We speak your mind. Enjoy free-thinking comment that champions your values. |  | Rob Crilly Chief US Correspondent, in Gyeongju | After weeks of anticipation, it was all over in an hour and 40 minutes.
Donald Trump sat down with Xi Jinping at Busan Airport in South Korea, reflecting how the meeting was shoehorned in before the American president was expected back at the White House to host a Hallowe’en party, and as the Chinese leader arrived for a major summit of Pacific economies.
When the meeting wrapped, Mr Trump climbed aboard Air Force One, pumped his fist, and with that was gone. The world had to wait until he was in the air to find out what had happened. “It was an amazing meeting. He is a great leader,” Mr Trump told reporters aboard the aircraft as he gave the talks 12 out of 10.
“A lot of important decisions were made,” he added.
He said an agreement had been made for China to step up purchases of soybeans and to do more to stem shipments of the deadly drug fentanyl, two of the major sticking points between them. An official chimed in to say that Beijing would allow the trade in rare earth elements, another key issue.
That means the US will now halve the 20 per cent tariffs imposed because of the flow of fentanyl, added Mr Trump, in between joking about turbulence buffeting the plane.
The result suggests a trade truce will continue between the two countries, even if stumbling blocks remain before a full deal.
That might come next year, said Mr Trump.
He added: “I’ll be going to China in April, and he’ll be coming here some time after that.”
Mr Trump also said that he had agreed to “work together” with Xi on Ukraine while Taiwan never came up in the discussions.
Read the full story here ➤
Trump orders Pentagon to ‘immediately’ start testing nuclear weapons ➤ |  | Ben Riley-Smith Political Editor | Labour is no longer publicly committed to its election manifesto promises not to raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT: that is a stark statement but an accurate one.
Sir Keir Starmer declined to say he would stick by the pledges at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. Then his press team in a briefing afterwards did the same.
So what exactly is the Prime Minister and Rachel Reeves, his Chancellor, eyeing up for this tax-raising Budget of November 26? The Telegraph has some fresh details.
It is understood a proposal put forward by the Resolution Foundation to raise income tax rates by 2p while also National Insurance (NI) rates by 2p is being seriously explored.
The move would be a revenue raiser, adding £6bn a year. (That is because those who pay income tax but not NI, such as pensioners and landlords, end up being hit.)
It would also make history: no Chancellor has increased the basic rate of income tax since the 1970s.
It is worth stressing these are early days yet in the Budget process. There is almost a month still to go and the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts are not yet set.
Final decisions have therefore not been made. But the door has been opened to a manifesto breach that has been firmly shut in the months running up to this point.
Kemi Badenoch will use a speech on Thursday to lay down what she thinks the consequences should be: “If Rachel Reeves breaks her promise and puts up tax, she must get the axe.”
Read the full story and read our analysis here ➤
Elsewhere, in the Government’s latest housing-related blunder, Ms Reeves apologised to Sir Keir last night after she broke regulations by unlawfully renting out her family home after moving into No 11 Downing Street.
Read the latest on this here ➤ | The four-bedroom detached house was put on the rental market for £3,200 a month last year | | | Allister Heath In opposition, Reeves pledged that she would not raise the basic rate or introduce wealth levies. Yet that is exactly what she is plotting Continue reading ➤ Michael Deacon It’s time to declare a national emergency over violent crime by migrants Continue reading ➤ Tom Harris There’s no way back now: either Starmer quits next year or he will be deposed Continue reading ➤ | Never miss a moment. Stay ahead with live news updates in our award-winning app. | | A Hamas militant carries a body from a tunnel | | At first, it wasn’t clear why the Israeli soldiers were keeping such an intent lookout at the shattered neighbourhood of Shuja’iyya to the east of Gaza City, writes Henry Bodkin. From their barbed-wired observation point, with firing positions for machine guns, the vista was an uninterrupted moonscape of wrecked concrete, not a single building left intact and no sign of life.
As the small group of foreign journalists stared down at the remnants of Shuja’iyya, a senior Israeli official confided that they believed some of the 13 remaining hostages were buried down there under the rubble.
As Tuesday’s violence showed, neither the waiting families, nor the nearly two million Palestinians living in appalling conditions to the west of the “yellow” ceasefire line, can begin to move on until they are found.
