• Xi calls visit a milestone.
• Trump touts Boeing deal.
• China urges lasting Iran ceasefire.
  

BEIJING: President Donald Trump said he had made “fantastic trade deals” with China’s Xi Jinping, as the pair met on Friday at final talks of a superpower summit that, according to the US leader, has also reaped a Chinese offer to help open the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had arrived in Beijing seeking to seal deals in sectors including agriculture, aviation and artificial intelligence, as well as to contain differences between the two sides in a number of tense geostrategic areas — not least the Middle East war.

Trump’s overtures to Xi, whom he described as a “great leader” and “friend”, have so far been met with more muted tones by the Chinese leader.

But the US leader said “a lot of good” has come out of the visit.

“We’ve made some fantastic trade deals, great for both countries,” he said after a walk with Xi among the rosebushes in the gardens of Zhongnanhai, a central leadership compound next to Beijing’s Forbidden City.

“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve,” he added, without providing details.

Xi said it was a “milestone visit”, and that the two sides had to date established “a new bilateral relationship, which is a relationship of constructive strategic stability”.

He promised to send Trump seeds for the White House Rose Garden.

‘Help on Hormuz’

In an interview with Fox News after the first day of the summit had wrapped, Trump said Xi had agreed to several US wishlist points.

On the topic of the war in Iran, the US president said Xi had effectively assured his counterpart that China was not preparing to militarily aid Tehran, which has essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz.

“He said he’s not going to give military equipment… he said that strongly,” Trump told Fox.

“He’d like to see the Hormuz Strait open, and said ‘if I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help,'” Trump added.

Asked whether the two leaders had discussed Iran, the Chinese foreign ministry on Friday released a statement calling for “a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire”.

“Shipping lanes should be reopened as soon as possible in response to the calls of the international community,” it added.

Taiwan policy ‘unchanged’

The warm handshakes and pomp on Thursday were somewhat overshadowed by a blunt warning from Xi on a much longer-standing geopolitical flashpoint, Taiwan.

Shortly after talks started, Chinese state media reported Xi had told Trump that missteps on the sensitive issue of Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict”.

The Fox News interview did not touch upon Taiwan, and Trump did not comment to reporters when asked about the matter on Thursday.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the president would say more “in the coming days”.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC on Thursday though that “US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged… as of the meeting”.

Beijing had raised the topic, he said, but “we always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics”.

Taipei responded Friday, thanking Washington “for repeatedly expressing its support”.

Boeing, oil, soybeans

Trump did not spell out on Friday the trade agreements that he said had been sealed with China.

However, in the Fox interview, Trump said one big business deal struck involved Xi agreeing to purchase “200 big” Boeing jets.

Shares of the US aviation giant fell after Trump’s comments, in a sign the market had expected a more robust purchase from China.

The US president also said Beijing had voiced interest in buying US oil and soybeans.

China, which is the key foreign customer of Iranian oil, bought small amounts of US oil before Trump imposed tariffs last year.

It has sharply slowed down purchases of US soybeans, turning instead to Brazil.

And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Trump and Xi were talking about setting up “guardrails” for the use of artificial intelligence.

Bessent said the world’s “two AI superpowers are going to start talking”, though US export controls on the advanced technology to China remain a sore point in relations.

• Formal contest to replace Starmer yet to be triggered.
• Cabinet ministers express support for the PM.
• Prime Minister Starmer signals he will fight on.
  

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was struggling to hold on to power after his main rival in the government resigned on Thursday, accusing him of political drift, and others positioned themselves for potential challenges to his leadership.

Disastrous results for the governing Labour Party in local elections last week have plunged Britain into a new crisis, just under two years after Starmer won a large majority on a vow to bring stability and end a decade of political chaos.

After days of calls by Labour lawmakers for Starmer to quit or set out a timetable for his departure, Wes Streeting resigned as health minister, the first senior minister to break cover. He said he was standing down because “it is now clear you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election”.

While Streeting did not trigger a formal contest, potential rivals to the prime minister, such as Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, started positioning themselves for a possible leadership challenge that Starmer has said he will fight.

Streeting criticised his former boss in a resignation letter which said he was standing down to allow a wide debate about what comes next, one which the Labour movement wanted to focus on ideas rather than personalities or factions.

“It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates,” Streeting wrote.

Streeting says Britain needs vision

“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” Streeting said in pointed remarks about Starmer. “Leaders take responsibility, but too often that has meant other people falling on their swords.”

A source close to Streeting said the former health minister had enough support to mount a formal leadership challenge but had not triggered an immediate contest because he felt it would be preferable for Starmer to set out an orderly timetable.

Starmer responded with a letter expressing regret Streeting had stepped down, saying “it is incumbent on all of us to rise to what I see as a battle for the soul of our nation” and “turn the page on the chaos”.

He swiftly appointed one of his supporters, James Murray, as Streeting’s replacement.

The British leader has said he will battle to keep his job, and sources close to him say he is determined to fight any leadership contest.

The pound edged lower after Streeting’s resignation and news that Burnham would seek to return to parliament.

Potential candidates face off against Starmer loyalists

Another possible candidate in any leadership contest, Starmer’s former deputy, Angela Rayner, said earlier on Thursday that she had been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing over her tax affairs, an impediment to challenging the prime minister. But she would not say whether she wanted to launch a formal bid.

