Andy Burnham has declared that he trusts Donald Trump as he prepares for high-stakes discussions with the US President.

The Prime Minister has previously labelled Mr Trump’s political approach “poisonous” and argued that politicians who worked with him should feel “ashamed”.

However, in a significant change of tone, Mr Burnham said he now regarded the outspoken President as a trusted ally.

Speaking to journalists during his flight to New York on Monday evening, he said the UK’s special relationship with the US was “as strong as it’s ever been”. He added: “When you come into this job, you realise how deep this relationship is.”

Asked directly whether he trusted Mr Trump, the Prime Minister replied: “Yes, of course, you know, we trust, we trust our allies. Of course, we do.”

When pressed on whether that confidence extended to Mr Trump personally, he answered simply: “Yes.”

The conciliatory message came shortly before the Prime Minister’s first in-person meeting with Mr Trump.

The two leaders are due to meet for talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr Burnham played down the pair’s previous exchanges, including Mr Trump’s description of him as “the mayor of some town”.

“Politicians say things throughout their careers, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in,” he said. Recalling their first phone conversation, he added: “I did say to the President in our first phone call – I said, Mr President, Manchester isn’t ‘some town’. I said, this is Manchester. And so yes, the right thing to do is to have a laugh about it, isn’t it, and move beyond it.”

During the meeting, the Prime Minister will urge Mr Trump to remain committed to Britain and Europe as the world faces what he described as “dark clouds of global instability”.

He is expected to call on the US President to stand alongside Nato in response to increasing Russian provocation.

Mr Burnham will also press him to recognise the risks posed by artificial intelligence, just days after Mr Trump dismissed the issue as a “hoax”.

He is also scheduled to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as part of efforts to revive Labour’s troubled reset with the European Union.

Several contentious issues are expected to feature in the discussions, including Mr Trump’s opposition to Labour’s plan to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and his recent lack of clarity over US backing for British sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

Mr Burnham said he would seek to convince Mr Trump to reconsider his public opposition to the controversial Chagos Islands agreement.

He said he had reassured his Mauritian counterpart during a phone call that Britain remained “determined to secure the long term operation of the base, which is crucial to our security and that of our allies”.

“The assurance I gave was I will work towards a resolution,” he said. “At the moment we don’t have that, but I gave an assurance that I would commit to working towards one.”

The PM’s official spokesman said he would use the trip to forge links with world leaders ‘to brighten a darkening global picture’.

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The PM will warn Mr Trump that safety concerns about AI cannot be ignored in the rush to harness huge potential benefits.

He is expected to ask Mr Trump to ensure that US-based tech firms submit their latest AI models for testing by the UK’s AI safety Institute.

And he will urge Mr Trump to co-operate with other world leaders in ensuring that AI does not become a threat to humanity.

Speaking ahead of his visit to the US, he said international cooperation was needed to make sure ‘rapidly changing technology is harnessed for good to make our countries safer and stronger’.

Mr Burnham is due to be accompanied by his wife Marie-France van Heel on his visit to New York.

He is due to hold face-to-face talks with President Trump at the UN before delivering a speech focused on the challenges and opportunities posed by AI in the evening.

The PM will also lobby President Trump to step up support for Ukraine at a time when Nato is braced for fresh provocations from Vladimir Putin.

He will also raise the continuing fallout from the war in the Middle East, which is pushing up energy prices across the world.

But sources said he plans to use the gathering of world leaders in New York to focus on encouraging cooperation on AI.

‘We are at our strongest when we work with our partners to tackle the most complex shared challenges we face, driven by our values,’ he said.

‘When the global financial crisis hit, the UK brought together the world’s leading economies. As we confront the opportunities and challenges posed by artificial intelligence, we will show that same leadership, ensuring rapidly changing technology is harnessed for good to make our countries safer and stronger.’

Senior figures in the tech industry have issued a series of alarming warnings in recent weeks. The head of alignment at Anthropic said there was a 10 per cent chance that AI could ‘kill all humans’ within the next decade, leading the firm’s boss Dario Amodei to call for an agreement to slow the pace of technology.

