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Tuesday briefing: Arrest if you challenge Hong Kong laws, says Carrie Lam

<span>Photograph: Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images

Top story: Tik Tok pulls out after US ban threat

Hello and welcome to Tuesday morning’s news with me, Warren Murray.

Hong Kong police have been given sweeping new powers, including raids without a warrant and surveillance, as part of Beijing bringing down a guillotine on the territory’s freedoms. The city’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, suggested that even questioning new national security laws imposed by the Communist party central government could be deemed an offence. She warned “radicals … not to challenge the law or the consequences would be serious”. Tik Tok has said it will pull out of Hong Kong app stores, signalling it is distancing itself from its Chinese parent company after the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said the US was “certainly looking at” banning Chinese social media apps. WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram have said they are pausing cooperation with data requests from Hong Kong authorities.

China has already begun its crackdown on dissent with a 23-year-old man the first to be charged under the legislation and authorities announcing a purge from libraries and schools of literature that Beijing might deem a threat. On Monday, eight people were arrested at a silent protest where demonstrators held up blank pieces of paper over the outlawing of pro-independence slogans. Asked about the media’s concern that the laws criminalise acts of journalism, Lam refused to guarantee press freedom. In London, China’s ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, called the British government’s plan to offer a path to citizenship to up to 3 million Hong Kong people a “gross interference”.

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Coronavirus latest – Make sure to keep checking our global live blog for the latest; following are some of this morning’s key developments. Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state in Australia, is being placed under a six-week lockdown after 191 new cases were confirmed in a continuing outbreak. In other world developments: South Africa’s coronavirus cases have passed 200,000, the highest total in Africa, but Kenya plans to ease its lockdown despite a steep increase in cases.

Nearly one in six Britons will refuse a vaccine against Covid-19 if and when one becomes available and a similar number are unsure about getting one, according to a YouGov survey. Social media misinformation is being blamed. “Social media companies’ irresponsible decision to continue to publish anti-vaccine propaganda means a vaccine may not be effective in containing the virus. The price for their greed is a cost paid in lives,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

Our long read today covers how coronavirus is widening the gender pay gap as it proves disastrous for women’s economic progress. In our science podcast: weeks and months after having a confirmed or suspected infection, many people are finding they still haven’t fully recovered, complaining of lingering symptoms from fatigue and brain-fog to breathlessness and tingling toes. So why does Covid-19 cause these and other lasting health problems?

Boris Johnson is in the firing line, meanwhile, after he said some care homes failed to follow proper procedures during the coronavirus crisis.

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New appeal over police shooting – The mother of Jermaine Baker, who was shot dead by police in 2015, has welcomed a court of appeal challenge to police use of force in the case. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is bringing the case against a Metropolitan police officer known as W80 whose shot killed Baker, 28, during an attempt to break another man out of police custody near Wood Green crown court. Criminal charges against W80 were dropped in 2017. Baker’s mother, Margaret Smith, said: “Because of Black Lives Matter protests across the world people are looking at the issue of police use of force.” Officer W80 claimed he had acted in self-defence, fearing Baker was reaching for a gun. No firearm was found but police did recover an imitation Uzi machine gun at the scene.

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Depp drama goes to court – The legal battle between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard opens in the Royal Courts of Justice today. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor is suing the Sun newspaper’s owners, News Group Newspapers, and a senior Sun editor for libel. The case, scheduled to run for three weeks, is being spaced out across five courts to observe social distancing. A Sun article published in 2018 referred to Depp as a “wife beater” over allegations made against Depp by Heard, 34, that he was violent towards her during their marriage. He strenuously denies the claims and is also pursuing her in a separate libel battle in the US.

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Best that’s ever been – Charlie Daniels, the fiddle player behind southern rock hit The Devil Went Down to Georgia, has died aged 83. A statement from his publicist said the Country Music Hall of Famer died on Monday at a hospital in Hermitage, Tennessee, after doctors said he had a stroke.

Daniels, a singer, guitarist and fiddler, started out as a session musician, even playing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline sessions. Beginning in the early 1970s his five-piece band toured endlessly, sometimes doing 250 shows a year. The Devil Went Down to Georgia crossed over to the pop charts, including making the top 20 in the UK. It earned his band a Grammy for best country vocal performance by a duo or group.

Today in Focus podcast: Taking on Sir Humphrey

Michael Gove has set out his plans for a revolution of Britain’s permanent bureaucracy, the civil service. But as the former Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell argues, it is easier said than done.

Lunchtime read: ‘I thought OK I’m going to die here’

The poet and novelist Benjamin Zephaniah has had a turbulent lockdown, with two relatives lost to Covid-19 and George Floyd’s death bringing back memories of his cousin, Mikey Powell, who was killed by the police in 2003.

Sport

In the Premier League, Tottenham’s flagging season improved with a 1-0 victory over Everton. But the headline news from the dour fixture was a physical altercation at half-time between Spurs teammates Hugo Lloris and Son-Heung Min, described by manager Jose Mourinho as “beautiful”. In further disappointing news for the Toffees, the club has confirmed it is “assisting Merseyside police with their inquiries” after a red flare was ignited and left on the Dixie Dean statue outside Goodison Park.

As England’s Test cricket series with West Indies draws nearer, Phil Simmons, the West Indies’ head coach, believes England have provided a blueprint for the rest of the world. The Test series will feature a slimline Dom Sibley with the England opener shedding 12kg after studying the dedication of senior colleagues on tour. In the US NFL star Patrick Mahomes has put his name to a monster contract with the Kansas City Chiefs worth $450m over 10 years. Meanwhile Nascar driver Bubba Wallace became the latest target of Donald Trump’s ire.

Business

Multibillion-pound gas projects all over the world are at risk as the coronavirus crisis takes its toll on the market for liquefied natural gas. Spending on the infrastructure to ship LNG reached £66bn last year but the schemes could be redundant after the lockdown-induced collapse in demand for power. The FTSE100 is set to dip about 0.3% this morning while the pound will fetch you $1.249 and €1.105.

The papers

The Guardian’s splash is “Fury as PM accuses care homes over Covid deaths” while in the Times, China warns the UK that “trade will suffer” if it locks Huawei out of telecommunications contracts.

The FT is on point with its Magnitsky story: “Raab under pressure to turn new sanctions regime against China” – there are calls to target Carrie Lam, the Hong Kong CEO, after new security laws were forced upon the territory. The Mail has “Ex-MI6 spy’s dossier sparks Huawei storm”, about claims that China tried to recruit politicians and “Establishment figures” (who apparently get a capital E) as agents.

The Telegraph says “Pub beer takeaways a ‘recipe for violence’” – that’s according to peers, amid talk of a relaxation of licensing laws. The Express has “Peers demand BBC must honour licence fee pledge” (of no charge for the over-75s). The Mirror and the Metro cover sexual assault allegations against Charlie Elphicke, who is accused of groping and then chasing a woman around his house while chanting “I’m a naughty Tory”. The i has “Chancellor urged to cut stamp duty this week” – previewing of Wednesday’s mini-budget is ramping up.

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