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Greenlandic woman wins case against Danish authorities who removed her two-hour-old child

A Greenlandic woman whose newborn baby was forcibly removed by Danish authorities as a result of controversial parenting competency tests has won a landmark case in the high court ruling that their actions were illegal. Keira Alexandra Kronvold’s daughter Zammi was taken away from her when she was two hours old and placed in foster care in November 2024 after Kronvold was subjected to so-called FKU (parental competence) psychometric tests. At the time she was told that the test was to see if she was “civilised enough”. The Danish government abruptly banned the tests on people with Greenlandic backgrounds last May after years of criticism, and amid international pressure after Donald Trump’s threats to the former Danish colony, which remains part of the Danish kingdom. But despite the law change, dozens of Greenlandic parents living in Denmark, including Kronvold, remain separated from their children having undergone the tests. In Friday’s ruling, the western high court found that the removal of Zammi, now 18 months old and living with a Danish foster family, was illegal and in breach of Kronvold’s fundamental legal rights according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and tribal people’s convention of 1989. It also ruled that the tests used to inform the decision were outdated. Kronvold’s lawyer, Gert Dyrn, said the ruling had “great significance”. He said: “When the state made this new law last year they recognised they were in breach of the convention on Indigenous peoples and maybe of the European convention on human rights, which – in my opinion – the ruling today confirmed. This is a major victory for the Greenlandic community in Denmark.” Although the ruling will not directly lead to the reunification of Kronvold and her daughter, because she has since been reassessed under a new system, it marks the first time the Danish high court has ruled on the matter and is expected to have substantial repercussions for Greenlandic parents and their separated children dating back as far as 1996, when Denmark ratified the ILO convention. Dyrn said: “There may be other women who have not been examined again according to the new law and they will probably be able to use this ruling to get their decisions nullified.” He also said it could be used by adult Greenlandic people who were removed from their parents as children to get an apology from the Danish state or compensation. The Danish government is under growing pressure over the tests, which are deemed to be culturally unsuitable for Greenlandic people and other minorities. Last week the Guardian learned that the United Nations had told Denmark that authorities’ treatment of Kronvold “may amount to ethnic discrimination”. Dyrn said Kronvold’s case had been an eye-opener for Danish politicians over the treatment of Greenlandic people and Denmark’s overall care and forced adoption system. “Something is happening and that is a good thing,” he said. Earlier in the week, Kronvold lost a case in a lower court to be reunited with her daughter. Her lawyers now plan to also take that case to the high court in the hope of overturning it. Sila 360, a group that works on Inuit legal rights monitoring, said Kronvold’s case was “the tip of the iceberg” but nevertheless a significant moment for the fight to reunite Greenlandic parents with their children. After receiving the news that she had won in the high court, Kronvold said: “I feel so amazing, I’m having a hard time to describe with words. I am trying to calm myself down. This is going to change every case in Denmark for Greenlandic people.” While her own fight is not finished, she vowed to continue until there is a new law for Greenlandic people. “I am still working to make sure there is change coming in for my children,” she said. “This is for life, that’s it. I’m not backing down.” While the UN intervention is unconnected to the high court ruling, both add to overall pressure on the Danish government to take action. Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, has written to the government, along with the UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples and the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, asking it to answer questions about the treatment of Kronvold and other families with a Greenlandic background. The UN officials said the decision to remove Kronvold’s children from her without consent “may be discriminatory and disproportionate”, citing the “apparent disrespect to her decisions regarding procreation and contraception choices over the years and which clearly has caused her enormous psychological suffering”. They also reminded Denmark of its “binding human rights obligations”. Denmark held a general election in March and parties have not yet formed a government. In response to the UN intervention, the Danish ministry of social affairs said in a letter it was ready to “engage constructively on the matters referred to in your letter” and proposed a meeting to discuss the issues in person. The Danish ministry of social affairs and Thisted Kommune, which made the initial decision to remove Kronvold’s daughter, declined to comment. A spokesperson for the National Social Appeals Board said: “Today we received the ruling in this specific case from the Western high court, which we will review in detail. Since the National Social Appeals Board is the appellate body in the area, we follow the case law closely and continuously assess the significance of a higher court’s decision so that we can ensure that we follow the case law correctly.”