President Trump dismissed warnings about the threat to life from AI as a ‘hoax’ designed to dent the lead of US firms in the race to produce super intelligence.

The PM said the warnings had ‘made me pause’.

He said he believed AI could be a ‘force for good’ but said the risks had to be guarded against.

He added: ‘I note the president has I think said himself we need to be careful as well as look at the benefits, but be careful. And we’ve got to find that point of balance here, not all of a sudden turn against and become… a doom-monger about AI. I think you have to be clear-eyed about the huge benefits it can bring as well as recognising where we do need to be careful.’

Officials believe the White House is also concerned about potential harms caused by the technology. At the weekend, Mr Trump announced the creation of a new ‘AI Force’ which would monitor the technology for ‘bad’ outcomes, which he said could be done ‘very easily’.

Britain and the US will today unveil a new ‘AI and Autonomy partnership’ aimed at using AI to help detect and counter potential threats to critical national infrastructure. The Ministry of Defence and the Pentagon will team up to accelerate the delivery of joint capabilities that ‘enhance deterrence and both countries’ technological edge’.

Buying a first home should be a milestone worth celebrating. But for one 24-year-old, the excitement was quickly dampened by a friend’s sarcastic reaction.

The first-time buyer had just made an offer on a spacious 1,400-square-foot apartment and excitedly shared the news with a close friend by text.

“Guess who just put an offer down on a condo?” he wrote. Her reply was blunt: “Your parents?”

He explained that the unit he had mentioned several months earlier had come back onto the market.

“Apparently, the previous sale fell through and the owner needs to sell quickly, so they lowered the asking price,” he said. “With the money I’ve saved, plus the inheritance I received after my granddad passed away two years ago, I’m hoping I get the place.”

Rather than congratulate him, his friend launched into a lengthy warning, accusing him of making a “reckless decision.”

“I just feel spending all that to live in a cubicle is an extremely poor choice,” she wrote.

“I know you said you don’t think you’ll find anyone soon and that you don’t need much space because all you do is game. But as you get older, I feel you will 100 percent regret not having your own space to do things, host people, have a yard and enjoy the outdoors.”

Her criticism continued.

“I just don’t see it as owning when you have such a small space, a whole bunch of neighbours and building management to deal with. It just seems like a poor choice.”

She encouraged him to wait, save more money and eventually buy a house instead.

“You could have your own space for your car, a yard, and the fact that you’re likely to find someone and have a family means you’ll have room to grow,” she said.

The friend then sent him a “list of things to consider,” including annual maintenance fees, the approvals required for renovations, limited privacy and potentially slower market growth if he decided to sell the apartment later.

“Yearly maintenance fees are low in the first year so people will be dumb enough to purchase, and those fees go up 20 to 50 percent after the second year,” she claimed. She also argued that he would not have “full property ownership” by living in an apartment.

“Your life and your choices, but I feel you are jumping the gun and making a reckless decision,” she concluded.

Taken aback, the man replied: “That’s fair, and I appreciate you looking out for me, but I’m so excited. This is all I’ve wanted for a long time.”

He added: “If I meet someone and we want to start a family or move in together, we’ll get a different place. We can cross that bridge when the time comes.”

His unenthusiastic friend sent a snarky reply: ‘Well best of luck then lol. 

‘I can’t wait for the “you were right”.’

He ended the conversation with: ‘Thanks! Good thing I don’t have a lot to move.’

Sharing their text exchange, the man said they used to be ‘close’ but he noticed his friend getting ‘progressively distant and meaner over the past four months. 

‘When I shared the news, I was expecting at least a “congratulations” and this is what I got,’ he said. 

‘I thought it was time… I decided to cut off a friend.’

The young man said he was looking forward to buying his first home as he’d been living with his parents in a tiny bedroom. 

‘This is going to be a huge upgrade for me,’ he said. 

‘The place I put an offer on is 1,400-square-foot and is nearly the same size as the house I’m currently in – let alone the fact that I live with my parents and my only personal space is a small bedroom.’

