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Exclusive: Levelling up secretary Michael Gove and transport secretary Mark Harper ‘very unhappy’ over plan to axe northern leg – first revealed by this newspaper – as George Osborne attacks ‘economic self-harm’ A major cabinet split has opened up over Rishi Sunak’s plan to ditch the northern leg of HS2, as top Tory grandees join ministers in pushing the prime minister to rethink the cancellation. The Independent understands levelling up secretary Michael Gove and transport secretary Mark Harper are “very unhappy” about the prime minister’s plot to axe the route from Birmingham to Manchester. In one of the biggest political stories of the year, this publication first revealed Mr Sunak was in secret talks – dubbed Project Redwood – with his chancellor Jeremy Hunt to scrap the second phase of the project. Former chancellor George Osborne and ex-deputy PM Lord Heseltine described the proposal as a “gross act of vandalism”, which would end up being a case of “economic self-harm”. After the story broke on September 14, Downing Street repeatedly stone-walled before ministers accepted talks over the most dramatic decision in years to stop a £34bn infrastructure spend were taking place. The story has prompted unprecedented fallout, with two former prime ministers attacking Mr Sunak amid a cascade of criticism and cabinet divides. Boris Johnson and David Cameron were joined by ex-chancellor Philip Hammond in urging the PM not to cut the high-speed rail route. FULL STORY

The former president endorses the tactics of far-right GOP members, telling them to force a shutdown unless Democrats give them “EVERYTHING” in negotiations. WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s attempts to avoid a government shutdown just became more complicated after former President Donald Trump stepped in to endorse the tactics of far-right House Republicans, who prefer to see a funding lapse than compromise with the Democratic-led Senate and White House. Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination who backed McCarthy for speaker, made the comments in a post on his social media platform. “The Republicans lost big on Debt Ceiling, got NOTHING, and now are worried that they will be BLAMED for the Budget Shutdown. Wrong!!! Whoever is President will be blamed,” Trump wrote in the post, adding: “UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN! Close the Border, stop the Weaponization of ‘Justice,’ and End Election Interference.” His remarks contradict the views of McCarthy and many House Republicans, who say a shutdown would be politically self-defeating and do more to hinder conservative goals. They note that shutdowns routinely fail to achieve their stated policy aims. In this case, far-right demands — to defund Trump's prosecutors, add provisions on immigration and cut spending below levels in a two-year budget agreement — have no chance of passing the Senate. Asked about Trump’s comments on Monday, McCarthy responded: “I think we’re much stronger when we stay open. I don’t understand how not paying the troops and not paying our border agents ... what we’re trying to do is secure our border. That would be a part of funding the government, would be securing the border.” FULL STORY

More than three years into the pandemic, the millions of people who have suffered from long Covid finally have scientific proof that their condition is real. Scientists have found clear differences in the blood of people with long Covid — a key first step in the development of a test to diagnose the illness. The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature, also offer clues into what could be causing the elusive condition that has perplexed doctors worldwide and left millions with ongoing fatigue, trouble with memory and other debilitating symptoms. The research is among the first to prove that "long Covid is, in fact, a biological illness," said David Putrino, principal investigator of the new study and a professor of rehabilitation and human performance at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Dr. Marc Sala, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center in Chicago, called the findings "important." He was not involved with the new research. "This will need to be investigated with more research, but at least it's something because, quite frankly, right now we don't have any blood tests" either to diagnose long Covid or help doctors understand why it's occurring, he said. Putrino and his colleagues compared blood samples of 268 people. Some had Covid but had fully recovered, some had never been infected, and the rest had ongoing symptoms of long Covid at least four months after their infection. Several differences in the blood of people with long Covid stood out from the other groups. The activity of immune system cells called T cells and B cells — which help fight off germs — was "irregular" in long Covid patients, Putrino said. One of the strongest findings, he said, was that long Covid patients tended to have significantly lower levels of a hormone called cortisol. A major function of the hormone is to make people feel alert and awake. Low cortisol could help explain why many people with long Covid experience profound fatigue, he said. "It was one of the findings that most definitively separated the folks with long Covid from the people without long Covid," Putrino said. The finding likely signals that the brain is having trouble regulating hormones. The research team plans to dig deeper into the role cortisol may play in long Covid in future studies. FULL STORY

