Over a fifth of NHS suppliers providing items including surgical instruments, gloves, gowns and face masks are at “high risk” of using modern slavery, according to a government review. Nearly half of all NHS suppliers of gowns and uniforms are based in China, which also provides the bulk of all masks. The finding is included in a review of 1,361 suppliers to the NHS, conducted by the Department of Health and Social Care, following a government commitment to eradicate modern slavery from the healthcare system. The review highlighted specific areas…
Tag: UK news
AstraZeneca buys Chinese cancer therapy firm Gracell for $1.2bn
AstraZeneca has struck a deal to buy a Chinese cancer therapy company for up to $1.2bn (£950m), as Britain’s biggest drugmaker expands its footprint in its second-largest market. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm announced on Tuesday it would acquire Gracell Biotechnologies, which is focused on a type of cancer therapy known as CAR-T that modifies a patient’s cells to fight the disease. The deal marks a further investment in cancer research and treatment, which accounts for about one-third of AstraZeneca’s business, as well as its continued push to expand in China.…
Harrods opens private members’ club in Shanghai costing £16,500 a year
Harrods has opened a private members’ club in Shanghai that offers 250 super-rich people exclusive access to Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant in China, a bar stocked with rare Scotch whiskies, and the Knightsbridge department store’s own-brand private jets. The retailer opened the private club, which charges minimum annual fees of 150,000 yuan (£16,500), as part of its drive to connect more with wealthy Chinese people as spending by its traditional customer base stagnates. The club, called the Residence, is located inside Shanghai’s historic Cha House where Harrods already operates a…
David Cameron calls on Hong Kong to release Jimmy Lai
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has called for the release of the British citizen Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy newspaper publisher facing a “politically motivated prosecution” in a high-profile trial in Hong Kong. In a significant intervention, the former prime minister condemned the charges against Lai, 76, who faces a possible life sentence if convicted under a national security law that China imposed after the 2019 pro-democracy protests. Lai is charged with colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to publish seditious material. The trial…
World watches as landmark Jimmy Lai trial set to begin in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s global reputation will be tested this week when the long-delayed trial of the pro-democracy activist and former media mogul Jimmy Lai gets under way. Lai, who turned 76 in jail this month, is charged with colluding with foreign forces under the national security law, as well as sedition. If convicted, which experts say is highly likely, the British national faces spending the rest of his life in prison. The trial starts on Monday, two weeks after another landmark hearing came to an end on 4 December. The Hong…
David Cameron urged to tell China to free Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai
Foreign secretary David Cameron is being urged to demand the release of newspaper tycoon Jimmy Lai as the British national prepares for a high-profile trial in Hong Kong this month. Lai, 76, is facing a life sentence, accused of colluding with foreign forces under the draconian national security law introduced by Beijing in 2020 following mass protests. Sebastien Lai wants to meet David Cameron to discuss his jailed father, Jimmy. Photograph: Free Jimmy Lai Campaign His son Sebastien has demanded that Cameron, who has faced controversy over his links to…
Visualised: how all of G20 is missing climate goals — but some nations are closer than others
Not a single G20 country has policies in place that are consistent with the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C and meeting their “fair share” of emissions reduction. The assessment, based on data up to 5 December provided by the Climate Action Tracker, comes as leaders gather in Dubai for the Cop28 conference. It assesses each country against its “fair share” contribution to the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, taking into account considerations such as the historical emissions of higher-income countries, which may increase their responsibility…
Where you can turn for quality TV news | Brief letters
Can I suggest that the former Newsnight presenter Peter Snow, who feels starved of the journalism that matters (Letters, 1 December), watches Channel 4 News? At 55 minutes, it has ample time for in-depth analysis, and the journalism is of the highest standard.Philip HoldsworthRhos-on-Sea, Conwy It must be a sign of my age that, as soon as Zoe Williams mentioned her previous husband’s choice of the name Thurston for their baby, I thought of Thurston Dart, the classical musician, not a pop star. (Worried about naming your baby? Don’t be, 5 December).Marie PatersonNuneaton,…
Why no concern at prisoners being paid just 50p an hour to work? | Brief letters
Reading another article about Chinese prisoners possibly making products for sale in the UK (Chinese prisoner’s ID card apparently found in lining of Regatta coat, 1 December), I wonder why there is no concern that British prisoners are forced to work for UK companies for about 50p an hour? This work provides no training for release and serves only to enrich private prison contractors.David AdamsDarlington, County Durham How appropriate that on the day you note that Katherine Rundell, the author of The Golden Mole, has won the Waterstones book award…
China’s Evergrande wins more time to restructure debts
The property developer Evergrande has been granted an extension until late January to try to restructure its debts and avoid liquidation in one of the most high-profile cases in China’s long-running property crisis. Evergrande was once China’s biggest property developer, but a default on offshore debt obligations in 2021 started a lurch from one crisis to another. It has reported debts of more than $300bn (£237bn), much of it to individuals whose properties were never built. The company is facing the prospect of liquidation after a creditor, Top Shine Global,…