US interfering in UK's internal affairs
US officials recently travelled to the UK to meet with local anti-abortion campaigners who Washington believes face retribution for expressing their views, The Telegraph reported on Saturday. The paper described the move as evidence of Washington's desire to 'intervene in domestic British affairs.'
In March, the State Department dispatched a delegation from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), to meet with officials from the Foreign Office and communications regulator Ofcom to 'affirm the importance of freedom of expression in the UK and across Europe.'
The talks, which also overlapped with separate UK-US trade negotiations, focused on Britain's new online safety act and its potential consequences for freedom of speech.
However, the five-member US team also quietly met with British activists who had been arrested for protesting outside abortion clinics, the article said. The US officials also reportedly attended an event held at a 'nondescript' office block where campaigners were present.
'The visit is the latest sign of the Trump administration's willingness to intervene in domestic British affairs,' The Telegraph noted.
While the paper did not provide details on whom the US officials met, Washington has sounded the alarm over several controversial cases where the right to free speech in the UK may have been violated.
One of them was that of Livia Tossici-Bolt, a 64-year-old campaigner who was charged in 2023 for holding a sign reading 'here to talk if you want' outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. She refused to leave when asked by police and faced prosecution under a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) – a legal restriction that creates a 150-meter buffer zone around facilities providing abortion services.
In February, US Vice President J.D. Vance also singled out the case of Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old British army veteran and anti-abortion activist, who was convicted in October 2024 for silently praying near the same Bournemouth clinic. Vance called it a 'most concerning case' and said it illustrated the threats to the 'basic liberties of religious Britons.'
UK law enforcement has been criticized for so-called 'two-tier policing,' a term suggesting that much harsher measures are often taken against right-wing protesters than against left-wing ones. Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, has been particularly vocal on the matter, blasting the UK over its response to what he described as a disproportionate response to anti-immigration demonstrations.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
6 hours ago
- Russia Today
Leaked Ukrainian peace terms differ from version presented to Moscow
The memorandum Ukraine handed to Russia during Monday's peace talks in Istanbul was not the same as the version leaked to Western media, RT has learned. A key clause rejecting any limits on Ukraine's armed forces – present in the leaked draft – was missing from the official proposal received by the Russian delegation. The revelation casts new doubt over Kiev's public stance and suggests a possible divergence between Ukraine's media messaging and its negotiating position behind closed doors. According to a source, who reviewed the Ukrainian memorandum submitted at the Turkish meeting, the document omitted a paragraph found in the version published earlier this week by Reuters. That paragraph explicitly ruled out any restrictions on the size or deployment of Ukraine's military forces or those of its allies. The Reuters draft stated: 'No restrictions may be imposed on the number, deployment, or other parameters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the deployment of troops of friendly foreign states on the territory of Ukraine.' That language does not appear in the version reviewed by RT's source. The talks in Istanbul marked the second round of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in less than a month. Moscow's proposal reportedly called on Kiev to recognize the loss of five territories that voted to join Russia in referendums, withdraw Ukrainian forces from those regions, commit to neutrality, and accept limitations on its military capacity. On Wednesday, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky dismissed Moscow's proposal out of hand, calling it 'an ultimatum.' 'This memorandum is a misunderstanding,' he said, adding that the Istanbul process had become 'meaningless.' Russian lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky defended his delegation's proposal, describing it as 'a real opportunity for peace' and 'a serious step toward a ceasefire and long-term settlement.' The discrepancy between the two versions of Ukraine's memorandum is likely to raise fresh questions in Moscow about the sincerity of Kiev's approach to negotiations. No date has been set for a third round of talks.
Russia Today
8 hours ago
- Russia Today
EU may target Russia's financial reputation
The EU is considering adding Russia to its anti-money laundering 'grey list' in an effort to cause reputational damage and increase financial pressure on Moscow, Financial Times reported on Friday. The blacklist includes countries that Brussels considers to have inadequate regulations against shady financial activity. Inclusion on the list would impose extra compliance requirements on banks and financial institutions dealing with Russian individuals and entities, leading to higher costs in conducting business activity. The European Commission is preparing to adopt a revised list of high-risk third countries next week, after postponing its release at the last minute for 'administrative/procedural reasons,' FT reported. 'There is huge support for putting Russia on the list,' Markus Ferber, a German MEP with the center-right European People's Party, the EU parliament's largest grouping, told the outlet. Typically, the EU aligns its blacklist with decisions from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global intergovernmental body that combats money laundering and terrorist financing. Although Russia's FATF membership was suspended in 2023, several countries would likely block any attempt to formally add it to the FATF grey list, leading Brussels to consider unilateral action. Despite its suspension from FATF, Russia continues to engage with the Eurasian Group (EAG), a regional body affiliated with FATF. In 2024, the EAG assessed Russia's progress in strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures. It acknowledged some improvements but urged further action, particularly in enforcing targeted financial sanctions and increasing transparency around beneficial ownership. Ukraine has repeatedly pushed for Russia to be placed on the FATF blacklist, citing its connections with already blacklisted states and the potential risks it allegedly poses to the global financial system. However, these attempts have failed due to resistance from several FATF member states, including China, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. Despite being suspended, Russia remains obligated to comply with FATF standards and continues to fulfill its financial commitments to the organization.
Russia Today
13 hours ago
- Russia Today
Trump threatens to sanction both Russia and Ukraine
US President Donald Trump has signaled that Washington could impose sanctions on both Russia and Ukraine if the conflict between the two nations does not come to an end. Trump has thus far declined to commit to new sanctions on Russia, despite weeks of pressure from European leaders, saying only that he would act when the time felt right — and that moment had not yet come. He has also expressed concern that levying new restrictions could jeopardize peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. During a meeting at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, Trump said he would decide when to act if it became clear that a peace deal could not be reached, noting that 'it's in my brain, the deadline.' He suggested he'd be willing to apply restrictions on both Russia and Ukraine, warning that 'we'll be very, very, very tough, and it could be on both countries to be honest.' 'You know, it takes two to tango,' the US president added. Trump likened the Ukraine conflict to 'two children fighting in a park.' He also said a sanctions bill moving through the US Senate would be 'guided by me,' but suggested it might be better to let Russia and Ukraine continue fighting 'for a while' before 'pulling them apart.' The US president was referring to legislation backed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime Russia hawk and Trump ally, that would impose a 500% tariff on countries that buy Russian energy, uranium, and other raw materials – measures aimed chiefly at India and China. Trump's statement comes as Kiev has ramped up attacks on Russian territory, including a UAV strike on several Russian airbases and recent acts of railway sabotage in Bryansk and Kursk regions, which claimed the lives of seven people and left scores injured. Moscow has accused Kiev of orchestrating a series of violent incidents aimed at undermining peace talks. Russia has also claimed that Trump is receiving 'filtered' information about the Ukraine conflict from those pushing Washington toward supporting Kiev. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it is carrying out strikes on Ukrainian military-linked installations in response to Kiev's increased drone attacks on Russian civilian targets. In a previously unannounced phone conversation on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin informed his US counterpart that Kiev's recent attacks were intended to derail direct talks with Moscow, the second round of which took place in Istanbul on Monday. Revealing details of the phone call, which he described as 'a good conversation,' Trump said that the Russian president 'did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.'
