China’s proposed “super-embassy” in London would require additional police officers to deal with any large protests involving thousands of people, the Metropolitan police have said before a decision by ministers. Despite having dropped its official objection to the proposals, the Met “maintains concerns” that large protests of more than 500 people outside the embassy would impede traffic and “require additional police resource”, said the deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell In a letter sent to the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and to the Home Office earlier this month, Savell…
Tag: England
Starmer calls for ‘lower temperature’ in trans debate as Badenoch says he must admit he was wrong about defining women – UK politics live
From 1h ago Starmer urges MPs to ‘lower the temperature’ in trans debate, as Badenoch challenges him to admit he was wrong about defining women Kemi Badenoch also wishes people a happy St George’s Day. And she says, being married to a Catholic, she knows how much the Pope meant to people. Does the PM accept that, when he said a trans woman was a woman, he was wrong. Starmer says the supreme court ruling has brought clarity. He sets out the principles he is applying. And he says it…
Two men in UK charged with spying for China
A parliamentary researcher who was arrested last year on suspicion of spying for China has been charged along with another man with espionage offences. Christopher Cash, 29, who had access to parliament through his work for an organisation set up by Conservative MPs, is to appear in court on Friday after he and Christopher Berry, 32, were charged under the Official Secrets Act. The men are accused of providing prejudicial information to a foreign state, China, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement on Monday. Police arrested the…
12 African Artists Leading a Culture Renaissance Around the World
In one of his famed self-portraits, Omar Victor Diop, a Senegalese photographer and artist, wears a three-piece suit and an extravagant paisley bow tie, preparing to blow a yellow, plastic whistle. The elaborately staged photograph evokes the memory of Frederick Douglass, the one-time fugitive slave who in the 19th century rose to become a leading abolitionist, activist, writer and orator, as well as the first African American to be nominated for vice president of the United States. Diop is no stranger to portraying the aches and hopes of Black people…
Thursday Briefing: China’s stock market slump
China’s stocks slump amid economic gloom A recent stream of worrying economic data released by China is taking the fizz out of its stock market. An index of Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong has fallen more than 9 percent this month, and the Hang Seng Index is down a similar amount. The CSI 300, which tracks the biggest companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, has dropped about 5 percent. “The Chinese economy is faced with an imminent downward spiral with the worst yet to come,” analysts at the investment…
English universities warned not to over-rely on fees of students from China
England’s higher education regulator has warned universities against over-reliance on tuition fees of students from China, as Rishi Sunak backtracked on his earlier pledge to close UK branches of the Beijing-sponsored Confucius Institute. The Office for Students (OfS) wrote to 23 universities with high numbers of Chinese students on Thursday, asking to see their contingency planning in case of a sudden interruption to overseas recruitment. “Such interruptions could result from, for example, a changing geopolitical environment which could cause an immediate and significant impact on income,” an OfS report said.…
Travellers from China who test positive in UK for Covid will not need to isolate
People arriving in the UK from China will not be required to self-isolate if they test positive for Covid-19, the transport secretary has said. Covid cases in China continue to surge after Beijing’s abrupt decision to end most of its severe pandemic restrictions. The UK government has said airlines will be required to check that passengers from China have a negative Covid test before departure, with travellers required to show evidence of their negative result. The UK Health Security Agency will also initiate surveillance from 8 January in which a…
How We Mourn Covid’s Victims
LONDON — Piece by piece, the Covid-19 sanctuary was born on a hilltop in the town of Bedworth in central England. The process was meant to be a metaphor for a human life. Like bones fused over time, it grew taller as the memorial’s creators spent months joining intricate pieces of wood into a skeletal structure that finally stood on its own, 65 feet high. Then they burned it all down. There have always been monuments to commemorate the loss of life from calamitous events, such as the thousands of…
Your Monday Briefing: Shelling in Ukraine intensifies
Russia’s imminent invasion? U.S. intelligence learned last week that the Kremlin had ordered an invasion of Ukraine to proceed, prompting a dire warning by President Biden that President Vladimir Putin had made the decision to attack. The new intelligence reveals that 40 to 50 percent of the Russian forces surrounding Ukraine have moved out of staging and into combat formation. Russian artillery fire escalated sharply in eastern Ukraine this weekend, deepening fears of an imminent attack and potentially giving Russia a pretext to invade. Ukrainians reluctantly left their homes, some…
Covid live: France confirms 130 Omicron cases; South Korea has deadliest day of pandemic
At the Commons science committee, Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association has accused the UK of a “knee jerk response” in bringing in a travel ban within 24 hours of Omicron being announced in South Africa last month. It would have been better to get people to wear masks, socially distance and keep away from large gatherings, she added. While proof of vaccination or a negative lateral flow test for certain events could help reduce the spread of the virus, Dr Coetzee said lockdowns were too…