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Voting in the Labour deputy leadership election opens today. Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader, is seen as the favourite and, as Jessica Elgot reports, Powell told supporters yesterday that, if she is elected, she will use the post to argue for changes in the way the government is operating. “We can’t sugarcoat the fact that things aren’t going well,” she said.
Powell is no longer a government minister and, if she is elected deputy leader, she will do the job from the backbenches. In an interview on Newsnight last night, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary standing against Powell, said a Powell victory would be “destabilising” for the party. She said:
[Electing Powell] risks destabilising the party … we best achieve what we need to do together when we have those fierce conversations, including disagreements, behind closed doors.
Members need to understand that there’s a potential challenge around all of that – that if you’re not inside when the big decisions are being made, you’re not at that table, you’re not in those conversations.

Ex-DPP Ken Macdonald says prosecutors may have been ‘over-fussy’ in seeking further assurances from government
Legal experts have questioned the explanation given by the Crown Prosecution Service for its sudden against two Britons accused of spying for China amid a political row over who was responsible.
The expert lawyers expressed surprise that the CPS thought it needed further assurance from the government that China was an enemy insofar as it posed “a current threat to national security” before the trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry could go ahead.

President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to ban vote-by-mail through executive order have drawn sharp constitutional challenges from civil rights organizations, even as the promised order has yet to ...

As China struggles with economic discontent, internet censors are silencing those who voice doubts about work or marriage, or simply sigh too loudly online.

Four people tied to a South American burglary ring targeting Asian American homes and businesses have been arrested in West Chester, according to police.

Opened last month in China, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge sits 625 metres above the valley below
As a safety worker for bungee jumps and rope swings, Mr Fu has spent a lot of time standing on bridges. But his new job, working at the new Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in Southern China, takes the cake.
“The view from the bridge is fantastic,” he tells the Guardian. “Beneath the bridge flows the Beipan River, with Huajiang Village nearby and a waterfall as well. It is very exciting – the bridge is very high, and many visitors come. Standing on it yourself feels thrilling as well.”

Hundreds of hikers encountered deep snow in the isolated Karma valley after an unusually powerful blizzard
Rescuers guided all of the remaining trekkers near the east face of in Tibet to safety, including hundreds of local guides and yak herders, authorities said, ending one of the largest search-and-rescue operations in the region.
in deep snow over the weekend in the isolated Karma valley after an unusually powerful blizzard dumped heavy snowfall in the region.

As it did in 2018, the White House plans to dole out relief funds to struggling U.S. farmers who have lost their biggest customer.

The proposed transaction, stemming from relationships that started while his father was vice president and involving a Chinese partner, underscores the extent of Mr. Biden’s questionable business dealings abroad.

Ministers and officials did not provide statements that China was threat despite ‘many months’ of effort to obtain them
Charges against two men accused of spying for China because prosecutors could not obtain critical evidence from the government that Beijing represented a “threat to the national security of the UK”.
Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, wrote to two select committee chairs to explain that despite trying over “many months”, the sought-after statements were not forthcoming from ministers and officials.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The South Asian American Justice Collaborative (SAAJCO) has joined forces with major labor unions, healthcare providers, universities, and faith organizations to challenge the ...

Williams & Connolly, one of the nation’s most prominent law firms, told clients that its computer systems had been infiltrated and that hackers may have gained access to some client emails.