Republican presidential candidate and former Rep. Will Hurd (Texas) said Monday that former President Trump is only running for president to avoid being incarcerated. “The problem that I have with Donald Trump is, is Donald Trump’s not running for president to Make America great again. He’s running for president to stay out of prison,” Hurd said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “NewsNation Now with Connell McShane.” Hurd also claimed that Trump is taking credit for ideas promoted by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and former Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), such as the 2017 GOP tax cut law, to bolster his image. “And so these were some of the people that helped make sure our economy…was strong when Donald Trump was in office,” Hurd added. When asked if his presidential campaign is hurting the chances of fellow candidates in the race, Hurd replied that he’ll support whoever becomes his party’s presidential nominee in 2024. “I’m clear, I’ve been supportive of that philosophy and recognize that if we want to make sure that we have a GOP nominee that can beat Joe Biden and address issues, like problems at the border, we’ll potentially need to consolidate,” Hurd told McShane. Hurd’s remarks come a month since after Trump along with 18 of his allies were indicted by a Georgia grand jury on charges tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump, who announced his third presidential campaign last November, has been hit with three other indictments this year relating to to his business dealings, handling of classified documents, and his behavioral actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election. FULL STORY

Amazon plans to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, the company announced on Monday. The multibillion-dollar investment marks the tech giant’s latest effort to compete with rivals like Google and Microsoft on the rapidly developing frontier of AI. As part of its agreement with Anthropic, Amazon will gain a minority ownership position in the company, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will become the start-up’s primary cloud provider. “We have tremendous respect for Anthropic’s team and foundation models, and believe we can help improve many customer experiences, short and long-term, through our deeper collaboration,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. Earlier this year, Microsoft similarly announced its plans to invest billions of dollars into OpenAI, the company behind the popular ChatGPT generative language tool. While the two companies declined to offer specifics at the time, several outlets reported that the deal was for $10 billion. Read more about Amazon’s investment in Anthropic in a full report at TheHill.com.

As new coronavirus cases rise with the onset of the respiratory viral season, unfounded claims surrounding the virus are beginning to crop up once more. Claims like the imminent return of COVID-19 lockdowns and other broad mitigation efforts grew online in the past months, spurred by a rise in cases around the country. According to the most recent data made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hospital admissions for COVID-19 have begun to decline in the past week, as have emergency department visits. As experts put it, rumors about the virus are often fueled by deeper-seated concerns over issues like government overreach, The Hill’s Ella Lee and Alex Gangitano report. Tara Kirk Sell, scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told The Hill that part of addressing misinformation is taking on these concerns that people have. The Biden administration has recently moved to directly answer questions about COVID-19 that have been made online. Officials have taken to responding to inaccurate statements on social media while also watching for unapproved products promoted online as treatments against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. “[The Department of Health and Human Services] works to ensure that public health guidance and messaging are based on facts and science and that we are transparent about what we do and don’t know because we know how important it is for people to have accurate, science-based information to protect themselves and their loved ones,” a spokesperson told The Hill. Even after the end of the national health emergency, COVID-19 continues to be a source of political ammunition, and President Biden is likely to be on the defense on the 2024 campaign trail. Presidential candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (D) often rage against viral mitigation methods to both hit at the administration and engender support from their bases. FULL STORY