Nato refusing US permission to use bases is ‘a problem’, says Rubio after Meloni meeting – Europe live

Meanwhile, Hungary’s incoming prime minister Péter Magyar, fresh back from meeting Giorgia Meloni in Rome, is about to be inaugurated tomorrow. Ashifa Kassam and Flora Garamvolgyi are in Budapest to cover the big moment, marking an end to the 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule. According to the schedule posted by Magyar online, the inaugural session of the parliament is set to begin 10am tomorrow, and the new PM is then expected to make an appearance outside the palriament 4pm, before unofficial party begins 5pm. As Ashifa and Flora note: “[The inauguration] comes weeks after Magyar and his opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory in a result that rattled the global far right, reset Hungary’s long-strained relationship with the EU and set off all-night celebrations along the banks of the Danube River. Magyar this week called on Hungarians to join him in turning the page on Orbán’s rule and his efforts to turn Hungary into a “petri dish for illiberalism” during his time in power. “We will step through the gateway of regime change with a huge party. Come along, and invite your family and friends!” Magyar wrote on social media.” Expectations for Magyar are high across Hungary, as their conversations with voters reveal in the full piece: New polling shows that more than three-quarters of Hungarians who voted for Péter Magyar in last month’s election want his government to do more to address the climate crisis, and more than 70% want him to protect LGBTQ+ rights, a poll has found. The poll also offered a glimpse of other ways the government is likely to be pulled in several directions: although voters overwhelmingly said they were looking for change, they remained split on issues that are critical to the EU, such as support for Ukraine and the need for Hungary to curb its dependence on Russian energy.

Middle East crisis live: Iranians ‘never bow to pressure’, says foreign minister after clashes in the strait of Hormuz

The internet blackout in Iran has entered its 70th day, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks, as the regime continues one of the longest-running national internet shutdowns ever recorded. NetBlocks said in a social media post: Today marks the 70th day of Iran’s internet blackout, with the incident now surpassing 1656 hours. Digital connectivity is vital in times of crisis, and limiting service harms those most in need - people with disabilities, students, small businesses and the general public. Senior government officials are awarded “white” SIM cards granting them access to the global internet while the vast majority of the population remains completely cut off. Under pressure to alleviate the economic harm the shutdown is causing, the government has been allowing less-restricted internet access to a small number of professions, businesses and regime-friendly journalists. There was an earlier internet shutdown in January during nationwide protests, which helped obscure extreme violence against Iran’s population.

