https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/first-drive-2022-bmw-i7-prototype-review The i7 is the technological spearhead of the upcoming Mk7 (G70) 7 Series and BMW’s largest and most luxurious electric car to date. Related models are in the pipeline, including mild-hybrid diesels and petrol-electric plug-in hybrids. However, it is the advanced i7, with a 500bhp-plus dual-motor electric drivetrain in the initial four-wheel-drive model, that will kick off sales of BMW’s new flagship four-door in November, promising a range, we’re told, of close to 400 miles on the WLTP test cycle. To learn more about the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQS rival, Autocar joined a round of i7 shakedown tests with a team of BMW engineers in Germany before the car’s unveiling later this month. As the photographs here show, the prototype we drove on public roads was fully camouflaged, so there is not a lot we can tell you about the detailing within the exterior, other than at around 5400mm in length, it is the largest BMW model to date. It is over 100mm longer than today’s sixth-generation BMW 7 Series. The interior was also covered up but it’s clear certain elements are taken directly from the BMW iX, the electric SUV with which the i7 also shares its drivelines and lithium ion battery, among other key components. This is a big car, more presidential limousine than your typical European luxury saloon in terms of visual boldness, with an upright silhouette, traditional three-box proportions, large framed doors that open and close automatically and, thanks to a wheelbase stretching to over 3000mm, luxurious and accommodating rear quarters. Unlike the EQS, which is based on a dedicated EV platform, the i7 builds off the same CLAR structure used by ICE-powered 7 Series models. As a result, the interior floor is not completely flat, with a transmission tunnel running backwards through the cabin. BMW has also modified the floorpan to house the 111.5kWh battery, which operates at 400V and can be charged at up to 195kW. The i7 still needs some development work before a final sign-off and a start to production. The drivetrain of the prototype driven here mirrors the iX’s, with one electric motor up front and a larger, more powerful motor at the rear. Impressions are positive. This initial i7 model is imbued with effortless urgency despite a kerb weight of well over 2000kg. The official output has yet to be revealed, but BMW says it extends beyond the 516bhp and 564lb ft of the iX xDrive50. As a point of reference, the EQS 580 4Matic’s dual-motor system develops 516bhp and 630lb ft. As with the iX, there are three main driving modes: Personal, Sport and Efficiency. The instant-on torque makes for rather rabid response in any of them, especially with the ability of the electric motors to apportion power to the wheels with the most traction. As with all of BMW’s electric-powered models, drive is sent through a single-speed gearbox on each motor. We’ll have to wait another few weeks before official performance claims are revealed, although you can expect a 0-62mph time of under 4.5sec. The strong performance is combined with an ultra-smooth driveline, making for brisk yet inherently calm cruising out on the open road. We achieved 150mph on an autobahn, at which it felt very resolved and terrifically stable. BMW’s aim was to give the i7 similar dynamic properties to today’s 7 Series and it has mostly succeeded. The front steering system, which receives a variable-ratio rack, is nicely weighted. It is not exactly overloaded with feedback, but there are arguably greater levels of communication than in most rival upmarket saloons. The rear steering system – or Integral Active Steering, as BMW calls it – operates in a traditional manner, albeit at a greater angle than the earlier system used by the existing 7 Series, to boost low-speed manoeuvrability and higher-speed stability. It works a treat. The i7 is a very big and heavy car yet it feels as agile, if not quite as fluid, as today’s smaller and lighter 7 Series. The i7 is eager to change direction. It also develops plenty of grip on the 255/45 R21 front and 285/40 rear Yokohama Advan Sport tyres worn by the prototype. If there is a concern, it is the car’s width, especially on narrow country roads. We’ve yet to see official figures but there is no doubt it has grown quite appreciably in this respect.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-60994022 Chinese authorities have extended their lockdown of Shanghai to cover all its 25 million people after a fresh surge in Covid cases. Initially, there had been separate measures for the eastern and western sides, but the whole city is now subject to indefinite restrictions. Shanghai is the largest single city to be locked down to date. The important financial hub has battled a new wave of coronavirus infections for more than a month. Reported cases have risen to more than 13,000 a day, although the numbers are not high by some international standards. Residents in some areas of the city said the strict policy meant no-one was allowed to leave their housing compounds, not even to collect essential provisions. They reported difficulties in ordering food and water online, with restrictions on when customers are able