the leaders' meeting scheduled for Shenzhen later this month. NHK noted that ministerial meetings are usually held face to face before the leaders gather, making the online format exceptional. The broadcaster did not, in the item available, explain the reason for the change.

Preparations for the leaders' summit have extended beyond logistics. TASS, the Russian state news agency, quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on the arrangements for a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the APEC summit, saying Beijing had the leading role in preparing it. Kommersant, the Russian daily, reported separately that work on agreeing such a trilateral meeting could be finalised in the coming days. The Moscow Times, an independent English-language Russian paper, reported that Moscow hopes plans for the meeting in China will be finalised shortly.

Hindustan Times reported that the APEC summit will be held in Shenzhen from 18 to 19 November, and that officials are discussing a possible trilateral meeting of Trump, Xi and Putin on the sidelines. The Indian daily attributed the report to the Financial Times. None of the wire items confirmed that such a meeting has been agreed.

For Shenzhen and the wider Pearl River Delta, the summit puts an international spotlight on a city that foreign business coverage treats as the heart of China's hardware and electronics economy. The traffic and school measures reported by Nikkei Asia suggest the host authorities are treating the event as a large-scale security operation as well as a diplomatic one.

The wires also carried a separate strand of summit-related diplomacy. The Guardian reported that China has held a flurry of meetings with Gulf leaders ahead of the anticipated Trump-Xi meeting expected at the APEC gathering, framing it as a diplomatic push in the Middle East. That item did not address the Shenzhen arrangements directly.

What the foreign coverage does not yet establish is the full list of leaders attending, the final agenda, or whether the trilateral meeting discussed by Russian officials will take place. Those questions remain open in the wire copy available, and the Shenzhen restrictions reported by Nikkei Asia are the clearest confirmed sign so far of the city's preparations.