Open-ended service, just 10 days leave a year and a high casualty rate - for Ukrainian soldiers in one unit, life on the front line is far from easy, as BBC Newsnight witnessed up close. Standing among some flattened buildings, "Jimmy", a Ukrainian officer who's been on active service for years, reflected on his survival: "I'm a lucky man… as I see it, war can either love people or not." His soldiers think the fact Jimmy's still with them, despite multiple wounds, means he lives a charmed life. His unit, the 24th Mechanised Brigade, has a long history, and is part of the old regular Ukrainian army, fighting the Russians from 2014. But since the invasion of February 2022, the army has more than trebled in size, the nation mobilised and Jimmy's unit changed out of all recognition. We spent two weeks in August with the 24th, which now serves in the Donbas, that old centre of smokestack industries in the east, occupying a section of the front between Bakhmut and Horlivka. And we went to the home community in western Ukraine where the brigade was garrisoned before the war, and where many of its families still live. Jimmy - the Ukrainian army asks that we use soldiers' nicknames rather than their real ones - commands a company (usually about 120 troops), a post he stepped into last year. One officer told me that none of the 15 company commanders in post at the start of the war are still in place, all having been promoted or become casualties. In the run-up to war, the 24th Brigade was just over 2,000 strong, rotating its three battalions to the front line in eastern Ukraine for occasional tours of duty. Although the Ukrainian army rarely discusses numbers, sources told me it has now swelled to more than 7,000, with a total of five infantry battalions, four of artillery, a tank battalion and numerous other supporting elements. FULL STORY

Filmmaker Obi Emelonye says there is a food chain in the film industry Screenwriters in the US say they have reached a tentative deal with studio bosses that could see them end a strike that has lasted nearly five months. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said it was "exceptional - with meaningful gains and protections for writers". WGA members must still have a final say. Hollywood writers are striking in a row over pay and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry. Stranger Things and the Last of Us are among the shows which have been paused. It is the longest strike to affect Hollywood in decades and has halted most film and TV production. A separate dispute involves actors, who are also on strike. The writers' walkout, which began on 2 May, has cost the US economy around $5bn (£4.08bn), according to an estimate from Milken Institute economist Kevin Klowden. The dispute has shut down many of America's top shows, including Billions, The Handmaid's Tale, Hacks, Severance, Yellowjackets, The Last of Us, Stranger Things, Abbott Elementary and several daytime and late-night talk shows. As well as issues around pay, the writers fear the impact of artificial intelligence potentially supplanting their talents. Negotiations also broke down over staffing levels and the royalty payments that writers receive for popular streaming shows. They complain that those residuals are just a fraction of the earnings they would get from a broadcast TV show. Traditionally, writers would receive additional payments when their programmes were repeated on a broadcast network. However, this model was undermined with the advent of streaming. FULL STORY

British actor David McCallum is being remembered as a "true renaissance man" after his death at age 90. McCallum was most recently known for playing a pathologist on hit CBS TV programme NCIS, which went on to generate several spinoff series. In the 1960s, McCallum played a secret agent on hit spy drama The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The Scottish-born actor died in New York on Monday. His death was due to natural causes. "David was a gifted actor and author, and beloved by many around the world," CBS said in a statement. "He led an incredible life, and his legacy will forever live on through his family and the countless hours on film and television that will never go away." His role in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - in which he played a Russian agent - won him many fans, particularly young women charmed by his good looks. The series ended in 1968, but not before he received several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for playing the role of Illya Kuryakin on the show. McCallum found roles in films including The Great Escape, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and A Night to Remember. He also guest starred on TV series Perry Mason and The Outer Limits. Born in Glasgow to parents who were classical musicians, he initially pursued a career in music before finding work as an actor. His role on NCIS came after he appeared for a role in the show JAG, which led to the NCIS spinoff. NCIS itself later went on to generate other NCIS shows, including NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans. McCallum also found work as a voice actor for children's cartoons and video games. A statement issued by his family called him a " true renaissance man". "He was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge," it said. "For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS." FULL STORY