Turning the page on Orbán’s rule: Magyar to be sworn in as Hungary PM

Inside Hungary’s dazzling neo-Gothic parliament, the scenes will be solemn on Saturday as the new leader, Péter Magyar, is sworn in. Outside is where the party is expected to unfold, as people pour in from across the country to mark a pivotal moment: the formal end of Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power. It comes weeks after Magyar and his opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory in a result that rattled the global far right, reset Hungary’s long-strained relationship with the EU and set off all-night celebrations along the banks of the Danube River. He this week called on Hungarians to join him in turning the page on Orbán’s rule and his efforts to turn Hungary into a “petri dish for illiberalism” during his time in power. “We will step through the gateway of regime change with a huge party. Come along, and invite your family and friends!” Magyar wrote on social media. In the weeks since the election, which he called an end to Hungary’s “two-decade-long nightmare”, Magyar has sought to emphasise his readiness to change the country – vowing to suspend broadcasts from state media that functioned as Orbán mouthpieces, calling on Orbán-era appointees to resign, and sending back the millions of Hungarian forints donated to him by an Orbán-linked supporter. Saturday’s swearing-in will be laced with more of the same symbolism: the European flag will be returned to the parliament’s facade after it was removed in 2014 and Krisztián Kőszegi is expected to become the first Roma vice-president of the national assembly, overseeing a government in which more than a quarter of lawmakers will be women – a record high in the country’s post-communist history. Expectations for Magyar are high across Hungary. “Sorry for my language, but Orbán just fucked these last years,” said Tamás, 45, as he made his way down the main street of Győr, a city of about 175,000 people in north-western Hungary. He had initially been happy with Orbán’s government, he said. But disappointment had steadily settled in as accusations began to swirl over the government siphoning off much-needed funds to bolster its own supporters and interests. “The hospitals are in very bad condition, for example, and schools are not really up to date. So we need a lot of changes,” he said. As Hungarians grapple with a soaring cost of living and sky-high inflation, Magyar’s election offered hope that change could be on the way, said Zsuzsi, 60. “The mood has been much better. Even here, where there are a lot of Fidesz supporters.” The small city of Győr burst into public view after a campaign rally in which Orbán lashed out at protesters who were booing him, accusing them of promoting Ukrainian interests – a frequent target of his electioneering, which cast Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a threat. It was, for many, the first sign that the long-serving leader was feeling the pressure after months of polls suggesting a clear lead for Magyar and Tisza. In the same plaza where the rally was held, Zsuzsi lauded the actions Magyar had taken to date to crack down on corruption and convince the EU to unlock billions in frozen funds. “There are huge hopes for him,” she said, noting with a smile that the bar, however, was not particularly high. “Things can’t get worse.” Her friend Gabi, 56, was more circumspect. “Everyone I know, they are scared,” she said. She had cast her ballot for the extreme right Our Homeland party, amid fears that closer relations with the EU would lead to higher migration rates and the transformation of life in her small village. “Ursula von der Leyen can be quite threatening,” she said, declining to give more details. “And people feel uncertain because Péter Magyar is so arrogant, he will fail.” It was a hint of Orbán’s long shadow. For years he and his Fidesz party sought to drum up support by stoking fear, portraying EU officials such as von der Leyen, the philanthropist George Soros and Zelenskyy as dangers only Orbán and Fidesz were capable of tackling. “This repetitive propaganda was really effective in some ways,” said Dávid, 25. “It became a religion. It was really not healthy.” The part-time electrician and tour guide had recently spent a stint in Sweden, where he had glimpsed just how far Orbán’s Hungary had veered from other countries in Europe. “Here politics affects every detail of your life,” he said, citing cases of workers being instructed to vote for Fidesz, the ubiquitous, scaremongering billboards put up by the rightwing nationalist party and the rhetoric that had seeped into everyday life. “It was really devastating sometimes. I hope after a couple years this will start to disappear.” Saturday’s swearing-in will mark the first time since 1990 that Orbán – who in his political career shifted from pro-democracy campaigner to a Russia-friendly figure lauded by the global far right – has not sat in Hungary’s parliament, after he announced last month he would not be taking his seat. What will come next for him remains to be seen. Orbán bore the brunt of Magyar’s messaging as the incoming PM crisscrossed the country, speaking directly to millions and flexing his social media skills to take aim at the staggering wealth amassed by Orbán’s inner circle at a time when many in Hungary had become poorer. He reiterated the message speaking to an audience in Italy this week: “We had to fight a different kind of mafia in Hungary,” he said. Many in Győr said the time had come for Hungary to confront all that had happened under Orbán. “The skeletons are falling out of the closet,” said Gèza, 64. “We kind of suspected it, but now it’s all being laid bare.” A survey published this week suggested as many as two-thirds of Hungarians wanted to see Orbán face justice. Magyar has yet to address the issue directly, instead announcing plans to create an authority to investigate and attempt to recover any public funds that were found to be misused during Orbán’s tenure. It was only fair, said Géza. “We’re waiting to see if there will be consequences,” he said. “Because if there are no consequences, that will be a disappointment.”