Continue reading ➤ | |  | | Henrik Lenkeit remembers his grandmother as a warm, friendly woman. Yet when he attended her funeral in 1994, “so few people seemed to be mourning her”. Last August, after idly watching a documentary about SS leader Heinrich Himmler, he discovered why. Continue reading ➤ | | | Ebbw Vale is pockmarked with a seemingly endless array of fast food outlets. Now, a battle is raging about whether yet another one will enter the fray. While the situation is alarming, it is far from unique. The truth is, the food landscape in Britain is broken, and has been for quite some time. Here, Rosa Silverman takes a closer look at what has gone wrong and, crucially, what needs to change. Continue reading ➤ | | | When our anonymous writer pulled the plug on her miserable marriage aged 40, after years of enduring her alcoholic husband’s behaviour, she had to learn to date again. After several boring exchanges on bog-standard dating apps, she stumbled across Feeld, your racier-than-your-average matchmaking platform. Here, she was introduced to a new world of sexual liberation she had never experienced before… Continue reading ➤ | | | Richard Taylor (left) was played by Lee Ingleby as a smug, bean-counting suit in the film | | Steve Coogan has, in recent years, become as well-known for his campaigning against media abuses as his on-screen performances. So it is ironic that the actor has been forced to agree to pay substantial damages to settle a libel claim brought by university administrator Richard Taylor over his unflattering portrayal in The Lost King, a film co-written by Coogan. In this interview, Taylor tells his side of the story. Continue reading ➤ | | |
In a recent appearance on a US podcast, the Duke of Sussex discussed everything from ranch dressing to US citizenship. But which shop holds a “special place” in his memory? | | The feeling of constant tiredness is now so common that doctors have named it: TATT (or “tired-all-the-time syndrome”). But while many of us dismiss persistent exhaustion as an inescapable part of modern life, in some cases it can be a sign of something more serious, with countless conditions listing fatigue as a key symptom. So how can we tell whether our tiredness is normal or it’s time to seek help? Dr Nisa Aslam, an NHS GP, shares the warning signs to know about. Continue reading ➤ Below are two more helpful articles for you this morning: | | Many are lured across the Atlantic to pursue the American dream. There, workers earn on average a third more than their British counterparts.
While moving can boost your salary, it can also cut your tax bill. Federal income tax rates are lower than in the UK, and some states including Alaska, Florida and Texas charge no state income tax, allowing workers to keep more of what they earn. Someone living in one of these states and earning the equivalent of £110,000 could pay as little as £12,000 in federal income tax, according to analysis for The Telegraph. In the UK, the same worker would fall into the 60 per cent tax trap – incurring an income tax bill of £33,000. This is not including other state and property taxes, or social security and National Insurance. Telegraph Money looked at how a worker could halve their income tax bill by moving to the land of the free.
Continue reading ➤ | Droning on Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
Look on the bright side. It’s one of those adages, like “save for a rainy day” or “be the bigger person”, that is somewhat easier said than done. I was tempted to add, “especially at the moment”, but the truth is that humans have always been able to find something to complain about. The impulse has enriched the world. Without it, the works of Jonathan Swift, say, or Evelyn Waugh would look very different – assuming they existed at all. Still, The Telegraph’s George Chesterton, a self-professed moaner, recently wondered if there might be limits.
Telegraph readers – who have also been known, just occasionally, to take a less than ecstatic view of life in Britain today – have been pondering the value of a cheery outlook. “Why not look on the bright side?” asked Patrick Morris. “We’re only here because of multiple random events going back billions of years. Existence is a gift.”
Another reader added: “My grandad used to say, ‘If you want to be happy in life, look at what you’ve got, not at what you haven’t got’.”
And James McGee observed: “As we progress into the adult stages of life, we take on more responsibility and become more wary. This has its uses, but it can also make us more negative. It’s important to balance that with some positivity.”
All fair points – but Barney Tobin cautioned against unrelenting chirpiness: “In my previous working life I found the false positivity of my colleagues irritating. I told them so, and they had a mug made for me bearing the comment: ‘I hate all this false positivity.’ I’d rather have a moaner than be told that everything is “Super!” or “Great!” à la Reggie Perrin.” Do you err on the side of optimism? Send me your answers here, and they may get selected to appear in a future edition of From the Editor PM. You can sign up here to read the responses. | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
The solution to yesterday’s clue was HYPERBOLE. Come back tomorrow for the answer to today’s puzzle. | |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. Please let me know what you think of this newsletter. You can email me here. | |
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