Sir Richard Branson’s next mission: combating climate change. The billionaire British entrepreneur announced his latest initiative, Planetary Guardians, at a news conference Monday while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The coalition includes 14 world leaders who will take what they’re calling a “whole planet” approach to “safeguard” Earth. The diverse group includes actor Robert Redford, activist Jane Goodall and Juan Manuel Santos, the former president of Colombia. “If you can’t measure something properly, you can’t fix it,” Branson told NBC News in a wide-ranging interview at his new flagship Virgin Hotel on Tuesday. “The idea is that we will measure the nine principal planetary boundaries every year … how many are the rainforests? Exactly where are we with climate change? Where are we with species disappearing in the world … and we can try to make sure we can push the world into trying to address them.” Branson also had a message for the climate change deniers. “It’s a fact of life,” he said. “The amount of carbon that’s going into Earth’s atmosphere is heating up the world and it’s going to do a lot of damage to the world if we don’t get it under control." While in New York, Branson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a fundraiser for the war-torn country. Branson was appointed ambassador to United24 last spring to lead fundraising efforts to rebuild the country. “We can’t allow countries at this day and age to take over the territory of other people’s countries,” he said. “I mean, they’re dying for the freedom of all of us. And the least we can do is make sure that we help them and in every way we can.” FULL STORY

It came as little surprise that the darker corners of the internet were ablaze with conspiracy theories this week, after Russell Brand used his YouTube channel to call the allegations of sexual assault and rape against him a “coordinated attack” and a “serious and concerted agenda” to control his voice. But even among more mainstream voices, questions were raised about the timing. Toby Young, a former editor at the Spectator, asked if there was a “more innocent” reason why the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches had “waited this long to produce their findings”, while the British business magnate Alan Sugar tweeted that it was “strange” that multiple people had come forward at the same time. Others wondered why it had taken so long for the story to be published despite rumours swirling about Brand’s behaviour for years. In the Dispatches documentary Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, the comedian Daniel Sloss said he had heard “allegations and rumours” about Brand, while Deadline reported that Brand was dropped from Comedy Central’s Roast Battle in 2018 after another comedian, Katherine Ryan, repeatedly accused him of being a “sexual predator”. The reason, according to multiple experts, is simple: publishing stories like this in England and Wales is extremely difficult, and fraught with risk. “People often think that we have a law that protects free speech here. We don’t. We have a law that protects reputation,” says Caroline Kean, a partner at Wiggin who represented the journalist Catherine Belton when she was sued by multiple Russian billionaires. “Getting stories out like this may sound easy to people who watch a lot of crime dramas, but it’s actually incredibly difficult.” FULL STORY Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

A Washington Post-ABC poll showed results that diverge from most other surveys, and even the pollers made a caveat A new Washington Post-ABC poll showing Joe Biden trailing his presidential predecessor Donald Trump by 10 percentage points was excoriated by leading political pollster Larry Sabato. Noting that the pollsters themselves cautioned that their survey was an outlier, Sabato – the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia – called the decision to release it “ridiculous”. “Ignore the Washington Post–ABC poll,” Sabato wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “How could you even publish a poll so absurd on its face? Will be a lingering embarrassment for you.” He added: “Just plain embarrassing – for them.” The New York Times’ chief political analyst Nate Cohn also criticized the poll that said Trump was ahead of Biden in the 2024 White House race. Referring to a Post-ABC poll in May that found Trump was up seven percentage points on Biden, which was similarly inconsistent with most polling, Cohn wrote on X: “It’s really really hard to release outlying poll results, so you’ve got to give credit to ABC/Post here, but I do have a fairly major quibble with ABC/Post here: if you release consecutive ‘outlying’ poll results … you don’t get to dismiss your results. “If it happens twice in a row in the same race, it’s clear that this is the result of some element of your approach, and you either need to decide you’re good with it and defend it or you need to go home.” FULL STORY Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

Wales became the first team to reach the 2023 World Cup quarter-finals as they celebrated a record win over Australia in Lyon. Gareth Anscombe kicked 23 points and tries from Gareth Davies, Nick Tompkins and Jac Morgan sealed a last-eight place with a game remaining in Pool C. Australia managed just two penalties from Ben Donaldson. Eddie Jones' side are on the brink of becoming the first Australia team to suffer pool stage elimination. The woeful Wallabies were humbled by Wales, who are celebrating a fourth consecutive World Cup quarter-final qualification under Warren Gatland as head coach. This display must rank as one of Wales' finest performances under the New Zealander and the result beats their previous record win against Australia, a 28-3 triumph in 1975. Captain Morgan was again outstanding, while number eight Taulupe Faletau and scrum-half Gareth Davies showed their class. The only negative for Wales was a worrying injury that forced talismanic fly-half Dan Biggar off in the first half, but his withdrawal allowed Anscombe to excel with six penalties, a conversion and a drop-goal. A victory over Georgia on 7 October in Nantes will officially ensure Wales finish as group winners but only two match points will be required. That would set up a probable quarter-final against Argentina, Japan or Samoa in Marseille the following weekend, with England clear favourites to win Pool D.