Americans hail Pope Leo XIV as ‘breath of fresh air’ one year in, as Trump clashes linger

As Pope Leo XIV concludes his first year as the first American pope on Friday, Americans shared with the Guardian how they feel about the 70-year-old pontiff who has increasingly found himself at odds with Donald Trump. Several described his papacy as a “breath of fresh air” compared with earlier, more conservative eras of church leadership. For Brock Horton, a 69-year-old retired public school teacher in San Antonio, Texas, the pope feels “authentic and not just an archaic mouthpiece for a failing religion”. “Pope Leo is bringing Jesus’s teachings forward instead of church dogma … If you can’t welcome strangers and treat everyone with love and dignity, you have no place leading anyone. I will never become a Catholic, but with Leo, I see a loving person first, and a pontiff second,” Horton said. “The fact that he lives in Donald Trump’s head is also a plus,” he added, referring to Trump’s latest attacks on the pope. In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly criticized Pope Leo after the pontiff said a “delusion of omnipotence” was fueling the US-Israel war on Iran. Trump accused the pope of “endangering a lot of Catholics” through his condemnation of the war, which has killed at least 3,400 Iranians and 13 US service members. Trump has also described the pope as “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy”, comments Pope Leo dismissed by saying: “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration.” Kelly Raghavan, a 64-year-old medical interpreter in San Diego, California, hailed the pope’s willingness to speak out, saying: “Kudos to Pope Leo XIV for his outspokenness in the face of the bigoted tyrant who is running this country into the ground.” Catholics and non-Catholics alike said they had taken notice of the pope’s willingness to challenge Trump publicly. Chris Kell, an interfaith minister in Minneapolis, Minnesota, praised the pope’s measured approach. “He is strong enough, savvy enough, and more than intelligent enough to stand up to Trump without resorting to personal attacks. His reasoned commentaries are based in unshakeable faith, not whimsey,” Kell said. Joyce, a 73-year-old retired business owner and self-described “cradle Catholic” who splits her time between New Jersey and Italy, recalled the moment in Vatican City when Pope Leo was elected. “I was at the piazza the afternoon Pope Leo was elected and it was electrifying. In New Jersey, with a large contingent of Catholics, either practicing or not, I hear very positive feedback for his progressive and inclusive views and interpretation of the Gospel,” she said. “The general feeling I’ve heard in general is that he is bringing the church into the 21st century. Even Republicans I’ve spoken to are raising their eyebrows pretty far that a US president would be attacking the head of the church and the first American pope in 1600 or so years.” A 38-year-old non-clinical social worker in Colorado said : “I do not follow the pope or Catholicism very closely, but I have seen the spat between Pope Leo and Trump/[JD] Vance… Pope Leo is doing what he should be doing by calling out the abhorrent violence and injustices playing out in the world… The response from our ‘leadership’ is perfectly in line with the precedent they’ve set: absurd denialism in response