GB News is facing a backlash after a commentator on one of its shows suggested there is “a genocide happening” against white people in England and that immigrants could “turn” on the white population.

The Hong Kong democracy campaigner and British citizen was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month under a security law imposed by China.

[...]

In a video address to the Society of Editors conference on Tuesday, Mr Lai’s son Sebastien Lai said: “Recently, we have received some very distressing news about his health.

“The deterioration of his health over the last five years has been heart-breaking to watch.”

Sebastien Lai said his father has remained “stoic”, but said a 20-year sentence at 78 years old is a “death sentence”.

“When they announced this 20-year sentence, which to all intents and purposes is a life sentence, a death sentence,” he said.

“He (Jimmy Lai) was stoic, he was at peace, and he even managed to smile to the judges to tell them that though they have captured his body and they have shackled his body, they have not shackled his spirits.”

Jimmy Lai, who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, which criticised the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing, was arrested in August 2020.

[...]

Sebastien Lai asked conference attendees to sign a letter calling for his father’s release.

“His story is a reminder of the responsibility that a journalist has to both his colleagues, but also to the people, that he tells the truth to,” the Hong Kong businessman’s son said.

[...]

UK foreign aid helped to develop Chinese fossil fuel extraction in a region where the oil sector is associated with forced labour risks, a new investigation has found.

Archived

The UK funded the regional government in Xinjiang, China to develop carbon capture technology during the height of its mass internment of Uyghur Muslims, a new investigation has revealed.

The investigation was conducted by Land and Climate Review [...] uncovered data from deleted UK government webpages that show quarterly Foreign Office payments between 2016-2018 “to support the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission to systematically assess and identify regional Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) development opportunities, and build capacity for CCUS development in Xinjiang”.

CCUS is a technology designed to reduce pollution from power plants. It uses chemical filters to remove carbon dioxide gas from smokestack emissions. Xinjiang is a major fossil-fuel region for China, containing approximately a third of the country’s onshore oil and gas reserves.

[...]

Laura Murphy, whose research into Uyghur abuses led to a Chinese intimidation campaign now being investigated by counter-terrorism police in the UK, said that the internment of Uyghurs “really ramped up” in 2016. “For the years between at least 2016 and 2020, there was a system of mass internment and arbitrary detention that affected upwards of a million people in the Uyghur region.”

The academic at Sheffield Hallam University said the UK government “absolutely should have known” about this before the aid scheme ended in March 2018.

[...]

Labour transfer schemes – where Uyghurs from rural villages in Xinjiang were forcibly relocated to work across China – were headed by Xinjiang’s Development and Reform Commission as it was receiving UK funding to develop its energy sector. China denies such practices occur.

Zumretay Arkin, Vice President of the World Uyghur Congress, described the investigation findings as “deeply alarming”. She said “the Xinjiang Development and Reform Commission played a central role in the policies that enabled the mass transfer of Uyghur labour. Any cooperation with regional authorities should have been subject to the highest level of scrutiny.”

[...]

Regulator nudges broadband market, hopes competition will turn up in 2031

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper's statement on Lebanon managed to avoid basically the entire context of the new Israeli invasion

• MoD splurged £1.5bn on doomed drone programme
• Israel’s largest arms firm now benefitting from that deal
• Dozens of drone components sent from UK to Israel last year
• Those parts should be re-exported but are remaining in Israel
• Airfield in illegally occupied territory likely being used to test the drones R* evelations suggest UK drone exports to Israel unlawful

This report sets out to examine the relationship between armed violence, international arms transfers and forced migration to the United Kingdom, drawing on original testimony from asylum seekers who fled conflict in Ethiopia, Sudan and Afghanistan. By combining investigative analysis of UK arms export licensing with detailed personal accounts of persecution, displacement and irregular journeys to Britain, it situates individual experiences within a wider political economy of war, aid retrenchment and defence expansion. While it does not claim direct causation between specific UK-manufactured weapons and particular attacks, it documents the structural overlap between states receiving British military exports and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, alongside the humanitarian consequences that drive flight. The report argues that debates on asylum and small boat crossings cannot be disentangled from the global systems of conflict, arms supply and geopolitical alignment in which the UK is materially and diplomatically implicated.

At 52 weeks, the UK offers one of the longest statutory maternity leave allowances in Europe, but it’s one of the worst paid

The assault, which was filmed and has been described as "sickening" by Avon and Somerset Police, is thought to be linked to a recent "school wars" trend on social media.

Five teenagers who were arrested in connection with the incident, which happened on Wednesday 4 March, have been released on bail.

The girl's dad, who we are calling Phil to protect the identity of the family, told the BBC she feels "let down" that witnesses did not intervene.

A carpenter and father of a toddler has called on the government to give self-employed men paid paternity leave.

The UK-first trial gave 99 care leavers a one-off £2,000 cash lump sum to see if it prevented them from falling into homelessness

It follows Alan Owen as he leads a legal battle seeking recognition and compensation for the millions affected by nuclear weapons testing.

cross-posted from: https://lemmus.org/post/20817166

PDF.

“Palantir is here to disrupt…and, when it’s necessary, to scare our enemies and, on occasion, kill them.” – Alex Karp, Palantir CEO, 2025^[1]^

Palantir is a US-based data analytics firm specialising in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and software commonly used by states in surveillance, border enforcement, policing and warfare. Palantir’s Federated Data Platform (FDP) aims to sit across NHS Trusts, ICBs and NHS England in order to connect and analyse pre-existing data on a national and local scale.

This report is prepared for NHS Trust Boards, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), Health Scrutiny Committees, and Health Data Governance Committees to outline key concerns of the authors, endorsers and supporters regarding the involvement of Palantir Technologies in NHS data infrastructure and operations, including via their delivery of the FDP. It is intended to inform and empower Trust decision making about engagement with Palantir. At the time of writing, the FDP is not mandatory, and local health bodies are able to both raise concerns and decline to implement the FDP at the local level. It is the view of the authors, endorsers and supporters that, for the reasons explained in this document, there are many more suitable options for data management solutions for Trusts and ICBs.

NHS England can also choose not to extend the national contract with Palantir beyond the initial 3-year contract. The contract’s review is upcoming in early 2027 at which point it could be terminated. In 2021, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care terminated a data deal regarding adult social care with Palantir following criticism, and the concerns regarding Palantir’s presence in public services have only grown since then.^[2]^