Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Exclusive: US agencies believed kingdom intended to monitor Hatice Cengiz after journalist killed
US intelligence authorities urged British counterparts to keep a close eye on Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after they became aware of a plan by Saudi Arabia to keep her under surveillance in the UK last year, according to western intelligence sources.
The US believed the kingdom had the “ambition and intention” to monitor Cengiz in London last May, seven months after Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain papers so the couple could marry.
Transport and manufacturing heads criticise paperwork needed to trade with GB
The “straightforward” document that Northern Irish businesses will need to complete to send goods to Great Britain after Brexit is a complex form that includes 31 data elements, it can be revealed.
The Freight Transport Association has raised concerns that hauliers could be fined if they get elements of the “exit summary declaration” wrong, and is calling on the EU and the UK to remove it during their negotiations.
Calls for stricter outlawing of the trafficking and consumption of wild game - which has been linked to the emergence of Coronavirus in Chinese cities - have been reverberating on Chinese social media.
An interesting piece from Jessica Colwell on What’s on Weibo, which reports on social media trends in China, reports that the Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market which has been linked to the outbreak has been closed down but criticism of such markets has been fierce.
The hashtag “Support the banning of wild game markets” (#支持禁绝野味市场#) was topping the list of trending topics for much of Thursday and was viewed 270 million times.
Another hashtag, “The source of the new coronavirus is wild animals” (#新型冠状病毒来源是野生动物#), topped the list on Wednesday and has been viewed 990 million times. Online commenters are lambasting the practice of eating illegal wild game such as civet cats, the cause of the 2003 SARS virus, and bats, the suspected cause of the Wuhan coronavirus (snakes have also been suggested as a possible source of the coronavirus outbreak).
Britain’s public health authorities have put out these slides as part of an information campaign about the coronavirus outbreak
No confirmed cases of Wuhan coronavirus have been detected in the UK and the risk to the UK population is low. If you have travelled to the affected area, make sure you know what to do if you experience symptoms: https://t.co/vvIWp72flopic.twitter.com/hzV5A3dy4f
Government backing raises hopes of preserving ‘place that roofed the world’
An extraordinary landscape shaped by many centuries of slate production has been nominated by the UK government for Unesco world heritage status, a distinction enjoyed by sites such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge.
The production of slate in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, has left a landscape dotted with underground workings, terraces cut into hillsides, grey, towering tips and bright blue pools, all nestling within mountains and woodland.
Foreign secretary calls decision a ‘denial of justice’ and says UK would have acted differently
The foreign secretary has condemned the US decision to refuse an extradition request for the suspect charged with causing the death of Harry Dunn, saying the UK would have “acted differently”.
Harry Dunn died after a crash outside a US military base in Croughton, Northamptonshire, on 27 August 2019.
News Corp owner was the only media baron the prime minister saw in his first three months
Boris Johnson saw Rupert Murdoch for a “social meeting” on the day he signalled his intention to seek a general election last year, according to new transparency disclosures.
Europol detains alleged members of group responsible for trafficking 10,000 migrants into Britain
Authorities in France and the Netherlands have arrested more than 20 suspected members of a people-smuggling gang responsible for transporting as many as 10,000 migrants from France into Britain, the European police agency has said.
The network is believed to have made about €70m (£59m) from its human trafficking operations, which used refrigerated lorries to smuggle Afghan, Iranian, Iraqi-Kurdish and Syrian migrants into the UK.
Leicester workers allegedly paid £3 an hour in ‘miserable conditions’, with other serious labour abuses suspected in the north-west
Concerns over the ongoing situation of up to 10,000 garment workers in Leicester, who are feared to be trapped in conditions of modern slavery and paid £3 an hour, have been raised in Parliament.
Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, raised a question on Tuesday about the continuing state of working conditions in factories supplying the UK’s booming fast fashion industry, and sought a meeting with business secretary Kelly Tolhurst for clarity over enforcement of the national minimum wage.
Criticism follows government plan to include lie-detector tests in monitoring of convicted terrorists on release
The government’s adviser on terror legislation has warned that there is “no magic test” to determine the risks posed by a terrorist on release from prison, in further criticism of recently announced proposals to examine them with lie detectors.
Jonathan Hall QC said in a speech that it was “impossible to guard against all risks” of violent reoffending and that any system which handed over release decisions to “risk experts” using polygraphs or any other method would be unacceptable.
Over 40 MPs have warned against making ‘false choice’ over rail infrastructure project
More than 40 Conservative MPs have written to the prime minister to urge him not to cancel HS2, exposing deep divisions within the party over the future of the new railway line from London to the north of England.
At least 30 MPs, including former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, signed a joint letter on Tuesday night that calls on Boris Johnson to deliver the “long overdue” rail line in full, despite costs apparently spiralling to £106bn, arguing it will be a “key engine for growth that we must not waver from”.