to people calling them out or not getting what they want.” “To say Pope Leo is ‘weak on crime’ is so hilarious you would think it’s satire,” he added. A 57-year-old public school educator in Texas, who identified as Presbyterian, echoed the same sentiment. “I feel that Pope Leo XIV is doing exactly as he was called to do. He is doing God’s work and leading by example. As a Christian, it is imperative that we follow the teachings of Jesus and treat everyone equally and with dignity and respect… If we all followed his example and not the one set by the US government, this world would be a much better, safer place for us all,” the educator said. For Skywalker Payne, a Homer, Alaska, resident who grew up Catholic before becoming Buddhist, Pope Leo’s election carried both personal and symbolic significance. “Both my husband and I feel Pope Leo XIV is a divine blessing for this world and for the Catholic church. Both of us claim Chicago as our former home, so that was the first reason. I’m a Black woman, second reason for loving him … I don’t follow the Catholic church, but I recognize its profound influence on the world,” she said. “I am so happy that the cardinals saw the importance of supporting a leader who can speak to the diversity of the church honestly and in the tradition of Jesus who taught peace, compassion and love.” Wren, a 27-year old queer, trans mental health therapist based in Portland, Oregon, said Pope Leo represents both continuity and a stronger sense of urgency. Referring to his predecessor Pope Francis, Wren, a former Christian, said: “It gave me hope that a leading figure of the community was not downright prejudiced, but even sympathetic to the LGBTQ+ community … [Pope Leo] not only shares many similarities in perspective to his predecessor, but is even more unapologetically explicit about his beliefs and direct in calling out the un-Christian actions and ideologies held by supposed Christian leaders and movements.” Wren added that it’s “truly inspiring to see him stand firm where many world leaders and domestic politicians have folded in the face of the Trump administration’s hateful, violent and regressive policies … In a world where the allies of social justice seem to be waning, it’s shocking, but also hopeful, that the current pope is someone I can count as an ally.” Not all respondents, however, felt the pope had gone far enough. Andrew, a 55-year-old doctor who divides his time between the US and the UK, said he wants to see stronger condemnation of Trump and other world leaders. “I’m not religious, so observe religion from outside, with little interest, but his protestations on Trump’s moronic outputs and appalling behaviors should be stronger if we are to respect him as a leader. I don’t understand why religious leaders don’t uphold their beliefs more stridently, especially Christian leaders,” he said. Others compared Pope Leo’s advocacy on climate change with that of Pope Francis, while still praising his repeated calls for peace. A retired English and drama teacher in San Luis Obispo, California, said: “I’ve never been a huge fan of organized religion. However, I appreciated Pope Francis’ advocacy for climate change and how it impacts poorer peoples. Although Leo hasn’t been as vocal about that cause, his call for less killing and more talking to arrive at peace is absolutely a Christian (and moral) tenet.”

