Chi Leung Wai and Chung Biu Yuen convicted over surveillance of dissidents in ‘shadow policing’ operation

A UK Border Force officer and Hong Kong trade official based in London have been found guilty of spying for China and surveilling dissidents through a “shadow policing” operation.

Chi Leung “Peter” Wai, 38, and Chung Biu Yuen, 65, also known as Bill, were found guilty at the Old Bailey of assisting a foreign intelligence service, making them the first people in British history to be convicted of spying for China.

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Eilish and Cameron are mismatched in flashy pop documentary that misses the subtlety of her music

For a long time concert tour films were seen as a cash-in. Ask a music fan for their favorite, and they’ll probably answer with something that isn’t really a concert film at all, such as Madonna’s deliciously gloves-off documentary Truth or Dare or Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme’s high-concept performance art classic starring Talking Heads.

But in recent years the concert film has become a bona fide cinematic event for super-fans wishing to relive the experience as well as those who draw the line at paying a month’s rent to see their favorite musician. In 2023, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the genre’s biggest-grossing film of all time, taking over $250m at the global box office. (Swift herself took home an estimated third of that figure thanks to an exclusive distribution deal with AMC Theaters). Beyoncé’s Renaissance film extended her album as a cultural moment, while this year Baz Luhrmann’s Epic: Elvis Presley in Concert has packed out multiplexes and a concert documentary from the K-pop boyband Stray Kids topped the global box office.

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Shell has made $6.9bn in profits since the Iran war began, cashing in on soaring energy prices. The enormous profits have reignited calls for higher taxes on fossil fuel companies to fund support for those hardest hit by rising costs.

Lucy Hough speaks to energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose.

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Riyadh told White House it would deny access for operation to provide tankers military escort through strait of Hormuz

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A refusal by Saudi Arabia to allow the US to use its bases and airspace to provide a military escort for oil tankers passing through the strait of Hormuz lay behind Donald Trump’s decision to shelve the plan days after it had been launched.

Riyadh told the White House it would not allow its Prince Sultan airbase to be used to mount the operation billed as Project Freedom, which the US presented as the successor to the bombing campaign called Operation Epic Fury.

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Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

THIS IS A TRUE STORY. The events depicted in this album took place in Florida and New York between 1972 -- 1977. Out of respect for the dead, the story has been told exactly as it occurred.

date stamped on slide February 1977

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide, December 1986

a landslide of discrepancies, half-truths, fabrications, and false information A French academic received an award. Then Noam Chomsky flew to Paris to accept the next one. Folks heard Umberto Eco got one, too. Swedish academic Goran Malmqvist also won. But it turns out that the International Society of Philology, and the University of Philology and Education don't exist. Florent Montaclair says he did nothing wrong.

Here's the Romanian article which broke the story. The International Society of Philology website.

Nature is God's greatest gift to the world, enjoying and immortalizing it artistically is an extraordinary work of art that I dedicate to all humans and God.

Het Franse parlement heeft een wet aangenomen die de teruggave van zeker 150.000 tijdens de kolonisatie gestolen kunststukken makkelijker maakt. „In Frankrijk praat men liever niet over historisch verontrustende onderwerpen.”

De waarschuwing komt terwijl het tekort aan opvangplaatsen ondanks nieuwe noodmaatregelen groot blijft. De nood is momenteel zo hoog, dat het risico groot is dat mensen weer buiten moeten slapen.