to place their orders, because of a shortage of supplies and delivery staff. This country's "zero-Covid" system is, at best, struggling to cope. China has done Covid lockdowns before, but not on the scale of its financial mega-city. The logistical challenges required to confine 25 million people to their homes, while keeping them fed, are huge. Social media here is full of angry residents complaining that they can't order food because the delivery system is clogged up. Centralised isolation facilities - many using only camp beds, with no showers or other facilities - are bursting with infected people squashed in next to one another. One of China's few reliable media outlets, Caixin, has reported that close contacts of infected people will be moved to neighbouring provinces. This could potentially involve hundreds of thousands of Shanghai residents. The Chinese government's complete elimination strategy has become something of a mantra, with the government ridiculing other countries for sacrificing their own people on the altar of opening up. Some medical specialists here have tried to get the message through that, for a vaccinated person, catching the Omicron variant of Covid will probably not necessitate going to hospital - that you can simply ride it out at home until you recover. Few people in China seem to be aware of this. Their officials and state media have kept it from them. So the lockdowns continue and it's not only Shanghai closed right now. Jilin City (3.6 million people), Changchun (nine million), Xuzhou (nine million), the steel city of Tangshan (7.7 million) and various other towns and villages are keeping their residents indoors. The strain on people, and the economic cost of it all, must be enormous.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60978795 More than 40 MPs have left Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's coalition government. MPs from parties aligned with Mr Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led coalition said they would now independently represent themselves. The move comes as the South Asian nation is grappling with power cuts and shortages because of an economic and foreign exchange crisis. This has led to mass protests demanding Mr Rajapaksa's resignation. It is unclear what the implications of the MPs' actions are at this point. They have distanced themselves from the government, but have not extended support to the opposition. It could, however, call into question the prime minister's authority over the parliament. Mr Rajapaksa's cabinet has already resigned, but both the president and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, have so far refused to step down. Instead, the president called on opposition parties to help him form a national government and accept cabinet portfolios. They have all refused and have reiterated demands for him to resign. "What the people want is for this president and the entire government to step down," said Sajith Premadasa, leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, Sri Lanka's main opposition alliance. Angry Sri Lankans want president to go On Tuesday, a freshly appointed finance minister also announced he was quitting the job, less than 24 hours after accepting the post. Ali Sabry, a close ally of President Rajapaksa, said he would give up his parliament seat for someone outside politics who might be "suitable to handle the situation". Meanwhile, anti-government protests continued on Tuesday in major cities across the country. "People can't afford their daily rice, their dhal, their basic necessities. People can't get on buses to come to work, to go to school," one protester told the BBC. "How much worse can it get? There's no petrol, there's no diesel, kids can't sit their exams because there's no paper," said another. In the past days, demonstrations calling for the resignation of the president have picked up momentum. Protesters even defied a curfew meant to last from Friday to Sunday in order to halt a planned day of protests, after a demonstration outside the president's house on Thursday night turned violent. The demonstrations mark a massive turnaround in po[CENSORED]rity for Mr Rajapaksa, who swept into power with a majority win in 2019, promising stability and a "strong hand" to rule the country. Sri Lanka is now struggling to pay for imports of fuel and other goods because of a shortage of foreign exchange, which has exacerbated its worst economic crisis since independence from the UK in 1948. The country needs foreign currency to pay for imports of fuel. "There are endless shortages of essentials, including fuel and cooking gas. Hospitals are on the verge of closing because there are no medicines," Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka's former president and leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party that withdrew its support for Mr Rajapaksa's coalition, told parliament. "At such a time, our party is on the side of the people."