Burnham was also offered a path for a possible leadership challenge. After a Labour lawmaker in Greater Manchester said he would resign from his parliamentary seat, Burnham said he would seek permission to stand as Labour’s candidate.

He would have to win an election for that seat to be able to challenge Starmer – an aim he stopped short of voicing.

“Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again. This is why I now seek people’s support to return to parliament,” he said on X.

Another potential candidate is armed forces minister Al Carns, a former Royal Marine seen by some in Labour as a new face who could freshen up the party.

But Starmer still enjoys some support. Education Minister Bridget Phillipson repeated her backing for Starmer and suggested the rest of his cabinet team of top ministers were also supportive.

“This is now a chance for us to pause, take a breath as a party and try and draw a line under all of this,” she said.

Starmer, 63, has adopted a “business-as-usual” approach, and finance minister Rachel Reeves warned lawmakers against plunging Britain into chaos when its anaemic economy was turning a corner. The economy grew unexpectedly in March.

Business leaders fear another leadership race to choose what would be Britain’s seventh prime minister in about a decade would deter investment — something the Labour government has said must improve to turn around Britain’s fortunes.

The political instability has pushed borrowing costs higher, with some investors nervous about the possible election of a more left-wing, tax-and-spend Labour prime minister.

“There have been too many changes of government strategy, leadership, just in my six years of being CEO,” Amanda Blanc, boss of insurance company Aviva, told Reuters. “And I think that is harmful to a major economy such as the UK and how we are perceived abroad.”

LONDON: An Indian national mosque imam from East London who raped and sexually assaulted women and girls as young as 12 after telling them he had supernatural powers (jinns) has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

The Indian national, Abdul Halim Khan, abused his position as a respected faith leader to abuse seven women and girls from the Muslim community between 2005 and 2014, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

The 54-year-old, of Old Forde Road, east London, was an imam at a mosque who persuaded each of the victims into meeting him at isolated places including flats and quiet, hidden locations, to tell them he would heal them through jinns to bring happiness to their lives and to get them rid of the jinns, prosecutors said.

Khan would then rape or sexually abuse the victims under the premise he would be possessed or disguised as a jinn (supernatural spirit), the court heard.

The victims felt they had to keep these acts secret from family and friends for fear of doing them harm via “black magic”, prosecutors said.

Judge Leslie Cuthbert, sentencing, said: “Behind a public appearance of propriety and holiness you took monstrous advantage of women who trusted you, all for your own sexual satisfaction. You brazenly raped and sexually assaulted seven females – both children and young women. You behaved as if you were untouchable. You were confident that none of the victims, who came from the same community in which you were an imam, would overcome the potential shame and stigma they might sadly feel, or be exposed to, by reporting you.

“You were confident that if they did come forward it would be you and not they who would be believed.”

The judge said that Khan’s criminality “may rightly be called an unrestrained campaign of rape and abuse of women and girls”, adding: “It is the work of a serial rapist and child abuser but it is impossible for me to encapsulate succinctly the devastation you have caused.”

He added: “I am sure that you continue to represent a grave danger to girls and women who might be persuaded to be alone with you and that risk will persist for the foreseeable future especially given that certain members of the community continue to hold you in high esteem.”

Khan was convicted of 21 offences of rape and sexual assault.

One of Khan’s victims, who said she was a child when she was abused, tearfully told the court: “To me, Khan is not a human being, he is evil personified.”

She said fear was instilled in her through Khan’s “lies and manipulation”, saying that he hid “under the guise of a religious man”.

The woman said that Khan “stole the autonomy I should have had over my own body” and that she was “caged” into staying silent because of his threats about members of her family.

She added: “He is a danger to society and he will continue being a danger for as long as he lives.”

Another victim, who was also a child when the abuse took place, said in her statement read to the court that she was left “terrified, confused and powerless”.

She said Khan used his position of authority to “terrorise” her, adding that he “exploited” her faith and vulnerability.

Police first became aware of Khan’s offending in February 2018 when the youngest victim reported Khan to a teacher at her school, Scotland Yard said.

In his interviews, Khan repeatedly denied the allegations, stating it was a conspiracy and the victims had concocted a story for revenge, the force added.

The court heard that the defendant maintains his innocence.

He was found guilty in February of nine counts of rape; four counts of sexual assault; two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13; five counts of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration.

Melissa Garner, specialist prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Abdul Halim Khan abused his position as a trusted religious leader to prey on women and girls over many years, manipulating and controlling them for his own sexual gratification.

“He used their deeply held beliefs to instil fear and silence them, making them believe their families would be at risk if they ever spoke out.”

Detective Chief Inspector Jennie Ronan, whose team led the investigation, said: “Abdul Khan presented himself as a respectable man who could be trusted. However, this was far from the truth, and he instead preyed upon and took advantage of others.

“Today, I want to focus on the victim-survivors, who have shown remarkable bravery in reporting Khan and great strength throughout the trial.

“We hope that today’s outcome provides a measure of comfort as they continue to rebuild their lives and serves as a reminder to anyone who has experienced sexual violence that support is available.

“We remain absolutely committed to tackling violence against women and girls, targeting dangerous offenders and removing them from London’s streets.”