United Kingdom

The UK Foreign Office has warned senior British lawyers they are at risk of sanctions by the United States because of advice they provided to the International Criminal Court on Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

Senior lawyers involved in the ICC’s war crimes case against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant have received the warnings from Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, according to people familiar with the matter.

They include a former senior British judge, Lord Justice Adrian Fulford, Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws, and Danny Friedman, a barrister at Matrix Chambers, the people said.

https://www.ft.com/content/18f25482-3c7f-4fb2-b069-0a758fb4dd73

Speaking to the BBC, she said: "I understand why there's so much focus on our trading relationship with the US but actually our trading relationship with Europe is arguably even more important, because they're our nearest neighbours and trading partners.

https://archive.ph/oxPY3

Robert Jenrick has ruled out a pact with Reform UK and has said he wants to send its leader, Nigel Farage, “back to retirement” despite leaked comments suggesting he wanted to join forces with the rightwing party.

Ministers are considering whether to join such a scheme, which would allow young British people to work and study on the continent and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, is believed to be in favour of signing up in an attempt to boost the struggling economy.

Archived

In February 2025, a London neighborhood council and the London Metropolitan Police withdrew their opposition to the Chinese government’s plans to construct a huge “super embassy” on the grounds of the old Royal Mint, only days after thousands of people had participated in a protest against the project. Embassies and consulates are meant to provide useful services to citizens from the home country and promote comity and understanding between nations. However, the London authorities’ about-face in favor of construction of the 5.5-acre Chinese facility has sparked fears among United Kingdom residents from China—some of whom are the targets of bounties imposed by Beijing—that it could be used to enable acts of transnational repression. Their worries are not unfounded, especially considering the involvement of Chinese consul-general Zheng Xiyuan in the beating of a protester at the Manchester consulate in 2022. [...]

The Chinese government is just one of many authoritarian regimes that have employed diplomatic staff at embassies and consulates to spy on diaspora communities, threaten and harm exiled dissidents, and selectively deny them access to crucial services.

Watchful eyes

It is unsurprising that governments known for repressing citizens at home would use their diplomatic outposts to engage in similar efforts to silence dissent abroad, in contravention of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. One common transnational repression tactic made possible by these missions is the close monitoring of opposition movements. Throughout 2011, for example, Syrian and Libyan embassy officials tracked the participation of Syrian and Libyan nationals at Arab Spring rallies in the United States and Britain. They later shared this intelligence with officials back home, who put pressure on family members of the diaspora residents to rein in their activism overseas.

[...]

Physical attacks and abductions

Diplomats and their associates may go beyond surveillance and interference, engaging in plots to physically harm or forcibly repatriate dissidents living abroad. The grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 is arguably the most infamous example of this practice.

[...]

Access denied

In addition to carrying out espionage and physical intimidation, embassy and consulate staff representing authoritarian regimes often withhold access to key services and documents. As Freedom House has previously reported, the governments of at least 12 countries have denied consular services to their nationals abroad for political reasons. The diplomatic missions in question arbitrarily refuse to extend passports, certify birth or marriage certificates, or provide identity documents, leaving people trapped in limbo.

[...]

While acknowledging the legitimate role played by embassies and consulates in assisting their nationals and strengthening relationships between governments, the authorities in host countries must make it clear that transnational repression is not a diplomatic privilege.

[...]

Canada and the Netherlands have expelled Eritrean diplomats for imposing the diaspora tax on local Eritreans. Similarly, in 2024, the Canadian government banished six Indian diplomats for collecting information on alleged Sikh separatists in Canada.

As the British government nears a decision on the Chinese “super embassy” this summer, it should uphold its obligation to prioritize the safety and human rights of diaspora members and send a clear signal that no embassy in the United Kingdom will be allowed to serve as a hub for transnational repression.

The Environment Department (Defra) said that no prison sentences had been handed to water company executives since privatisation, despite widespread illegal sewage discharges, and that the tougher penalties were essential because some firms had obstructed investigations.

UK licensing bodies have announced a “pioneering” collective licence that will allow authors to be paid for the use of their works to train generative AI models.

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) – which is directed by the Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS) and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), representing publishers and authors – will develop the licence, set to be the first of its kind in the UK.

Expected to be made available to AI developers this summer, it will allow copyright holders “who are not in a position to negotiate direct licensing agreements with AI developers” to be paid for the use of their works.

