Author: admin@primenews

As China’s annual parliamentary sitting comes to a close after a hectic week of meetings, a glaring void looms on Monday’s final agenda. The National People’s Congress is usually capped off by the premier’s press conference. But this year, and for the rest of the term, the tradition has been mysteriously nixed. Officials have said there was no need for it given there were other opportunities for journalists to ask questions. But many observers saw it as another sign of consolidation and control, in what became a running theme for the congress, even as top officials preached openness. The cancellation…

One of the teenagers accused of killing of a British mother when they broke into her home in Australia has pleaded guilty to murder. Emma Lovell, 41, was allegedly stabbed when two boys broke into her house in Brisbane on Boxing Day in 2022. She had emigrated from Ipswich in 2011 with her daughters and her husband Lee, who was also injured in the attack. The boys, who cannot legally be named as they were 17 at the time, were each charged with four offences. In the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday, the boy who allegedly used the knife in…

Coroners in England and Wales sent 109 warnings to health bodies and the government in 2023 highlighting long NHS waits, staff shortages or a lack of NHS resources, the BBC has found. The number of cases identified that were linked to NHS pressures was the highest in the past six years. Prevention of future death reports (PFDs) are sent when a coroner thinks action is needed to protect lives. The government says it “responds to, and learns from, every report”. Coroners are specialist judges in charge of inquests, which investigate the circumstances of deaths that appear to have an unknown,…

Hong Kong is set to pass its own version of a Beijing-imposed national security law which has raised fears civil liberties will be further eroded. A full draft of Article 23, which covers treason, sedition and state secrets, was tabled on Friday. The city’s leader John Lee called for it to be passed “at full speed”. Beijing and Hong Kong both credit the security law with helping to restore stability in the city after widespread pro-democracy protests in 2019. It is believed that more than 100 people have been arrested under the 2020 Beijing-imposed law which made it easier to prosecute protesters…

“From the beginning, I always meant for the web to be a platform for creativity and collaboration,” says Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web. “The first decade of the web lived up to that promise, but that’s not what we’ve seen in the last 20 years or so.” Sir Tim says a particular problem is the way personal data is handled. When you log in and store data in a website, it can only be used within that website. But an open source software project, called Solid, is designed to reverse that situation. The idea of Solid is…

It had been that long they had worked out the exact number of days – 4,095. Not since late 2012, more than 11 years earlier, had a British women’s team sprint squad won a gold medal. But at the Adelaide leg of the Track Nations Cup in February, Katy Marchant, Emma Finucane and Sophie Capewell finally bucked that trend. Such had been Great Britain’s lack of success, they did not even qualify for the team sprint at the Rio or Tokyo Olympics, while individual medals started to dry up after 2016. By 2019, the squad had had enough and made…

British heavyweight Anthony Joshua will be hoping to continue his winning streak when he takes on Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday. Two-time world champion Joshua has rebuilt his career with three straight victories over the past 11 months, but now he comes up against the former UFC champion who has little to lose. French-Cameroonian Ngannou made his boxing debut against Tyson Fury in October, sensationally dropping the WBC world champion in a non-title bout before losing on a split decision. Is Ngannou just a flash in the pan or a serious heavyweight contender? With a potential fight…

At 6’3” and 295 pounds, former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce often towers over other people. His big bushy beard makes him look like a modern-day Paul Bunyan. As he announced his retirement, his tears started to flow. Throughout his 40-minute speech, he hid his face behind a giant’s hands as he thanked his coaches and his band teacher for teaching him what he needed to learn to become a great football player and an even greater human being. As he told himself “C’mon” in an attempt to control his emotions, he talked about the impact of his father, Ed…

India’s federal investigation agency says it has busted a network of agents sending people to war-torn Russia under the pretext of giving them jobs. The agents were luring people through social media, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said. The network stretches across several states and about 35 people have fallen victims to the racket, the agency said. The development comes after two Indians, who were duped into traveling to Russia, were killed in the war. The CBI said in a statement that the traffickers were operating under an “organised network”. It said that agents were using social media channels like YouTube…

Playing England in last year’s Six Nations is something I’ll never forget. The entire week was just brilliant and the stars really aligned for us as we clinched the Grand Slam on home soil on St Patrick’s weekend. For us Ireland players, it was the stuff of dreams, but on the day, we didn’t produce our best rugby. It was a really tight match, even though England played most of it with 14 players after Freddie Steward’s red card. I’m sure the Ireland fans were nervous for much of the afternoon until the final whistle blew. We have certainly had…