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https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/geneva-motor-show-return-2023-after-three-years The Geneva motor show will return in 2023 after three years of cancellations, its organisers have announced. The international car show in Switzerland will return from 14-19 February for its 91st iteration, after the 2020, 2021 and 2022 shows were all cancelled because of the Covid pandemic. The global semiconductor shortage also contributed to this year’s cancellation, as it led to a shortage of interested exhibitors. Geneva is one of the world’s most significant motor shows and is a centrepiece of the automotive calendar. Major manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Toyota and Volkswagen all routinely present new cars and concepts at the show. Cancellations meant 2020 was the last time the exhibition produced a shortlist of models on display. Cars that were due to be on the show floor included the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm, Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport, Ferrari Roma, McLaren 765LT, Pininfarina Battista and Rimac C_Two. Before it was cancelled, the 2022 show was set to take a "substantially different" format in what the organisers called an "exciting evolution". The 2023 show will also represent the first since organisers agreed to add a biennial event in Qatar, known as the Qatar Geneva International Motor Show, which would be held in either autumn 2022 or 2023. The Geneva event would continue on an annual basis, although it's highly likely that Qatari investment was seen as an important means of securing its future.

https://www.bbc.com/news/education-60981450 Young children's development, following the pandemic, has been "particularly worrying", the chief inspector of Ofsted has said. In a report on the recovery of children, Amanda Spielman said there were "lingering challenges". The report said nurseries flagged babies with "limited vocabularies" and struggling to understand facial expressions. The government said it was continuing to invest in education. Ofsted's report was based on inspections of 70 early years providers in England in January and February. Speaking to the BBC, Ms Spielman said the report unveiled a variety of challenges for young children, including some struggling with potty-training. She said: "We are seeing difficulties with social interaction and social confidence - children just behind where you would normally expect them to be. "And also in physical development - crawling, walking and perhaps related to that also greater obesity." The report said a few early years care providers suggested face masks were having a negative impact on young children's language and communication skills. "Children turning two years old will have been surrounded by adults wearing masks for their whole lives and have therefore been unable to see lip movements or mouth shapes as regularly," the Ofsted briefing said. One nursery said children were talking in voices of cartoons they spent so much time watching. Ms Spielman said: "I think it's about talking and interacting directly with children, and introducing them to the kind of activities where they're interacting with other children and adults. She added nurseries were reporting delays accessing speech and language therapy and mental health services. Julie Robinson, nursery owner of Eagley School House Nurseries in Bolton, told BBC Breakfast she found a difference between children who had been in nursery throughout the pandemic and those who were at home. She said: "All they've seen is parents and a house, not interacting in local parks, seeing their friends, and going to parties. "So it's taken a long time to get these children, especially young babies and toddlers settled into nursery." Helen Porter, headteacher at Kings' Forest Primary School in Bristol, told the BBC: "For very young children, not being able to have those play experiences and to explore the world around them has had a huge impact. "It absolutely resonated with me, that the children in our nursery didn't know what I looked like without a facemask for a long time and the impact that had on being able to read facial expressions and build those relationships." Headteachers also raised particular concerns about children in reception year, who they said had delayed speech and language development. Ofsted also found the pandemic continuing to affect pupils' knowledge, as well as having an impact on attendance. But the inspectorate said it saw "lots of really good work" across early years and school, with most education providers using catch-up strategies to close gaps in pupils' knowledge and skills. James Bowen, of school leaders' union NAHT, called on the government to invest in early year services for disadvantaged families and support services like speech and language therapy. A Department for Education (DfE) spokesman said it had invested nearly £5bn in tutoring, additional funding for schools and training for teachers and early years practitioners. It added: "The Nuffield Early Language Intervention Programme is also being used by the majority of schools to improve language skills of reception-age children."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60979177 Sri Lanka's cabinet and central bank governor have all quit as anger grows over rising food and fuel prices. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has invited all parties to be a part of a new government. But as the economic crisis worsens in the country, those who've taken to the streets in protest say they won't stop until Mr Rajapaksa resigns. Across an island bubbling with anger and desperation, the chants and the placards are mostly directed at one man. "Go Gota Go," "Go Gota Go," they say. Gota is short for Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the country's controversial president who many blame for the dire situation people are facing. "He needs to go, he's robbed everything from us," said Nadhie Wandurgala who defied a country-wide curfew to protest on Sunday with her husband and two daughters. As she clutched a handmade poster she explained how her family had gone from living comfortable lives to daily discomfort - power cuts of up to 17 hours, a daily scramble to find gas to cook with, and long queues to get petrol for their car. "Even hospitals are running out of medicine, schools are running out of paper for exams, but the politicians get electricity every day." "They've never stood in long queues to get gas or kerosene," she said, her voice full of contempt for those in power. Nadhie isn't an activist or a seasoned protestor. She works for the city's clergy and prefers to stay away from politics. But she's typical of the groundswell of anti-government opinion which is uniting people from all backgrounds, faiths and ages. Sri Lanka cabinet quits en masse after protests As Sri Lanka runs low on foreign currency reserves, it has been unable to pay for imports of essentials such as fuel. A drop in tourism due to the pandemic is one factor, but many say the president has mismanaged this crisis. Experts say policies introduced by Mr Rajapaksa after he was elected in 2019 - steep tax cuts and an import ban - have exacerbated the crisis, as has his reluctance to get help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Mr Rajapaksa has blamed previous administrations for the current state of affairs, but many like Nadhie's daughter Anjalee say it's time for him to resign immediately and accept full responsibility. And as frustration grows, so have fears that his government is trying to stifle any criticism directed towards it. Sunday's curfew is just one measure designed to stop people from gathering. There was also a social media blackout and a special presidential notification prohibiting people from " being on any public road, in a park, on trains or on the seashore" unless they have written permission from the authorities. Nadhie and Anjalee were just some of the hundreds who risked arrest to attend a demonstration, taking to the streets despite the order to stay home. "I came out today because my rights have been taken away. We have nothing to lose at this point." "Why have they even introduced this curfew ? Is it to protect us?" Anjalee mused. "It doesn't make sense at all". "I would call these dictatorial, autocratic and draconian steps," opposition leader Sajith Premadasa told me at an impromptu protest on Sunday. Mr Premadasa and other members of his party were stopped at police barricades as they tried to enter the city's Independence square. "The supreme law of the land protects the right of the people to share their opinions, to demonstrate and to engage in peaceful democratic activities, so that right cannot be violated." This isn't the first time President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who runs the country alongside his elder brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has been accused of stifling freedom of expression. The brothers have a history which goes well beyond their election victory in 2019. Mahinda Rajapaksa has been president twice, while Gotabaya Rajapaksa is well known for his position as defence secretary when he was accused of perpetrating serious human rights violations in the final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war. Both also have a reputation of brutally cracking down on dissent. In 2019, months after Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the majority of po[CENSORED]r support, after promising to rule Sri Lanka with a "strong hand". "People thought they'd provide us with national security, but they didn't.. they failed at everything," said Roshinta, who says she did not vote for him. "I don't want to see my country go to waste because of this particular family. They are so adamant and greedy for power they'll probably stay on." On Thursday, the anger directed at President Rajapaksa went right to his doorstep, as protests outside his residence in Colombo turned violent. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, and authorities arrested dozens of protesters as well as some journalists covering the incident. In a tweet, the EU delegation in Colombo urged the Sri Lankan authorities to "safeguard democratic rights of all citizens, including the right to free assembly and dissent, which has to be peaceful." Human rights groups including Amnesty International said many of those detained had been assaulted in custody. Soon after Thursday's protests, a state of emergency was imposed on the island, giving security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention - authorities said it was to ensure law and order was maintained. Overnight from Saturday into Sunday, officials in Sri Lanka's Western Province said they'd arrested more than 600 people for violating the