“When we surveyed our members last year, they made it clear that they expect us to do something about their works being used to train AI,” said ALCS CEO Barbara Hayes. 81% of respondents said that they would want to be part of a collective licensing solution if ALCS was able to secure compensation for the use of writers’ works to train AI in cases where individual, case-by-case licensing is not a viable option.

The announcement comes as the UK government reviews responses to a consultation on its proposals for a copyright exemption for text and data mining, allowing AI companies to freely use copyrighted works unless rights holders opt out. The new licence “shows that a copyright exception is neither necessary nor desirable”, said the ALCS.

The government’s proposal “would give very limited choice, wouldn’t remunerate creators or provide any transparency about which works are being used”, said Hayes.

The collective licence, on the other hand, “will further demonstrate that licensing is the answer and can provide a market-based solution that is efficient and effective”, said Mat Pfleger, the CEO of CLA.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will introduce an amendment to legislation to ensure there is no slavery in GB Energy's supply chains.

It comes after ministers rejected an amendment to a bill last month that would have prevented that state-owned GB Energy spending money on solar panels where supply chains had "credible evidence of modern slavery".

The production of solar panels in China's Xinjiang region has been linked to the alleged exploitation of Uyghur Muslims.

[...]

A government source told the BBC since then "there has been an acknowledgement of the argument that GB Energy should be an industry leader".

There has already been praise from the international community for the U-turn. Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, told the BBC: "I really salute the UK government's decision."

He said that the materials for green technology are important but "should really be produced in a socially and environmentally acceptable way".

Labour MPs who have been calling for the change are seeing it as a victory.

[...]

I've been a very happy user of the GPAtHand and their various apps over the years. Was very handy when needing repeat prescriptions, combined with moving roughly every year to a new area of your city. Saved you having to register with a new GP every time.

The service has since descended into absolute omnishambles though, and currently the eMed app has a message after login in, saying this app is no longer available.

Nothing in terms of who to get in touch with or anything, if you would like to avail of the service. Or has it been completely axed? I used it roughly 6 months ago, and I've not had any communication about the service shutting down.

I know it changed owners from Babylon, which was excellent, to eMed, which seems like shit.

Any insight from anyone?

Full details from Ofcom are available here:

New rules for a safer generation of children online

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2523894

Archived link

In the era of Trump 2.0, the first question British defence companies are facing when trying to export their weapons abroad is whether they are independent of the US arms industry. Or simply, are they “Itar-free”?

Itar, which stands for the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, refers to a set of longstanding US rules that govern the items on the United States Munitions List, which is aimed at safeguarding national security.

The list contains US-produced software, components and other technology that can be used for either military purposes or serve a dual use. If a weapon is subject to Itar, it cannot be built, sold or supplied to someone else without US consent and support.

One defence industry source said: “Even if you have US engineers, you become Itar-tainted.”

To employ ex-US military employees, UK companies would become subject to Itar restrictions if they have not been granted an exemption.

Although the restrictions are nothing new, a combination of Trump’s tariffs, vague threats to Canada and Denmark and pause on providing military aid and intelligence to Ukraine has left defence companies and governments thinking twice before investing in American components or equipment.

...

Helsing, a European defence tech company, and Auterion, a supplier of drone operating systems with a European headquarters in Munich, also pride themselves on having Itar-free equipment.

Helsing has pursued the policy because it “was founded on the principle of providing sovereign capabilities for a strong Europe”, according to Amelia Gould, the company’s global maritime director.

“Europe has this technology, we don’t need to import everything from the US,” she added.

Brinley Salzmann, the director of overseas and exports for ADS, a defence trade association, said that what was once a preference for Itar-free weapons was quickly becoming a requirement.

He said: “As international collaboration increases and governments seek greater control over their supply chains, the ability to operate without US extraterritorial export restrictions is becoming a strategic consideration.”

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Researchers at the University of Edinburgh analysed NHS records from 62 million people to come up with the best estimate yet of the prevalence of ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

They concluded that 404,000 people are living with the illness, a figure that is two thirds higher than previously thought, and many are being “completely overlooked”.

Professor Chris Ponting, from the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Genetics and Cancer, the study author, said: “The NHS data shows that getting a diagnosis of ME/CFS in England is a lottery, depending on where you live and your ethnicity. The data backs up what many people with ME/CFS say: that they feel invisible and ignored.”

The digestive biscuits were originally intended to be eaten with the chocolate side facing down.

Emmanuel Macron will be granted a state visit before Donald Trump’s expected trip in September as Britain seeks closer ties with Europe, according to a report.

https://archive.ph/7dmKx