China's top legislator meets British PM in Beijing

Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, met with visiting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Beijing on Thursday morning.

Starmer arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin a four-day official visit at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, marking the first visit by a British prime minister to China in eight years.

Zhao noted that nurturing sound China-UK relations carries significant importance for the times and for the world amid an international landscape undergoing a period of turbulence and transformation.

He said that since Starmer took office in July 2024, Chinese leaders have engaged in phone calls and meetings with the British side, steering bilateral relations onto a track of improvement and development.

China is willing to work with the UK to uphold the strategic partnership, maintain a positive, pragmatic, stable and mutually beneficial direction, properly manage differences, and ensure that China-UK relations develop in a steady, substantive, and far-reaching manner, Zhao said.

Zhao also expressed China's readiness to work with the UK to restore normal exchanges between the two countries' legislative bodies and welcomed British parliamentarians to visit China to gain a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic understanding of the country.

For his part, Starmer noted the UK and China share extensive common interests, and said the UK is willing to develop a long-term, consistent strategic partnership with China. He affirmed that the UK's longstanding policy on the Taiwan question remains unchanged and expressed hope for the resumption of normal exchanges between the two legislatures.

China's top legislator meets British PM in Beijing

Rescue teams in Indonesia have pulled 53 bodies from a landslide in West Java, as rain and unstable ground hamper the fifth day of searches.

The landslide struck the Cisarua region in West Bandung Regency early Saturday, burying dozens of homes. Of the victims recovered, 35 have been identified, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said Wednesday.

Survivors have been evacuated into temporary shelters as rescuers continue searching for dozens still missing. Lina, one of the survivors, said it was around 02:00 when she heard a thunderous noise and felt the ground shaking.

"I told my husband to wake our child. As he entered the room and opened the curtain, the wall collapsed on our child. All I could do was scream. I didn’t think to call for help. I just cried out for my child," she said.

Lina said her 12-year-old niece is still missing. She and her family now stay at a relative’s house as the landslide badly damaged her home, making it inhabitable.

Riska, another victim, said there was a power outage in the evening before the landslide, accompanied by heavy rain and gusty winds.

"I was so terrified I wouldn't survive. The thunderous noises kept repeating. Many thought it was a helicopter. It sounded exactly like that. Now, the sound of a helicopter terrifies me," she recalled the moment in the disaster.

Riska and her two children are now staying at a temporary shelter in the village.

Hundreds of evacuated people are crammed together in a sports hall renovated into a temporary shelter.

All they can do is to wait and rely on donations and local aid for daily food and clothes to wear.

Rescuers recover 53 bodies after deadly landslide in Indonesia's West Java