Spanish authorities prepare for arrival of hantavirus-stricken cruise ship

The Spanish authorities are finalising preparations for the arrival of the MV Hondius this weekend, saying an “unprecedented operation” is under way to receive, assess and repatriate the 149 passengers and crew members onboard the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship. The Dutch-flagged vessel, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, is due to arrive off Tenerife in the Canary Islands at around midday on Sunday. After negotiations between the Spanish government and the archipelago’s regional authorities, the MV Hondius will remain at anchor in the port of Granadilla and will not dock in Tenerife. Passengers will be evaluated onboard and will not have any contact with the local population when they are taken from the ship to be repatriated or, in the case of the 14 Spanish nationals onboard, transported to a military hospital in Madrid for quarantine. “This is an unprecedented operation in response to an international health alert involving 23 countries,” Spain’s health minister, Mónica García, told Spain’s state radio broadcaster, RNE, on Friday morning. “We’re coordinating this from Spain and the World Health Organization has entrusted Spain with this operation – which, as I’ve said, is unprecedented. We’re going to do what we have to do, which is work and deliver the necessary health and logistical management.” García confirmed that non-Spanish citizens who did not need urgent medical attention would be evacuated to their home countries even if they showed symptoms of hantavirus, which has killed three people on the ship. “If they show symptoms but don’t need urgent medical attention, they will be evacuated with their respective health workers to their respective countries,” she said. “The international protocols will be followed – as will all the strict measures when it comes to health prevention. The protocol is based on no one needing urgent medical attention. And we think that won’t be the case because everyone was asymptomatic when they left Cape Verde and they’ve been on the boat for many days now, which makes us think that the risk that they’ve been infected is diminishing each day.” The WHO said on Friday that the risk the hantavirus strain in question posed to the public was minimal as it spread only through “very close contact”. To date, the organisation has registered five confirmed case and three suspected cases. “This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” a WHO spokesperson, Christian Lindmeier, told a press briefing in Geneva. He said that even the people who had stayed in the same cabin as an infected person on the MV Hondius “don’t seem to be both infected in some cases”. Lindmeier said the disease was “not spreading anything close to how Covid was spreading”. He added that contact tracing was effective “because it traces those who have been in close contact”. The UK and the US are among the countries that have agreed to send planes to Tenerife to repatriate their citizens. Health authorities across four continents are scrambling to track down and monitor passengers who left the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected. They are also trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then. On 24 April, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died onboard, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, the ship’s operator and Dutch officials said on Thursday. According to the WHO, health authorities did not confirm hantavirus in a passenger on the MV Hondius until 2 May. The looming arrival of the cruise ship has prompted considerable unease in Tenerife. Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canary Islands, had objected to the ship coming into port at Granadilla and convinced the central government that it should instead remain at anchor. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC on Friday, he said Spain had been under no legal requirement to take in the ship and that it should have put into port in Cape Verde, which refused it permission to dock. “We continue to maintain that Spain had no legal obligation to receive that ship and that the operation now being deployed here could have been perfectly organised in Cape Verde,” he said. “We still argue that this could have been resolved earlier, without the need for a three- or four-day voyage.” Speaking later on Friday, Clavijo said a plan had been devised to minimise the time and contacts that the passengers being evacuated would have while on Tenerife. He added that the foreign nationals would be taken off the ship and put straight into vehicles bound for waiting planes. “We know with certainty that no one will get off the ship if their plane is not already waiting on the runway,” he said. The town council of Granadilla de Abona, where the port of Granadilla is located, has also taken issue with the central government’s decision. “Granadilla de Abona is a committed and supportive municipality, ready to collaborate in any health emergency,” it said in a statement. “However … decisions directly affecting their municipality cannot be made unilaterally or without the involvement of the local government. The willingness to collaborate must be accompanied by sound health criteria and proper planning, especially when the safety and wellbeing of our residents are at stake.” Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report

Hong Kong dissident Nathan Law on China spies in UK: ‘We’re not surprised’

