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Politicians facing Beijing ban for views on Uighurs are welcomed to Rose Garden Boris Johnson has made an orchestrated gesture of defiance to Beijing, and of support for its critics, by on Saturday meeting a cross-party group of MPs and peers sanctioned by China for their stance on human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Barely a month ago, the prime minister declared himself “fervently Sinophile”, determined to pursue trade and investment deals with Beijing “whatever the occasional political difficulties”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3ddzPBB

Inquiry hears how tech giants gain twice from internet fraud – taking ad payments from criminals and from regulators warning about them Ministers must force tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft to stop the “immoral” practice of profiting from the £10bn of pension fraud committed by internet scammers, a committee of MPs has urged. Fraudsters use online advertisements, mostly on Google, to trick people out of their pension funds, according to a report published by the work and pensions select committee, but regulators are “powerless” to hold the internet firms to account. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3flAGD2

Group online tests of food and drink have given participants’ spirits a welcome lift Patrick Fogarty, who runs Dr Ink’s Curiosities, an award-winning cocktail bar in Exeter, estimates that 10,000 people have taken his virtual masterclasses since they started last March. “Everybody is looking for something to do. We have never been busier,” he said. Desperate to relieve lockdown boredom, many people in the UK and across the world have turned to virtual tastings, which have soared in popularity over the past 12 months. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3cq2Ri9

The semi-autonomous area in Minneapolis has become a service to the community, but the city wants to see it reopened The sign on a barricade on a once-unassuming street in Minneapolis reads: “You’re now entering the free state of George Floyd”. A small rectangle of city blocks features murals, flowers, candles and tributes in the place where Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white police officer last May, sparking the biggest US civil rights uprising since the 1960s. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3w4tvVC

Remarks, rulings and dissents show the extraordinary influence of the supreme court justice known and loved as RBG Two and a half years ago, at a naturalization ceremony for newly minted Americans, Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked: “What is the difference between a bookkeeper in New York City’s garment district and a supreme court justice?” Related: Ruth Bader Ginsburg remembered by Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3dctcj0

Syria oil ministry restricts supply as canal chief says ‘technical or human errors’ may have been behind stranding of the Ever Given Syrian authorities say they have begun rationing fuel as the blockage of the Suez canal stretched into a sixth day, delaying vital shipments and worsening the country’s oil shortages. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011 and faces a severe economic crisis. It had already announced a more than 50% rise in the price of petrol in mid-March. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3ddw5zZ

Outlawing the sale of the controversial delicacy will now be easier because of Brexit but could still be challenged by the WTO Foie gras has been served in one form or another at the banquets of the pharaohs and the court of Louis XIV. But present-day fans are losing the battle to keep foie gras on the menu in Britain, after years of campaigning by opponents appalled at its production by force-feeding ducks and geese. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2QM2ndW