Couple threaten legal action over press pictures of Duchess of Sussex and baby Archie
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex began their new lives in Canada by firing a warning shot across the bows of the media over paparazzi photographs they said were taken without consent.
Within hours of Prince Harry touching down in Vancouver to join Meghan and their baby son, Archie, the couple’s lawyers were threatening legal action over pictures taken of the Duchess of Sussex while out for a stroll.
Rapidly growing sector could prove lucrative as Britain seeks post-Brexit trade opportunities
UK investors could seize a $24bn investment opportunity by helping to connect millions of people without access to electricity to off-grid home solar power systems.
The market for pay-as-you-go home solar packages is expected to boom in Africa, where millions of homes are using mobile technology to rent low-cost solar panels.
Telling lies is stressful. That’s the basic logic of a polygraph test: that the stress of deceiving others will manifest itself through fleeting physical responses that may be imperceptible to another person but can be measured by a machine. Typically, a polygraph records blood pressure, galvanic skin response (a proxy for sweat), breathing and pulse rate.
There is a fairly standard protocol for the lie detector examination. The examiner will mix specific questions relevant to a case – “Did you commit a robbery on 29 March?” – with a series of control questions. Crucially, the control questions are also designed to be anxiety-inducing – for instance: “Have you ever stolen from a friend?” Along the way, the subject will be reminded that the machine can distinguish truth from lies and that they must respond truthfully.
Report calls for work on second phase of high-speed rail project to be put on hold for six months
The political battle over HS2 has intensified following the leak of a government review that found the costs of the high-speed rail link could reach £106bn, leaving supporters in the north fearing the government may scale back or axe the project.
The draft report said there is a “considerable risk” that costs could rise by another 20% from the last estimate in September, which priced the scheme at £81bn-£88bn. The original budget was £34bn.
Shadow Brexit secretary assured of place on final ballot after nomination by Usdaw
Sir Keir Starmer has guaranteed himself a place on the final ballot to become Labour’s next leader after becoming the first candidate to be backed by a second major trade union.
Usdaw, the retail union and Labour’s fourth largest affiliate, on Monday nominated the shadow Brexit secretary for leader and Angela Rayner for deputy leader.
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
Boris Johnson is due to speak shortly at the UK-Africa investment summit in London. According to a press release from Downing Street overnight, he will announce that the UK is going to stop using overseas aid to support coal mining or coal power plants overseas. No 10 says:
At the Summit, the prime minister will announce an end to UK support for thermal coal mining or coal power plants overseas, ending direct Official Development Assistance, investment and export credit.
This announcement forms part of the UK’s wider commitment to use its expertise and experience to help Africa transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable, sustainable forms of clean energy. In 2019 the UK went a record 83 days without generating electricity from coal. The UK was also the first major economy to set a legally binding target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and Glasgow will host the COP UN Climate Change Summit later this year.
During the general election Boris Johnson told a radio presenter that HS2 would cost more than £100bn. The presenter expressed surprise, because the official budget for the project at that point was just £88bn. but Johnson stuck to his guns. He said he thought the final bill would be “north of £1oobn”.
Perhaps Johnson knew more than he was letting on. Today’s Financial Times says a leak of the review of HS2 by Doug Oakervee says it could cost up to £106bn. The FT story is here (paywall) and our own follow-up is here.
I’m worried by the suggestion that there might be a delay in the north, or even that we might get some kind of second-class option, a mix of high-speed and conventional lines that it’s talking about.
And to me that would be the same old story. London to Birmingham, money is no object, and then all the penny pinching is done in the North of England.
This isn’t just about north-south rail. The point about HS2 is it lays the enabling infrastructure for the east-west links that we crucially need and most people here would say that those are even more important.
This is about building a railway for the north, right across the north, for the rest of the century.
Economic growth in African countries has triggered a global race for influence. Britain cannot afford to be left behind
Africa is the coming continent. Its population is predicted to double to 2 billion people over the next three decades. That growth will mean enormous opportunities for business and investment, but will also create huge challenges around sustainability and the environment.
An Africa focus is therefore essential, particularly for a post-Brexit Britain.
Police believe deaths were result of clash between groups of Sikh men in Redbridge
Two men, aged 29 and 39, have been arrested on suspicion of murder after three men were stabbed to death in Seven Kings, north-east London, on Sunday evening, the Metropolitan police said.
DCI Stephen Clayman said the men and the victims were known to each other. “We believe the groups involved are members of the Sikh community,” he said.
Ghent’s transformation produced shorter journeys, cleaner air and a cycling explosion
Birmingham – once, proudly, the UK’s “motorway city” – has announced plans to entice people out of cars and on to bikes and buses. If officials get their way, the city will be split into zones, and, rather than driving direct, motorists will have to use the ring road for all zone-to-zone journeys.
Those travelling by foot and bicycle in the new Brum won’t be inconvenienced: their journeys will be simple and – with fewer cars – safer. With cars out of the way, bus journeys will become swifter and more reliable.