Thẻ: Britain

Why Is Britain Retreating from Global Leadership on Climate Action?

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Yale Environment 360

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announcing last month that the U.K. will delay the phaseout of gasoline and diesel cars.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announcing last month that the U.K. will delay the phaseout of gasoline and diesel cars. JUSTIN TALLIS / POOL VIA AP

While Britain has long been a leader in cutting emissions, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is now implementing a stunning reversal of climate-friendly policies, with new plans to “max out” oil production. Business leaders have joined environmentalists in condemning the moves.

BY FRED PEARCE • OCTOBER 17, 2023

In 1988, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher became the first world leader to take a stand on fighting climate change. Last month, exactly a quarter-century later, her successor Rishi Sunak tore up a cross-party consensus on the issue that had survived the intervening eight general elections and replaced it with a populist assault on what had been his own government’s environmental policies.

Thatcher, who trained as a chemist before entering politics, took her stand at a packed meeting of the country’s most prestigious science body, the Royal Society, on September 27, 1988. She told the assembly that “we are creating a global heat trap which could lead to climate instability” and promised action to curb global warming and achieve “stable prosperity”.

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Slavery report sounds alarm over Vietnamese nail bar workers

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Guardian

Independent commissioner calls for licensing to prevent trafficked migrants having to work in slavery-like conditions

Nail bar
The study analyses the experiences of more than a dozen individuals who experienced modern slavery in a nail bar. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Britain’s nail bars have such a high risk of modern slavery that a licensing scheme should be introduced to prevent trafficked Vietnamese migrants being employed in slavery-like conditions, Britain’s independent anti-trafficking commissioner is proposing. Tiếp tục đọc “Slavery report sounds alarm over Vietnamese nail bar workers” →

Britain concerned over challenges to Hong Kong’s ‘one country, two systems’ deal

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The Guardian

Bi-annual report on former colony saying confidence in its systems is under threat comes after repeated interventions from Beijing

Pro-democracy supporters
Beijing has told Britain that Hong Kong is an internal matter that no country has a right to interfere in. Photograph: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images
 Friday 24 February 2017 23.46 EST

Developments in Hong Kong have affected confidence in the city’s autonomy, though its rule of law remained robust “despite challenges”, the British government has said.

Britain handed the former colony back to China in 1997 with guarantees it would retain extensive autonomy, an independent legal system and broad personal and commercial freedoms under a deal known as “one country, two systems”.

The international financial hub has seen tumultuous times over the past couple of years, with pro-democracy protests quelled in what many residents see as creeping interference by Beijing and the rise of a small but vocal movement pushing for independence.

Britain monitors developments in Hong Kong, as the agreement it struck with China for the territory’s return stipulated the continuation of its capitalist way of life for 50 years. Tiếp tục đọc “Britain concerned over challenges to Hong Kong’s ‘one country, two systems’ deal” →