The Guardian

Queen secretly lobbied Scottish ministers for climate law exemption (Wed, 28 Jul 2021)
Monarch used secretive procedure to become only person in country not bound by a green energy rule The Queen’s lawyers secretly lobbied Scottish ministers to change a draft law to exempt her private land from a major initiative to cut carbon emissions, documents reveal. The exemption means the Queen, one of the largest landowners in Scotland, is the only person in the country not required to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy. Continue reading...
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HSBC faces questions over disclosure of alleged money laundering to monitors (Wed, 28 Jul 2021)
Bank was under supervision by US Department of Justice-appointed team because of previous violations HSBC discovered a suspected money laundering network that received $4.2bn (£3bn) worth of payments, it has emerged, raising questions over whether it disclosed the information to US monitors who at the time were ensuring the bank cleaned up its act. Insiders who spoke to journalists as part of a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, have suggested that HSBC may not have appropriately shared the information with the monitoring team installed by US regulators in 2012 after HSBC allowed drug cartels in Latin America to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through its accounts. Continue reading...
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Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Japan top medal table, heat forces tennis change and more – live! (Wed, 28 Jul 2021)
Games schedule | Results | Medal table | Full coverage Gallery: Tokyo 2020 Day Five in pictures Sign up for the Guardian’s daily Olympic briefing Email Barry or tweet him @bglendenning 4.25pm BST Equestrianism: Charlotte Dujardin set a new record of six Olympic medals for a British woman after taking bronze in the individual dressage final at Tokyo Equestrian Park. Gymnastics: Simone Biles has received support in many quarters (and astonishing abuse in others) following her decision to withdraw from Thursday’s women’s all-around final in order to protect her mental wellbeing. 4.13pm BST Rugby sevens: Dan Bibby has hit out over a lack of funding after Great Britain’s men were beaten 17-12 by Argentina in the rugby sevens bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics. Prospects for the men’s and women’s squads looked bleak last year amid significant cuts made to British sevens programmes. Funding was then obtained ahead of the Olympics via a commercial partnership struck between the Rugby Football Union, Scottish Rugby Union, Welsh Rugby Union and The National Lottery promotional fund. Continue reading...
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