The Metropolitan police has called on the SAS to provide counter-terrorism support after firearms officers downed their weapons in protest at the charging of their colleague with murder. Suella Braverman ordered a review of armed policing to calm a growing rebellion of about 100 officers over the charging on Wednesday of an officer for the murder of 24-year-old Chris Kaba, an unarmed man killed last September by a single shot to the head. Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley called for greater protections for armed officers, accusing the police watchdog of being too quick to criminally investigate those who use force. The scale and speed of the protest by Met armed officers prompted the home secretary to order an emergency review of armed policing, with several sources telling the Guardian there were fears the rebellion could spread further within the Met and around the country. The Met, which polices most of London, had to ask other smaller forces to lend it armed officers and then on Sunday to ask the military for help. The Guardian understands that the Met asked for soldiers from the SAS to be put on standby for deployment against terrorist suspects, as a significant number of police counter-terrorism firearms officers refused to be available for armed duties. FULL STORY Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

Dusty samples from the "most dangerous known rock in the Solar System" have been brought to Earth. The American space agency Nasa landed the materials in a capsule that came down in the West Desert of Utah state. The samples had been scooped up from the surface of asteroid Bennu in 2020 by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft. Nasa wants to learn more about the mountainous object, not least because it has an outside chance of hitting our planet in the next 300 years. But more than this, the samples are likely to provide fresh insights into the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago and possibly even how life got started on our world. Osiris-Rex: Asteroid Bennu 'is a journey back to our origins' There was jubilation when the Osiris-Rex team caught sight of their capsule on long-range cameras. Touchdown on desert land belonging to the Department of Defense was confirmed at 10:52 local time (14:52 GMT), three minutes ahead of schedule. The car-tyre-sized container had come screaming into the atmosphere over the western US at more than 12km/s (27,000mph). A heatshield and parachutes slowed its descent and dropped it gently, perfectly on to restricted ground. "This little capsule understood the assignment," said Tim Priser, the chief engineer at aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin. "It touched down like a feather." FULL STORY

Apple has withdrawn an app created by Andrew Tate after accusations that it encouraged misogyny and could be an illegal pyramid scheme. Tate created the app, Real World Portal, after the closure of his “Hustler’s University”, which was an online academy for his fans, promising to assist them in making thousands of pounds while helping Tate’s videos on social media, which have been described as misogynistic, to go viral. McCue Jury & Partners, the firm representing four British women who have accused Tate of sexual and physical assault, claimed that the app deliberately targets young men and encourages misogyny, including members of the app sharing techniques on how to control and exploit women. The firm has also claimed that there is evidence to suggest that the app is an illegal pyramid scheme, with members being charged $49.99 a month to join. Last week, the Real World Portal app was removed from Google’s Play store after claims that it was an illegal pyramid scheme and encouraged misogyny. On Friday night Apple also said it had removed it from its app store. It followed a letter from the legal firm asking Apple to consider whether the app was in line with its policies and whether the company was exposing itself to any corporate liability in hosting it on its platform. Part of the letter, dated 15 September, said: “We are writing because our clients are extremely concerned that you are hosting Tate’s Real World Portal (RWP) mobile application on your Apple Store … In continuing to host RWP, not only is Apple potentially indirectly financing Tate’s alleged criminal activities but is aiding the spread of his misogynistic teachings.” FULL STORY

The Philippines accuses China’s shadowy maritime militia of destroying coral reefs in South China Sea https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/22/asia/south-china-sea-philippines-coral-reef-damage-intl-hnk

