Duncan Smith

Conor McGregor’s announcement to run for Irish president has been met with strong opposition from members of the Irish Parliament. All 134 responding lawmakers rejected his candidacy, criticizing him for being unsuitable, divisive, and unqualified for the role. McGregor faces significant challenges in gaining political support.

The American occupation of Iraq is going badly, 22 Americans have been killed in two helicopter ambushes, and no end is in sight to guerrilla warfare and its human toll.

Britain's top diplomat, James Cleverly, is set to visit China on Wednesday, as the two countries attempt to shore up frayed ties.It will be the first trip by a UK foreign secretary to China in more than five years. Both countries confirmed the long-awaited trip on Tuesday.

Some members of the UK's ruling Conservative Party may have been issued more than one postal ballot paper to elect a new party leader to replace Theresa May as British PM. Ballot papers have been dispatched to around 166,000 Conservative Party members to choose between Jeremy Hunt & Boris Johnson as the new Tory leader, who will take charge at 10 Downing Street.

Suella Fernandes, who traces her roots to Goa, is among the majority Tory party signatories of a letter to the BBC director-general Lord Hall calling on the public broadcaster to correct its anti-Brexit stance.

A Hong Kong man Wednesday decried his "barbaric" treatment at the hands of Chinese diplomats in Britain who dragged him inside their compound to assault him after an anti-Beijing protest. Bob Chan spoke at a news conference in London after China, insisting its diplomats in Manchester were blameless, lodged a formal complaint with the UK government.

Rishi Sunak, however, stopped short of calling China a threat, disappointing China hawks in his Conservative Party who had until recently expected him to class China as a "threat" to UK security as part of an update of the government's foreign and defense policies. The British PM said the UK would stand up to global competitors like China

Heading into a second TV debate by the candidates on Sunday evening, only former finance minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to stick by the target and by "green levies" to help pay for it.

The UK general elections on July 4 face a cybersecurity threat from state actors like China and Russia, with concerns of misinformation, data leaks, and attacks on individuals, posing risks of internal chaos and public manipulation.

Professor Tendayi Achiume said she had noted "explicit racial, ethnic and religious intolerance" during her visit to Britain and also that hate crime had marked a spike since the Brexit referendum in June 2016.