United Kingdom

At a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) on Friday, Luke de Pulford, its executive director, said: “About a year ago the Belgian and French foreign ministries publicly confirmed [Chinese state] sponsored cyber-attacks against our members.

“Other countries have done the same privately. Beijing has made no secret of their desire to attack foreign politicians who dare to stand up to them.”

Last year, a parliamentary researcher was arrested over allegations of spying.

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10346015

Academics designed dozens of courses over three years for the benefit of hundreds of medics, despite warnings that there is no safe way to collaborate with the Chinese transplant sector because the killing of political prisoners for their organs is so widespread.

The alleged role of one “honoured guest” at the most recent New Horizons programme, Prof Zheng Shusen, was said in a submission to a 2018 tribunal to need explanation over a “clear and convincing evidence pattern” of being “directly or indirectly complicit in the commission of crimes against humanity… against unknown individuals who were killed in the process of having their organs extracted”.

It comes amid increasing concern about the influence of the Chinese Communist Party on Britain’s top universities.

Channel 4 presenter Cathy Newman is among more than 250 British celebrities who have become victims of deepfake pornography.

It comes as part of an investigation from the channel which aired yesterday evening, following an analysis of the five most visited deepfake websites.

It found that 255 of the almost 4,000 famous individuals listed were British, with all but two being women.

Among them is the channel’s news presenter, Cathy Newman, who said she felt violated on watching digitally altered footage in which her face was superimposed onto pornography using artificial intelligence (AI).

I'm sure there are many very valid reasons why this change is problematic for the unfortunate people involved, but to my eyes it does look a bit... odd that they're complaining they've been unfairly treated for (checks notes) being given the same as Men born in the 50's.

But hey, I'm just a 36 year old with no realistic expectations of ever being able to claim a state pension, let alone retire. What do I know.

UK's aid engagement with China across all of government dropped from £80 million to an estimated £8.2 million between 2019 and 2023-2024, with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) – mostly through the British Council – and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) continuing to spend aid there, a report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) says.

But the ICAI raises concerns about the transparency of the remaining spend.

In the report, the watchdog notes that while there have been efforts to improve transparency in some areas, it has worsened around the ‘administration costs’ of running aid programmes and other development activities, for which ICAI was unable to get an up-to-date figure.

With China expected to graduate from being eligible for official development assistance (ODA) in the near future, ICAI also pointed out a lack of clear planning on how the government’s priorities in the country will be funded after this happens.

An internal Whitehall assessment advised ministers that the Government would be pausing any consideration of sanctions against Chinese firms “indefinitely”, according to internal Cabinet documents.

The revised approach to widespread humanitarian issues in China will raise further questions about the UK’s China policy. By removing the threat of sanctions, it reduces further safeguards against maltreatment of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region and the curtailing of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.

First they came for McDonald's, and I said nothing.....

The scene that greeted the shop workers a few days earlier could hardly have been more different, after the battered remains of about 50 hares and two birds of prey were dumped in the early hours outside the shop. Blood was smeared on the windows and the bodies of a kestrel and barn owl jammed in the door handles.

“It’s incredible that someone would do that, shocking,” said landscape painter Caroline Hall, a shop regular. “It’s such a privilege to see hares and birds of prey in the countryside around here. It was so cruel.”

Hampshire police are exploring the theory that the animals were killed and dumped by hare coursers, who set dogs on the mammals and livestream the chase for gamblers to bet on.

But why leave the carcasses outside the shop in Broughton, a village of about 1,000 inhabitants renowned locally for the dovecote in the churchyard said to have been gifted by Richard III? 9 “That’s the puzzle,” said Mike Hensman, treasurer of the shop. “We think it may just be location.” The village is roughly equidistant between the cities of Winchester, Salisbury and Southampton. It is surrounded by open farmland and chalky downland, good hare territory.

...

“I don’t think it was a planned, targeted attack,” said Hensman. “Just one of those things that happens in the countryside. We’re a resilient lot. People were shocked but not scared and we’ve rallied round.”

It is not the first time there has been such an incident. Last month, about 25 dead hares, rabbits, pheasants and a decapitated deer were left outside a village primary school in Awbridge, 7 miles from Broughton. Villagers say there were two similar incidents at two other schools that have not made headlines. In January a deer was discovered strung up in a tree in the nearby town of Totton.

One Broughton resident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said there was undoubtedly a pattern and that the Awbridge incident happened after a farmer confronted hare coursers using his land.

They said that a few days before the bodies were left at the Broughton shop, an attempted burglary in the village was thwarted. “What happens is, the gangs try to intimidate people. The animals are a message: ‘We can do what we want and you can’t catch us.’ There can be a ‘them and us’ situation too. This is a wealthy village. That can make us unpopular.”

I fully expect this to go exactly as well as everyone expects...

Hundreds joined a mass trespass to protest against new charges for the public to use Cirencester Park, one of the country’s largest open green spaces.

Cirencester Park, in the Cotswolds, spans more than 3,000 acres and has been free for members of the public to use for 326 years.

But Lord Bathurst, whose family has owned the land since 1695, says fees must now be introduced to cover the cost of maintaining the land and new facilities.

Adults are now charged £4, while those living in Cirencester or in nearby villages can pay a £10 deposit to access the park indefinitely.

....

John Moses, organiser of campaign group Right To Roam, said the park land was bought by Benjamin Bathurst with profits from the transatlantic slave trade.

Mr Moses said a price had been already paid for the park over the years, including by the slave trade, lost local transport links, and government agricultural subsidies.

“All that has been asked in return for these multiple extractions is that the park remain what it has always been – a community space, an open space, a free space available to everyone,” he said.

...

“Our simple message to the Bathurst Estate is this: If the Bathurst Estate cannot continue to meet its obligations to the park, and there is no room in their annual accounts for its maintenance, then fine, we accept, we’ll take it.

“Please, by all means, give it back.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/11903635

Mini missions are being launched amid the spires – a haven for dust particles that may contain clues about the cosmos and the early Earth