He added: ‘She knows I’ve been saving up for a place for a long time and she knew how much it meant to me yet still said what she did.’

What baffled him the most was that his friend was renting with her boyfriend.  

His post was met with more than 4,200 comments, with many suggesting the friend may be ‘jealous’ about his purchase.

‘That’s a whole lot of wrong words to say, “Congratulations I’m happy for you”. What a bad friend,’ one said. 

‘I’d block and never look back. This response is so sh**. I can’t believe there are people so miserable out there,’ another shared.

‘That is not your friend. That is a person actively hoping you fail and have things go terribly for you so they can have a nice “I told you so”,’ one suggested. 

‘When she said, “Your parents?” I read that as a clear indicator that she was hugely jealous. She cannot bear the thought that he got his s*** together sufficiently to make this big move,’ another added.

Meanwhile, others shared how their lives changed after purchasing an apartment.

‘I bought a tiny condo in my city. I was still able to host parties and friends, it was a studio style setup. Then I met my now-husband, who owned his own house and yard, and moved in with him. The condo is now an investment for me. You live your life on your own timeline, not worrying about if or when you meet someone,’ one said.

‘I had my condo for 30 years. It’s perfect for a first time home owner. Guess what I regret doing? Selling my beautiful condo a few years ago and buying my too large home with all of the things your friend says you needed,’ another revealed.

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A 35-year-old Apple software engineer, married father of three, has been identified as the California man who died after a boat crashed in San Francisco Bay.

The fishing vessel, carrying three people, struck rocks and capsized near the Golden Gate Bridge’s north tower shortly after 6am on Thursday, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said.

The Marin County Coroner later identified Daniel Zhengyu Qin as the only person killed in the San Francisco Bay boat crash.

All three people aboard the vessel suffered life-threatening injuries, but emergency crews from multiple agencies recovered them alive after receiving a 911 call.

The three victims were taken to a local hospital. Qin later died from his injuries “despite prolonged resuscitative efforts,” according to the sheriff’s office.

An online fundraiser organized for Qin’s wife, Yao Deng, described him as “a beloved software engineer at Apple, a devoted husband, and a loving father to three young children.”

The fundraiser was launched on Friday by family friend Cathy Wu, who remembered Qin as “kind, funny, and endlessly generous.”

Qin leaves behind an 11-year-old son and two daughters, aged nine and three.

“His sudden passing has left his wife and children facing an unimaginable loss, both emotionally and financially,” Wu wrote.

“He got along effortlessly with his coworkers, his children looked up to him, and his friends adored him. He was always the first to show up when anyone needed help.”

Public records show that Qin and his wife lived in a San Diego home valued at $1.7 million.

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The fundraiser is seeking $200,000 to help Qin’s family cover funeral and memorial costs, his children’s everyday expenses and emergency needs during the coming months.

More than $76,500 had been raised by Monday afternoon.

The Marin County Sheriff’s Office said investigators have not yet determined what caused the boat crash that killed Qin.

A forensic post-mortem examination, including “routine toxicology testing,” is expected to be completed within the next few days, the sheriff’s office said.

The cause and manner of Qin’s death remain undetermined as the investigation continues.

The agencies involved in the response to the crash and rescue efforts included the US Coast Guard, the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, the San Francisco Police Department Marine Unit, the Sausalito Fire Department and the Marin County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit. 

The Coast Guard said in a statement that its crew arrived about five minutes after receiving a distress call about the crash and that it rescued two people from the water, while the San Francisco Police Department rescued a third. 

‘Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones of the individual who lost his life,’ Captain Jarod Toczko, commander of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, said in the statement. 

‘While our crews and partner agencies worked together to bring all three people to safety, we recognize that this rescue ended in a heartbreaking loss. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.’ 

Earlier this year, Presley Gerber, the son of former 1990s supermodel Cindy Crawford, entered a controversial rehabilitation program hoping it would finally help him regain control of his life.