Penny wise, pound foolish.” It’s an apt description of the current the current debate on the proposed $24 billion supplemental appropriation to support Ukraine — a country fighting Russia for its very existence. After one of the authors spent a few days in Ukraine with a delegation of congressional staffers — the first such delegation since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — it became easier to appreciate the necessity of winning in Ukraine not only for the people of that country but also for U.S. and global security. Yet not all Americans are convinced of this fact. Those arguing that Ukraine is not and should not be a U.S. priority any longer usually make several points. Some express concern that the American taxpayer might once again be underwriting a failing state, much like Afghanistan. Others point to concern about pre-war and possibly endemic Ukrainian corruption — the unsurprising byproduct of decades of economic mismanagement by the government and oligarchs. And still others worry that every dime spent on Ukraine is one that is not spent on defending Taiwan — and the broader Indo-Pacific region — from Chinese neoimperial expansion, let alone being spent on struggling American citizens back home.

It is an eagerly anticipated event that sees thousands of Apple fans queue outside stores across the world to be the first to get their hands on a new iPhone. But the official launch of the iPhone 15 descended into chaos in Dubai when a 'massive fight' broke out and security guards were forced to intervene. Shocking footage shows customers shoving each other outside Apple's flagship store in the UAE's Dubai Mall, before several people appear to fall to the ground. Other videos capture customers running through the mall – one of the world's largest shopping centres – and piling on to escalators amidst a backdrop of yelling. 'A massive fight over the new iPhone 15 took place in a queue outside the Dubai Apple Store,' one person wrote on X.

They have a catchy name. They’re called "attack'ems". It's a play on an acronym, ATACMS, which itself stands for Army Tactical Missile System. To you and me it's a long-range missile. It has a range of about 180 miles, it's guided, it can be fired from Ukraine's existing fleet of missile launch systems and President Zelenskyy's battlefield commanders have been asking for it for some time.

US President Joe Biden plans to give Ukraine advanced long-range missiles to help Kyiv with its ongoing counter-offensive, US media report. They quote US officials familiar with the issue as saying Ukraine will get some ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 190 miles (300km). This would enable Kyiv to hit Russian targets deep behind the front line. At least one Ukrainian missile hit the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea on Friday. A Ukrainian military source told the BBC the attack in the port of Sevastopol was carried out using Storm Shadow missiles, which are supplied by Britain and France, highlighting the importance of Western weaponry to Kyiv. Such missiles have a range of just over 150 miles. NBC News and The Wall Street Journal quote unnamed US officials as saying President Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Kyiv would get "a small number" of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles. The two leaders met at the White House on Thursday. The WSJ adds that the weapons will be sent in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the Washington Post cites several people familiar with the discussions as saying Ukraine will get ATACMS armed with cluster bomblets rather than a single warhead. FULL STORY

Russell Brand has posted a new video online describing the allegations of rape and sexual assault against him in the past week as “extraordinary and distressing” while accusing the government of seeking to censor him. The 48-year-old comedian and actor thanked his supporters for “questioning the information you are being presented with”, in his first public comments since the allegations were published. He has denied accusations made by four women in an investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches last weekend. Brand said he would return to his regular show on Rumble, an online video platform that refused to follow YouTube in demonetising his content on its site. In a three-minute video posted on Rumble and X, formerly Twitter, he claimed that moves to block him from receiving advertising revenue for his videos on social media platforms after sexual assault allegations have occurred “in the context of the online safety bill”. He said: “By now you’re probably aware that the British government have asked big tech platforms to censor our online content and that some online platforms have complied with that request. “What you may not know is that this happens in the context of the online safety bill, which is a piece of UK legislation that grants sweeping surveillance and censorship powers, and it’s a law that has already been passed.” On Tuesday, the bill passed all its parliamentary stages but it has not received royal assent so is not yet UK law. He also spoke of the trusted news initiative, which is a partnership between media groups designed to address disinformation. Brand said: “The trusted news initiative is a collaboration between big tech and legacy media organisations to target, control, choke and shut down independent media organisations like this one.” FULL STORY