Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday to strengthen economic ties between the two nations, while also addressing national security concerns. The meeting, the first visit by a UK leader to China in eight years, occurred amidst uncertainty regarding the reliability of the US alliance, according to The Guardian.
Starmer emphasized that he was "clear-eyed" about the threat China poses to the UK's national security, according to The Guardian. The 40-minute meeting aimed to bolster economic bonds with the superpower.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the cancellation of an oil shipment to Cuba. She insisted the decision was a sovereign one and not a response to pressure from the United States, after former President Trump said zero oil would go to Cuba, according to The Guardian. Fuel shortages are causing increasingly severe blackouts in Cuba, and Mexico has been the island's biggest oil supplier since the US blocked shipments.
In other news, a five-year-old US citizen named Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos was deported to Honduras on January 11, along with her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, according to The Guardian. Génesis, who had never known Honduras, was separated from her cousins, classmates, and kindergarten teachers in Austin, Texas. Her mother, whose visa application was pending, plans to send Génesis back to the US soon, accompanied by another relative.
Also, South Korea has launched what it calls world-first laws aimed at regulating artificial intelligence, according to The Guardian. However, the new legislation has already encountered pushback from tech startups, which say they go too far, and civil society groups, which say they don't go far enough. The laws are being billed as the most comprehensive set of laws anywhere in the world, that could prove a model for other countries.
Finally, US intelligence agencies disagree with Donald Trump's opposition to the Chagos deal, Keir Starmer said, according to The Guardian. Downing Street sources say the agreement is a done deal and will not be scuppered by the US president's U-turn. Starmer underlined how the US administration had supported the deal as it bolstered their defenses. The prime minister made his remarks on the flight to Beijing for his visit.
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