curfew. On Sunday afternoon as we visited protests in Colombo, police with riot shields stood at a distance from demonstrators, watching on. "This is the first time in my life I've protested," said Sathsara as he stood by the side of a park wearing a t-shirt for one of his favourite bands, Oasis. "This is my last resort" The 29-year-old advertising copywriter who lives in the capital Colombo, usually spends his weekends going to gigs and eating out with friends, but all that's stopped. "We are at the prime of our lives, how are we going to achieve our dreams with all this happening?" With daily power cuts and the cost of food spiralling, Sathsara says his bank balance is depleting, while his desperation mounts. "Give us a government who can manage this. This one literally doesn't care about us," he said. At another protest of mostly young families, Suchitra, cradling his 15-month-old baby boy, told me he was exhausted by the power cuts which don't allow his son to sleep. "The politicians in parliament are unfit. They've put the country in turmoil," he said. "They've not kept to their promises, people can't suffer anymore."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60936056 China should not become "too closely aligned" with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, the head of UK cyber-intelligence GCHQ has warned. Sir Jeremy Fleming said China's long-term interests are not served by an alliance with Moscow. In a rare public address during a visit to Australia, Sir Jeremy also said Russia had "massively misjudged" the situation in Ukraine. He said Vladimir Putin's advisers are "afraid to tell him the truth". Sir Jeremy said China's aspirations to become a leading player on the global stage were "not well served by close alliance with a regime that wilfully and illegally ignores" international rules. The speech at the Australian National University in Canberra comes after Downing Street said Boris Johnson had a "frank and candid" discussion with China's President Xi Jinping last week. Sir Jeremy said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a clear "strategic choice" to align with China as it grows more powerful in opposition to the United States. He said the Kremlin regards China in the current crisis as a supplier of weapons, technology, and a potential market for its oil and gas. But Sir Jeremy suggested President Xi has a "more nuanced" view of the relationship. "Russia understands that, long term, China will become increasingly strong militarily and economically. Some of their interests conflict; Russia could be squeezed out of the equation." Meanwhile, echoing comments from US and Ukrainian officials, the GCHQ boss said Mr Putin "underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. "He under-played the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He over-estimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory." However, Sir Jeremy said "the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-60936718 A Beijing court is holding a closed-door trial for Australian journalist and former TV anchor Cheng Lei, in a high-profile diplomatic case. Ms Cheng is accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. Her family maintains she is innocent. The Chinese-born Australian was working for Chinese state media outlet CGTN prior to her detention in August 2020. Canberra has repeatedly raised concerns over her detention and has called for "basic standards of justice" to be met. Little is known about the exact nature of Ms Cheng's alleged offences and it's not clear when a verdict will be handed down. Speaking to reporters outside of the courtroom on Thursday, Australia's ambassador to China Graham Fletcher said he and other Australian officials had been denied entry into the hearing. Chinese courts often bar outsiders from trials deemed politically sensitive. "This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable. We can have no confidence in the validity of the process which is conducted in secret," he said, adding that Australia would continue to "advocate strongly for Ms Cheng Lei's rights and interests". Ms Cheng, who was previously reported to have suffered ill health while in detention, was now "doing okay" considering the circumstances, said Mr Fletcher. Ms Cheng's lawyer had also told Australian media that she was in good health and good spirits. Cheng Lei: Who is the Australian TV anchor detained by China? Mr Fletcher added that Australia has requested that Ms Cheng be allowed to speak to her children. "They haven't had any contact with their mother since the detention," he said. A family statement released to Reuters on Wednesday said her children and elderly parents "miss her immensely and sincerely hope to reunite with her as soon as possible". Wiped off screens Prior to her detention, Ms Cheng had worked in Beijing for several years. Many of her family members, including her two young children, live in Australia. In August 2020, she suddenly disappeared from television and could not be contacted by friends or relatives. Her employer, CGTN - the English-language channel of the state broadcaster - also wiped its websites of Ms Cheng's profile page and work. China initially announced she was being held on national security grounds, and in February last