Nathan Law, an exiled leader of the Hong Kong student protest who lives with a £100,000 bounty on his head from the Chinese authorities, was not surprised to discover a spy ring had photographed him entering the Oxford Union for an evening debate in November 2023. The conviction at the Old Bailey of Chi Leung “Peter” Wai, 38, and Chung Biu “Bill” Yuen, 65, for assisting a foreign intelligence service, was a sobering first – no Chinese spies had been convicted in British criminal history before Thursday – but the details that came out in the nine-week trial mainly served to confirm his suspicions. Law, 32, was already aware he was a target and had taken his usual precautions before and after the debate, at which he had been arguing in favour of the case that China’s rise was a risk. He was, as he always is, studious in checking who was around him. He was picked up in a car to get home. “There is no public information that anything sensitive about my whereabouts has been compromised,” he said of that day. It was also unsurprising to him that Yuen, the older of the two men convicted, who was said to have orchestrated the spying, worked as a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in Bedford Square, Bloomsbury, central London. As the official overseas representation of the Hong Kong government, the HKETO’s role is to promote trade, investment and cultural ties. But every arm of the Hong Kong special administrative region back home had been politicised and used to enforce so-called national security since pro-democracy protests erupted across the territory in 2019, Law said. “In Hong Kong ‘national security’ means like you disagree with the government,” he said. “And that extends to the role of HKETO; it is also used to punish people who disagree with the government. Having a new function, which is like doing espionage work, surveilling dissidents, I don’t think we are that surprised.” But there was one rather key aspect of the trial that did cause Law some sharp concern: the access that Wai, the younger of the two men, had as a consequence of his role as a UK Border Force official and volunteer special constable with the City of London police. In a message in which Wai used a derogatory term for pro-democracy protesters, the court heard that the dual British-Chinese national had boasted he was able to tally up monthly totals of “cockroaches” entering the UK. “He had access to the system that contains information on us,” said Law. “I think there’s a part of the evidence showing that he used those systems to search for addresses or any other sensitive personal information for me. “I can only do so much to protect myself. I can try to spot anyone following me and take different routes and do different things to sort of like get rid of them. I can hide my digital footprints. But I can’t not give details to the [British] government, and if their databases are so accessible and there are no safeguards to protect people like us, who are obviously targets of intelligence and secret operations from hostile governments, then that is a worry.” In evidence given last year by Hong Kong Aid (HKA), an NGO that assists asylum seekers in the UK, to parliament’s joint committee on human rights, the threat the Chinese authorities pose to dissidents in the UK when armed with such data stood out. In 2024, they reported, the addresses of Hongkongers in Britain had been exposed online and anti-immigration protesters were urged to “visit” them. HKA wrote: “The messages from an anonymous user incite anti- immigration activists and groups to physically approach the addresses and potentially create riots, creating a serious security concern,” HKA wrote. The NGO’s helpline had been receiving suspicious phone calls from Hong Kong three times a day, consistently, since 2022, it said. It later found that the number from which the calls were coming was associated with the Hong Kong police. There had been threats made by the Hong Kong national security police to family members of UK-based individuals advocating for democracy. In 2022, the dragging of a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester into the Chinese consulate in Manchester where he was beaten was said to highlight “the People’s Republic of China’s willingness to extend repression on to UK soil”. In January, the UK government approved plans for a new, large Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court in London, ending years of fraught debate over the security risks it would pose. For Law and others, the risks are just as real right now. “The Hong Kong diaspora in the UK has become increasingly fearful,” the HKA wrote in its submission. “Many avoid political engagement, stop attending community events, and self-censor to avoid repercussions.” That rang true for Law. He takes no risks, he offers the Chinese authorities few opportunities, and the outcome of the trial will not change that: “I am cautious about things.”

Third Briton has suspected hantavirus linked to cruise ship outbreak

A third British national has been diagnosed with suspected hantavirus linked to a cruise ship outbreak, health officials have said. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) had already confirmed two cases among British nationals, who are in hospitals in the Netherlands and South Africa. It said a third had been reported on the south Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, where the patient remains. The outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius has killed three people and the World Health Organization has warned more hantavirus cases could emerge, though officials said they expected the outbreak to be limited if precautions were taken. The fate of the Hondius has prompted international alarm and a scramble to trace the outbreak of the potentially deadly human-to-human strain. The UKHSA said none of the British citizens still onboard the ship, which is travelling to Tenerife, were reporting symptoms, but they are being closely monitored. The islands of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha all lie in the south Atlantic Ocean, midway between Africa and South America. A total of 29 people left the Hondius – including seven Britons – when it docked in St Helena on 24 April, including a Dutch woman who became unwell during onward travel and died. The ship is expected to dock in Tenerife on Sunday, according to the latest updates from the Spanish health ministry. The UKHSA said: “UK government staff will be on the ground ready to support the British nationals disembarking. British passengers and ship crew not displaying any symptoms of hantavirus will be escorted by UK government staff to an airport and given free passage back to the UK.” It said Foreign Office officials and UKHSA teams would continue to support passengers, with a dedicated repatriation flight being organised for them and crew. The organisation added: “UKHSA is working with partners to ensure the flight operates under strict infection control measures. Public health and infectious disease specialists from UKHSA and the NHS will be onboard to monitor British nationals whilst on the flight, to ensure that preventative measures are in place and to provide any care in the unlikely event that any passengers become unwell on the flight.” All British passengers and crew from the ship are being asked to isolate for 45 days after returning to the UK, with close monitoring by health officials. The UKHSA said: “Follow-up is already under way for individuals who may have been in contact with cases and have since returned to the UK or are in UK overseas territories.”