Comment on Britain says Hong Kong is a litmus test for China

The floor is sticky. The room is hot and stuffy. Bodies swim past each other, spilling pints along the way. The smell of stale ale floats in the air. The bartenders at this North London pub look bored, while patrons buzz with anticipation, eyes glued to the giant projection screen airing a live BBC broadcast.

Labour has won a landslide victory in the U. K. election, bringing a decisive end to 14 years of Conservative government marked by austerity, Brexit tumult, the COVID-19 pandemic, and political chaos with five Tory Prime Ministers in a mere six years. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Keir Starmer walked into 10 Downing Street on Friday as the new Prime Minister with the largest majority of any party since 1832.

mdash; Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Mexico’s coast near the resort of Tulum as a Category 2 storm early Friday, whipping trees and knocking out power as it came ashore after leaving a trail of destruction across the eastern Caribbean. The U. S. National Hurricane Center said that Beryl is expected to rapidly weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses over the Yucatan Peninsula before it re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico and likely regains hurricane strength. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Once in the warm waters of the Gulf, Beryl is forecast to head toward northern Mexico near the Texas border, an area had already been soaked by Tropical Storm Alberto just a couple of weeks ago. Once the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl spread destruction in Jamaica, St.

Eighth time proved the charm for right-wing British politician and Brexiteer Nigel Farage, who was finally announced as a Member of the British Parliament in the early hours of July 5, following the U. K. snap election. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Farage-fronted populist party Reform UK—a rebrand of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Farage was a founding member of—enjoyed an unprecedented performance at Thursday’s general election, proving to be a thorn in the incumbent Conservative Party’s side.

Tensions between neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan are running high as the Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said this week that his country plans to continue launching cross-border attacks as part of a new military operation to curb terrorism. The comments mark a notable shift for Pakistani officials who, until now, had only admitted to one such cross-border strike in March.

The Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony is set to be unlike any other—assuming everything goes to plan. For the first time in history, the Summer Games won’t kick off in a stadium but instead on a river. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] When the concept was unveiled in December 2021, three-time gold medalist and head of the Paris 2024 organizing committee Tony Estanguet described what the reimagined event would look like: “The entire city has been turned into a vast Olympic stadium.