year authorities formally arrested Ms Cheng on spying charges. Her family have said they have no idea why she had been detained. Australia said its representatives had been able to visit her once a month - in line with the bilateral consular agreement with China. Relations between Australia and China have deteriorated in recent years, leading to diplomatic and trade ructions. Analysts say this has made it harder for Australian authorities to negotiate with Beijing over their citizens' release. Beijing has arrested or expelled a number of journalists in recent times. Shortly after Ms Cheng's arrest, the last two Australian media correspondents in China fled the country following consular advice. Another China-born Australian citizen, writer Yang Hengjun, has also been in detention in China for three years. He denies espionage charges, and is said to now be in ill health.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60911182 A painting capturing the momentous victory in battle of Indian rulers over British East India Company troops in 1780 has sold at auction in London. Sotheby's accepted a bid of £500,000 ($658,000) for the painting. It shows Haider Ali, the sultan of the kingdom of Mysore, and his son, Tipu, defeating Company forces in the famed Battle of Pollilur. Tipu, known as the "Tiger of Mysore", became the Company's fiercest foe until he was defeated and killed in 1799. Historian William Dalrymple has described the painting of what unfolded in Pollilur as "arguably the greatest Indian picture of the defeat of colonialism that survives". Mr Dalrymple, whose book, The Anarchy, documents the rise of the East India Company in the 18th Century, has called it "the most crushing defeat" and one that "nearly ended British rule in India". Tipu, who got his first command at Pollilur, "turned the tide" against the British, Mr Dalrymple told the BBC. Scenes from the battle were first commissioned by Tipu himself in 1784. They were painted on the walls and frescoes of his palace - Daria Daulat Bagh - in Srirangapatnam, then the capital of Mysore in southern India. Some of these scenes were also painted at least twice on paper using ink and gouache pigments. One of those paintings was sold at auction in 2010 and acquired by the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. It was brought to England by Colonel John William Freese, who was in Srirangapatnam after Tipu's defeat. His family handed it down over generations before selling it in 1978 to a private collector, who sold it in 2010. The origin of the second painting, which Sotheby's is now auctioning, is less clear. Given how similar it is to the one acquired by Freese, it's assumed to have also been brought to England by a British officer. It first appeared at auction in the early 1980s, Benedict Carter of Sotheby's told the BBC. "But we don't know what happened to it in the 100 years before that." It has only been briefly displayed before, in 1990 and 1999, leaving it in a "pretty remarkable state", he said. The painting depicts - in vivid, triumphant and gory detail - what happened on the morning of 7 September 1780. Tipu ambushed Company forces led by Colonel William Bailie near a village named Pollilur not far from Madras (now Chennai), a major British trading outpost at the time. By the time Haider Ali arrived with reinforcements, the "work had been pretty much done", Mr Dalrymple says. The 32ft-long painting, which stretches across 10 sheets of paper, shows Tipu atop an elephant while overseeing his troops. Towards the other end of the painting, his cavalry is attacking Company forces on both sides as they form a square around an injured Bailie, who is in a palanquin. It even shows a cart of ammunition exploding - a moment in the battle, Mr Dalrymple writes in an essay accompanying the auction - that was recorded by Bailie's younger brother John: "Two ammunition tumbrils were hit and both blew up simultaneously, making 'large openings in both lines, on which their Cavalry made the first impression. They were followed by the Elephants, which completed our overthrow." "It's a stunning masterpiece, it's unprecedented," Mr Dalrymple told the BBC. He believes that's why despite the spectacular defeat, the paintings were commissioned by British officers such as Col Freese - because the murals in Srirangapatam were just as, if not more, striking. Another theory is that the two paintings were made as preparatory drawings when the Company restored the frescoes in Serirangapatnam under the orders of Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. Tipu himself had ordered the murals whitewashed after losing a subsequent war to the Company - the images were "incredibly bloody", Mr Dalrymple says, and having them painted over was perhaps a gesture of peace. Despite his eventual defeat, Tipu was respected by the British for his military acumen and "the way he died gallantly in battle", says Mr Dalrymple. So it's not so surprising to historians that the British chose to retain evidence of the Battle of Pollilur. The painting's significance is drawn from the battle's import, Mr Dalrymple says. Tipu was "the most feared by the British", the only Indian ruler at the time who never allied with them. By the mid-18th Century, the Company gained an advantage on