From a treatment retreat in Mexico, he shared a video describing his experience with ibogaine, a naturally occurring psychoactive substance that is sometimes used in efforts to address alcohol and substance abuse.

“I faced what I had been running from, and somewhere in all of it, I started finding my way back to myself,” he wrote on Instagram in March. “We shall see… Praying it’s the last time I have to come back.”

His family appeared encouraged by the progress. In supportive messages, relatives described him as a “warrior,” praised his “courage” in confronting difficult issues and expressed pride that he had continued fighting through a decades-long struggle with poor mental health.

In light of what followed, however, that hopeful message has taken on a devastating significance.

Presley, the 27-year-old son of Crawford, 60, and millionaire businessman Rande Gerber, 64, died Sunday at a rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles.

In a statement issued Monday, the Santa Monica Police Department said officers “responded to a report of a possible overdose” at approximately 9:35 a.m. on September 20. “At this time, there is no indication of foul play,” police said.

Crawford’s publicist confirmed the death in a statement, saying: “The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time.”

The loss will be profoundly painful for his family, though one person close to them said Presley’s death had been feared for some time and described it as “inevitable.”

“I truly didn’t think there was any way out for Prez,” the insider told the Daily Mail. “It’s so sad to say, but it felt inevitable.”

“It wasn’t that he didn’t try. He just couldn’t seem to handle the pressure of being born into a famous family. He always felt he was being judged by outsiders and had to live up to his parents’ successes.”

Presley’s experience was far removed from the familiar stereotype of a privileged “nepo baby”—the assumption that children of wealthy and famous parents can enter any industry through family connections, regardless of their own talent.

His younger sister, model and actress Kaia Gerber, 25, appears to have handled that legacy differently. She reportedly earns about $5 million a year and has become one of the world’s most successful models, while also securing prominent roles in the award-winning television series American Horror Story and Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel The Shards.

For Presley, however, the family name became a heavy burden.

“When he was getting huge modeling gigs, he didn’t think it was because of him,” the family friend said.

“He thought it was because he was Cindy Crawford’s son. The stress became a huge obstacle.”

“He was brought up with great love and respect for others, but his biggest problem was that he never believed he was enough.”

Born in Brentwood, California, in 1999, Presley grew up in the Californian beach city of Malibu and went to school at Malibu High.

But his was no ordinary high school experience. Scouted at the age of 15 and signed to IMG Models, the same agency as his sister, soon he was juggling academic work with a burgeoning modeling career.

‘Within the first week of signing I’m in New York and people are taking pictures of me, like, shirt off,’ he recalled to the Studio 22 podcast in 2023. ‘My whole life changed within a month, and it was just a very profound experience because I had to grow up quickly.’

A year later, in 2016, he made his runway debut for Italian label Moschino and soon he was walking for brands including Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Bottega Veneta, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. His most recent gig was as the face of Celine’s Eau de Californie fragrance and last year he teamed up with his family for a campaign for Californian activewear label Vuori.

The transition from a kid with a relatively normal existence to an in-demand model was clearly jarring for Presley who would often reflect fondly on his life pre-fame, posting old home video footage and photos on Instagram alongside captions like ‘the good old days.’

Seemingly hand-in-hand with his newfound career came a deterioration in his mental state. He said himself that his ‘quality of life rapidly decreased’ when he went from a teenager with a sporty, structured existence – playing water polo or swimming for hours every day, pausing only to grab something to eat – to traveling the world for shoots and fashion shows and dabbling in medication for his mental health.

Reflecting on his rise to fame last year, he said: ‘For me it took ten years of looking back at my life being like “what changed?” People would always ask: “You were such a happy kid, what happened to you?” What happened was life happened and I wasn’t able to worry about one thing which was my next meal and then get back in the ocean. I had to start making money and get a job.’

These were comments made on one of his Mental Health Mondays videos, an Instagram initiative he launched in March 2023 to talk about his own experiences and to help others feel less alone. ‘I have struggled with mental health a lot of my adult life and starting at a very young age,’ he said in the introduction video. ‘I think that right now it’s the ultimate pandemic, so we need to bring light to this.’

