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Downing Street sources say agreement is ‘done deal’ and will not be scuppered by US president’s U-turn
US intelligence agencies disagree with Donald Trump’s newly found opposition to the , Keir Starmer has said, as he underlined how the US administration had supported the deal as it bolstered their defences.
The prime minister made his remarks, which could undermine the US president’s fresh view of the deal as an “act of great stupidity”, on the flight to Beijing for a visit that will cover UK national security among other issues.

The prime minister seeks to strengthen ties with China but faces fierce criticism from opponents at home.

Beijing’s AI policy is focused on real-life applications but Chinese companies are beginning to articulate their own grand visions
Standing on stage in the eastern China tech hub of Hangzhou, Alibaba’s normally media-shy CEO made an attention-grabbing announcement. “The world today is witnessing the dawn of an AI-driven intelligent revolution,” Eddie Wu told a developer conference in September. “ (AGI) will not only amplify human intelligence but also unlock human potential, paving the way for the arrival of artificial superintelligence (ASI).”
ASI, Wu said, “could produce a generation of ‘super scientists’ and ‘full-stack super engineers’”, who would “tackle unsolved scientific and engineering problems at unimaginable speeds”.

Sir Keir Starmer is one of a number of world leaders heading to Beijing

The exercises were the second time in six months that President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to be blindsided by his own military regarding relations with Tehran.

PM may also discuss fate of Uyghurs with Chinese leader on trip aimed at improving economic relations

Keir Starmer has said he will “raise the issues that need to be raised” on human rights with China’s president, , as he arrived in Beijing for the first trip to the country by a UK leader in eight years.
The prime minister has come under pressure from rights groups to try to secure the release of , the jailed former media tycoon and one of Hong Kong’s most significant pro-democracy voices.

Prime minister says Reform seeking to ‘tear people apart’ after Gorton and Denton candidate questions whether all UK-born people are British
Keir Starmer has accused the Reform UK candidate in the Greater Manchester byelection of pursuing the politics of “toxic division” after he his claim that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British.
The prime minister suggested that Matthew Goodwin, a hard-right activist, would try to “tear people apart” in Gorton and Denton, and that voters wanting to stop Nigel Farage’s party should coalesce around the Labour candidate.

Whether at home or abroad, the pattern of ducking difficult arguments and calling it pragmatism is the same
There comes a point in a prime minister’s career when foreign travel offers respite from domestic trouble. Even when relations with the host country are tricky, as Britain’s are with China, the dignifying protocols of statecraft make a beleaguered politician feel valued.
Next comes the phase where missions overseas feel dangerous because plotters can organise more openly against absent leaders.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2022: For years Tsang Tsou-choi daubed his eccentric demands around Hong Kong, and the authorities raced to cover them up. But as the city’s protest movements bloomed, his words mysteriously reappeared
Written and read by Louisa Lim

Xiao Qian hits out at Labor’s policy to force the Chinese-owned company Landbridge to sell its 99-year lease on the port

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China’s ambassador to Australia says plans by the Albanese government to remove from Chinese ownership will put at risk future trade growth and force an intervention by Beijing.
Ambassador Xiao Qian hit out at Labor’s policy to force the Chinese-owned company Landbridge to sell its 99-year lease on the port, sparked by pre-election national security concerns from both Labor and the Coalition.

Toy becomes a popular symbol of workplace fatigue after manufacturing error gave it a frown instead of a smile
On 17 February China will celebrate the start of the year of the horse, the zodiac sign symbolising high energy and hard work. But the runaway success of a defective stuffed toy suggests that many Chinese are not feeling the vibe.
A red horse toy produced by Happy Sister in the city of Yiwu in the west of China was meant to wear a broad grin, but a factory error meant it hit the shops sporting a despairing grimace. Because the smile was placed upside down, the horse’s nostrils could be interpreted as tears.

Maduro’s Sorbonne-educated successor is talking up an era of ‘reform and opening up’ modelled on China’s post-Mao boom
After years of political and social upheaval, hunger and despair, the Great Helmsman departs and is replaced by a francophile economic reformer who catapults a traumatised country into a new era of prosperity and growth.
That is what happened in China half a century ago when Deng Xiaoping became paramount leader after Chairman Mao Zedong’s 1976 death and set in motion one of history’s biggest economic booms.