the battlefield in India, thanks to military innovations in Europe. But Tipu, Mr Dalrymple says, managed to match them by 1780, as the win in Pollilur shows. In Pollilur, Tipu's army had better guns, better artillery and his cavalry was better prepared in terms of inventions and tactics. They were able to fire rockets from their camels, for instance, and this was a technique, which, in turn, later inspired the British to invent their own rocket system. But in the end, despite Tipu's continued resistance to the English, there was no lasting alliance among the Indian kingdoms that had emerged from a splintered Mughal empire. Now, with his legacy as a Muslim king being re-evaluated in an increasingly Hindu nationalist India, the Battle of Pollilur is a reminder of the obstacle he posed to British conquest. So much so that when he was killed, the victors took his campaign tent back to Britain, where it remains to this day - a trophy from the defeat of the "Tiger of Mysore".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60926831 The UK has announced that two of its Supreme Court judges will no longer be sitting on Hong Kong's top court. The judges said the threat to civil liberties had made their role on Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal untenable. Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam has responded with "regret and disappointment" to the resignations. But the UK government supports the decision, and says the situation in the territory has now reached "a tipping point". In 2020 China introduced a national security law that curtailed freedom of speech and made it easier to punish protesters in Hong Kong. UK Supreme Court President Lord Robert Reed said he and Lord Patrick Hodge were resigning from the court over the threat to civil freedoms posed by the new law. "The judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression," Lord Reed said. The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal hears many of the territory's highest profile cases, often ruling on key questions over civil and political liberties. Senior British judges have sat on the court since 1997 as part of an agreement when Hong Kong was handed over to China by the UK. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss endorsed the decision, saying the participation of top British judges in Hong Kong's legal system risked legitimising oppression. "We have seen a systematic erosion of liberty and democracy in Hong Kong," Ms Truss said. "Since the National Security Law was imposed, authorities have cracked down on free speech, the free press and free association." The UK - which ruled over Hong Kong for 150 years - claims the 2020 law breaches the agreement under which Britain handed over the territory to China in 1997. China says the law is needed to bring stability to Hong Kong after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019, and on Wednesday a Chinese government spokesperson said it "strongly deplored" the judges' decision to quit the court. The spokesperson said that the territory is governed according to the rule of law and criticised the UK for its "attempts to maliciously vilify China's policies for Hong Kong". Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the decision meant the UK government was effectively ending an agreement that has been in place since 1997, and pushed back against the criticism of the national security law. "We must vehemently refute any unfounded allegations that the judges' resignations have anything to do with the introduction of the Hong Kong national security law or the exercise of freedom of speech and political freedom," Ms Lam said. A Hong Kong government spokesperson added: "we could find no substantiation or evidence to justify sweeping statements accusing the Hong Kong administration of departing from the above fundamental rights and freedoms". The role of foreign judges in Hong Kong's courts has been legally guaranteed since the territory was returned to China, intending to maintain the common law tradition established under British rule. Non-permanent judges from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand also sit on the court, as well other judges with British nationality. A spokesperson for the UK Supreme Court confirmed to the BBC that the remaining six British judges who have seats on the Hong Kong court will be left to decide independently if they wish to retain their posts. Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan Law, who is living in political exile in the UK and has previously had a high-profile case heard by the court, welcomed the decision but said it had come too late. Mr Law said that any judge sitting on the court must "believe the rule of law is still intact in Hong Kong", and called on the remaining British and overseas judges to resign. "All judges from democratic countries who still are sitting in Hong Kong's court should resign in order to reiterate the fact that rule of law in Hong Kong is severely damaged under the national security law," he told the BBC. "The national security law has given the Beijing government a convenient legal weapon to prosecute democratic campaigners and criminalise free speech." The Chinese foreign ministry describes Mr Law as a "criminal suspect" wanted by police.