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Over the last three years he has talked candidly about his experiences with substances including ketamine, ‘poppy seed tea’ – sometimes used to treat pain – alcohol and nicotine as well as a plethora of prescription medications including Diazepam (Valium), zolpidem, Prozac, trazodone, kratom, Xanax and Adderall, among others.

He was forced to take a break late last year, telling fans in November that he had to ‘step back and take care of my own mental health for a bit.’ He promised he would be ‘coming back soon – stronger, clearer, more intentional than ever.’

But recovery was tough and the following month he opened up about his struggles in a since-deleted video, sharing that he was on 1mg of Buprenorphine, a prescription opioid used to treat both pain and opioid use disorders, twice a day.

He also said that the ‘benzos have been fluctuating up and down depending on what’s been going on in my life’ and that he was taking a dose of Xanax at night or when the ‘panic attacks are really, really bad.’

‘Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of loss in many different forms recently, so that is not an excuse, but it’s the reason or part of why I am where I’m at now,’ he said. He did not disclose details of the ‘loss.’

In January this year, however, he looked healthy, posing at an event for the release of his close friend Paris Hilton’s second album.

And in March he revealed he had undergone an ‘Ibogaine Flood Dose’ at the Beond Ibogaine clinic in Cancun, Mexico, where treatment starts at $12,500 for a ten-day program.

Patients are administered a high dose of ibogaine, a naturally occurring psychoactive compound derived from the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga that is reported to help withdrawal symptoms and ‘reset brain pathways.’

According to the Ibogaine Institute, such high doses can ‘trigger an intense, often introspective psychedelic or ‘wakeful dream’ experience’ as well as ‘initiate lasting changes in mood, motivation, and behavior.’

It clearly did not work for Presley, who found himself back in rehab shortly before his death despite the best efforts of his family.

‘He hasn’t been sober for years,’ said a family friend. ‘There were always drugs, alcohol or medications. He very rarely had a clear day in the last decade.

‘Prez has been in self-destruct mode for most of his adult life. He had rehabs, counseling and dozens of psychiatrists, but nothing seemed to work. Even having such a loving and supportive family meant nothing in the end.

‘Rande and Cindy both had many lengthy discussions with Prez about the direction his life was going. How he was going deeper and deeper down a rabbit hole. He’d promise to try his best. He was closer to Rande who vowed never to give up on his son.

‘Even Kaia would try to intervene. She loved him so much, but she knew she was powerless.’

Kaia recently opened up for the first time about her brother’s long struggle with depression and drug addiction, which once saw him tattoo his face with the word ‘misunderstood’ to reflect how he felt in life, and also saw him arrested for driving under the influence. He pleaded ‘no contest’ to the charge in 2019 and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

‘When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone,’ she told Vogue in an interview last month.

Kaia, who also struggled with disordered eating and once claimed she underwent an exorcism as she was told she was ‘possessed,’ said her brother’s issues meant her identity was that of the ‘easy’ child.

An insider previously told the Daily Mail that Presley ‘became like this wild child whose distress was allowed to be visible and disruptive’ while ‘Kaia took an interesting approach by becoming extraordinarily self-contained, competent and a low-needs person.’

They added: ‘They will say that they have very different memories of their childhood. Presley needed help constantly – [that] was the vibe in the house. He gets permission to do that. So, what does she do? She becomes overly controlled, accommodating.’

Despite an extremely tight bond – his last public appearance was supporting his sister at a launch for her collaboration with upcycled denim brand Re/Done in May in Los Angeles – Presley’s failure to match his sister’s success in modeling cannot have helped his feelings of insecurity about living in a wildly successful, A-list family.

Perhaps it is why he started to carve a new path for himself in recent years, focusing on mental health advocacy.

‘I’ve seen a lot of stuff and I’ve learned a lot of things,’ he said on a Mental Health Mondays video. ‘What I hope I can do is have made the mistakes for some other people, so they don’t have to make the same mistakes that I made.’