37 h. ago Japan waves goodbye to its last giant pandas amid China rift

Many spectators wore panda hats and waved flags as the pandas departed

Politics

37 h. ago Why Starmer’s China trip has come at the worst possible time

Keir Starmer is the first PM since Theresa May to visit China, but political editor David Maddox explains why a trip to Beijing now – amid faltering relations with the US and speculation about a leadership challenge at home – leaves the prime minister exposed

Politics

38 h. ago The US drew up a plan to invade Canada in 1930. Now Trump is reviving old fears

Now the US is vying regional dominance, experts point to War Plan Red as proof its Canadian allyship has always been flimsyFirst, American forces would strike with poison gas munitions, seizing a strategically valuable port city. Soldiers would sever undersea cables, destroy bridges and rail lines to paralyze infrastructure. Major cities on the shores of lakes and rivers would be captured in order to blunt any civilian resistance.The multipronged invasion would rely on ground forces, amphibious landing and then mass internments. According to the architects of the plan, the attack would be short-lived and the besieged country would fall within days. Continue reading...

Politics

38 h. ago Chinese company on US forced labour watchlist to buy Canadian gold mining firm

Zijin Gold’s parent company has been placed on US administration’s Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act Entity List

Economics

38 h. ago ‘I didn’t have anything to prove’: what Traitors finalist Jade Scott learned about survival from video games

Accused, isolated and constantly under scrutiny, The Traitors contestant drew on years of social deduction gaming to stay calm under pressureThe latest series of The Traitors, which ended last week on a nail-biting finale, featured some of the usual characters – from guileless extroverts to wannabe Columbos endlessly observing fellow contestants for the slightest flicker of treachery. But one faithful stood out for her quiet determination, despite a ceaseless onslaught of suspicion and accusation. That person was Jade Scott, and I wasn’t at all surprised when, quite early on in the series, she revealed she was a keen gamer.“Minecraft was my way in, when I was 15,” she says. “I made loads of friends at school playing that.” From this innocent introduction, however, she moved on to darker titles: the first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the multiplayer battle-arena game Dota. “That’s where my interest in strategy gaming really kicked in,” she says. Continue readin...

Events

38 h. ago How China’s ‘Salt Typhoon’ hackers are waging war on West as Downing Street spying op exposed & Starmer heads to Beijing

SPIES from China are understood to have hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years. Aides close to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak were targeted for three years, between 2021 and 2024, when all three served as Prime Ministers, before the operation was exposed. One source said the...

Events

39 h. ago Russia issues chilling WW3 warning to UK – 'We can strike and Trump won't help'

Speaking to a panel on Russian state TV show 'The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov', the Putin puppet host claimed recent wrangling over Greenland meant that the US won't protect Europe

Events

40 h. ago China’s biggest sportswear brand to buy Puma stake for $1.8 billion

Anta Sports Products will buy a 29.06 per cent stake in Puma, the Chinese sportswear company has announced

Economics

40 h. ago Keir Starmer warned 'do not get naked' and 'change in bed' as Chinese spies will be watching

Keir Starmer is facing a nude threat on his trip to China after Theresa May - the last British Prime Minister to visit the superpower - was advised to get dressed under her bed covers

Events

40 h. ago Tourist mauled at Chinese ski resort after trying to take selfie with wild snow leopard

Authorities ask visitors to strictly follow safety instructions and avoid approaching wild animals

Politics

40 h. ago Nipah outbreak in India sparks worry in China ahead of Lunar New Year travel season

Public anxiety spreads on social media despite experts saying transmission risk remains low

Politics

41 h. ago China 'hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for years'

State-backed hackers compromised senior officials’ communications, according to The Telegraph

Politics

41 h. ago EU car sales grow 1.8% in 2025 with electric cars surging but Tesla loses market share – business live

Sales at Elon Musk’s carmaker plummet nearly 38% in 2025 as it loses ground to China’s BYD; gold continues to riseGood morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Sales of new cars in the European Union rose by 1.8% last year, with electric cars making up a bigger share of the market, while Tesla sales plummeted as it lost ground to China’s BYD. Continue reading...

Economics

43 h. ago Rare snow leopard attack at China’s Xinjiang ski destination leaves tourist injured

Authorities ask visitors to strictly follow safety instructions and avoid approaching wild animals

Events

44 h. ago Sir Keir Starmer says he does not have to choose between ties with China and US

The Prime Minister will travel to China on Tuesday as he attempts to continue building bridges with Beijing.

Politics

44 h. ago Starmer's fraught visit to China will tell us what he really thinks of the UK's place in the world | Peter Frankopan

Does Britain have any leverage over human rights or security concerns or is it a decaying nation that cannot risk trade relations?This week, Keir Starmer will reportedly visit China. This will be the first trip of this kind by a British prime minister since Theresa May’s three-day visit to Beijing in 2018. Since then, relations between London and Beijing have become increasingly fraught, caught between growing security concerns and deep economic interdependence. Allegations of espionage and influence operations have sharpened political and public suspicion in the UK, even as deep trade links and supply chains on which the country depends make disengagement unrealistic. As fierce debate about the recent approval for the new Chinese embassy has shown, there are strong opinions about how to best manage relations with Beijing – as well as what, precisely, constitutes a threat and what is an opportunity. The result is an uneasy balancing act in which caution and cooperation coexist, ofte...

Politics

47 h. ago US confirms 126 deaths linked to strikes on alleged drug boats

This figure includes 116 people killed outright in at least 36 attacks carried out since early September

Events

47 h. ago Trump’s ICE crackdown faces reckoning as outrage mounts over Alex Pretti shooting

Federal agents set to scale back presence in Minneapolis as president and allies strike more conciliatory toneDonald Trump’s efforts to deploy militarized immigration agents in US cities may finally be reaching a reckoning as he faces widespread opposition across the US, dissenting lawmakers in his own party, and impending court rulings after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis.While there was no sign the aggressive tactics used by immigration enforcement are coming to an end, the mayor of Minneapolis said the administration would begin to scale back the number of federal agents in Minneapolis starting on Tuesday, as the president and his team soften their harsh rhetoric regarding Pretti’s killing. Continue reading...

Politics

48 h. ago Phones of senior officials in Downing Street 'have been hacked by China for years'

Chinese spies are understood to have targeted the phones of close aides to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak between 2021 and 2024.

Politics

49 h. ago IAN WILLIAMS: China's vampire state is about to sink its fangs into Kowtow Keir. Stand by for a humiliating spectacle

Keir Starmer is stepping up 'Operation Kowtow', his reckless bid to cosy up to China- at the worst possible moment for Britain's national security.

Politics