Tag: Great Britain

U.K. Backs Giant Nuclear Plant, Squeezing Out China

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The British government on Tuesday threw its weight behind nuclear power, saying it would back a major new generating plant on the coast of the North Sea northeast of London. The government said it would invest £700 million ($842 million) for a 50 percent stake in Sizewell C. EDF, the French state utility, which will construct the plant, will hold the rest. The deal squeezes out a Chinese state-owned company, China General Nuclear, which had owned 20 percent of the project. CGN received an undisclosed sum for its share, reflecting…

UK Sees Varied Domestic Threats, Mainly From Iran, Russia and China

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The scale of those expulsions, together with the rollout of Western economic sanctions designed to isolate Russia, had proved a surprisingly potent test for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, he added. Well before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Britain was especially sensitive to the activities of Russian agents, and its pushback against Moscow’s spy networks intensified after the nerve agent poisoning of Sergei V. Skripal, the former Russian agent, and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England, in 2018. Since that episode prompted Britain to expel 23 Russian diplomats on espionage grounds,…

In Britain, Demands for Tough Response After Beating at Chinese Consulate

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LONDON — The rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, in northern England, began like others before it, with demonstrators against repression in Hong Kong hanging banners and preparing to shout slogans. But the scene turned violent on Sunday after a group of men emerged from the consulate, removed a poster of Xi Jinping, China’s leader, and then dragged one protester through the gates. They kicked and beat him as police officers and other protesters rushed to separate them. Journalists at the scene caught the melee on video seen around…

China Recruiting Former R.A.F. Pilots to Train Army Pilots., U.K. Says

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LONDON — China has recruited as many as 30 retired British military pilots, including some who flew sophisticated fighter jets, to train pilots in the People’s Liberation Army, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry. A senior official said the ministry worried that the practice could threaten British national security. Britain said it was working with allies to try to stop the practice, which the official said dated to before the coronavirus pandemic but had gained momentum in recent months. The recruited British pilots, the senior official said, included former members of…

From Moscow to Tehran, a Crisis of Illiberalism

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The worldview behind Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine assumed the following premises: The West and America are declining, decaying and internally divided. The globalized world is becoming multipolar, with “civilization-states” re-emerging and competing to claim their spheres of influence. And Russia and China in particular represent potent alternatives to Western liberalism that stand ready to contend for global dominance. As badly as the war has gone for Putin, some of this analysis still holds up. The world has indeed responded to the Ukraine War along multipolar lines. Saudi Arabia’s snub…

In Hong Kong, Mourning the Queen and the Past

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HONG KONG — Many people lining up outside the British Consulate General here this week were mourning not just the death of Queen Elizabeth II but the loss of what the city once was. They were there to leave flowers, a portrait of the queen or a Union Jack, and to sign a book of remembrance for Elizabeth, who was Hong Kong’s head of state for 45 years when it was a British colony. The consulate said more than 10,000 people had paid their respects in the week ended Friday,…

Your Friday Briefing: Queen Elizabeth II Dies at 96

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Queen Elizabeth II is dead at 96 Queen Elizabeth died peacefully yesterday afternoon after more than 70 years as the British head of state. She was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. Here is her obituary, photos from her reign and live updates. The queen was widely revered as she presided over Britain’s adjustment to a post-colonial era and saw it through its divorce from the E.U. Her years as sovereign were a time of upheaval. Still, she sought to project the royal family as a bastion of permanence in a world of…

Your Tuesday Briefing: Liz Truss Selected to Lead Britain

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Liz Truss is chosen to lead Britain Liz Truss will formally assume the prime minister’s title in a meeting today with Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The hawkish foreign secretary will assume power as Britain faces its gravest economic crisis in a generation. Household energy bills are set to spike by 80 percent, and some economists predict that inflation will top 20 percent by early next year. In a speech, she promised a “bold plan to cut taxes,” but many believe Truss will have to announce sweeping…

What Dominated the World Economic Forum

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Davos’s talking points The annual World Economic Forum, delayed from its normal winter date by Covid, has wrapped up. The high-profile conference, which draws leaders from government, business and nonprofits, has returned for the first time since coronavirus shut down the world — but in the midst of a war in Europe. DealBook was on hand, and here are our big takeaways: Executives are worried about a slowdown. Nearly every conversation with chief executives was dominated by how to handle rising interest rates, inflation and supply chain shocks, with the…

The Ukraine War and the Retro-Future

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Long before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, his aggressions were often met by the accusation — leveled by John Kerry and Angela Merkel, among others — that he’s a 19th-century figure in a 21st-century world. It’s a line that seemed intended to judge Putin guilty not just of wickedness but of anachronism, which is somehow more confounding to the modern mind. But today there is a sense in which being a 19th-century man in the 21st century actually makes Putin extremely of the moment — a characteristic figure for our…