In my capacity as the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, I wrote to the chief executive of Ofcom, Dame Melanie Dawes, on 24 April to complain about its reprimand of Eamonn Holmes. According to the regulator, the breakfast television presenter had said something that 'could have undermined people's trust in the views being expressed by the authorities on the Coronavirus and the advice of mainstream sources of public health information'. Holmes's sin, in Ofcom's eyes, was to say on ITV's This Morning that any theory running counter to the official government line - such as the one linking 5G masts and Covid-19 - deserved to be discussed in the mainstream media. This was in spite of Holmes saying the 5G conspiracy was 'not true and incredibly stupid'. Ofcom said this view - the view that such theories deserved a public hearing, not that they were in any way right or plausible - was 'ill-judged and risked undermining viewers' trust in advice from public authorities and scientific evidence'.

In my letter to Dame Melanie, I pointed out that if Ofcom is going to prohibit views being discussed on television that might risk undermining viewers' trust in public authorities during this crisis, that could easily be extended to anyone challenging the government's official line on a number of issues, not just the link between the virus and 5G masts. For instance, would Ofcom have reprimanded a broadcaster that challenged the advice of Public Health England, issued on 25 February, that it was 'very unlikely that anyone receiving care in a care home or the community will become infected'? That advice was supposedly based on 'scientific evidence', yet as we now know it turned out to be wrong and the fact that hospitals discharged elderly patients back into care homes without first confirming that they were not infected with Covid-19 is one of the reasons that, according to the ONS, as of 1 May, 37.4 per cent of all Covid deaths in England and Wales have occurred in care homes.

Washingtonians are becoming increasingly unnerved by the sudden presence of unmarked militias who have been deployed to the streets of the US capital as protests rage, but who won't identify themselves to citizens and journalists.

Videos and photographs of the mysterious and heavily-armed figures have been swirling on social media for days, with many who have encountered them reporting that they refuse to say which government agency they are working for.

The anonymity of the forces has led some to suggest they look like armed "mercenaries" rather than government employees. One DC-dweller tweeted that the nation's capital felt like it was "under some sort of military occupation."

The customs service for Heihe in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has said some 1.58 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas have been imported via the Power of Siberia pipeline over the past six months.

The 3,000km (1864 miles) cross-border pipeline started official deliveries of Russian natural gas to China in December. The so-called eastern route's capacity is 61 billion cubic meters of gas per year, including 38 billion cubic meters for export.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the pipeline enters China via the border city of Heihe and runs through nine provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. It has also been connected with existing natural gas networks in China to allow the Russian natural gas supply to reach China's northeast, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta region.

There's nothing like a global health crisis to help the tech dream of business control freaks to rein in suspicious masses. A GCHQ-backed firm now offers vibrating wristbands for warehouse owners as a Covid social-distancing tool.

Just two years ago Amazon's patents for vibrating wristbands, which would track every worker and out those who slack, sent chills down people's spines, with visions of a dystopian future. Now, a similar device exists, in the plastic-and-electronic flesh - and is marketed as a tool to "accelerate the transition back to safe working across a range of industries" after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Manufactured by Tended, a company based in Lincoln, England, the wristbands had a relatively quiet rollout in May. Sensors in the devices use ultra-wideband technology for proximity detection that doesn't interfere with regular radio communications.

An open letter signed by hundreds of self-styled health 'experts' touts "protests against systemic racism" as not only Covid-19 safe but "vital to the national public health" - while protests against lockdowns remain deadly.

Calling "white supremacy" a "lethal public health issue that predates and contributes to Covid-19," the letter - signed by upwards of 1,200 self-declared public health professionals before it was closed to signatures on Tuesday, supposedly because "alt-right messages" had been added - trumpets the necessity of continuing the protests that began after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, pandemic be damned.

Despite months of warnings that getting within six feet of another human being will invariably result in infection and likely death, the letter proclaims that "as public health advocates, we do not condemn these gatherings as risky for Covid-19 transmission." Posted in final form on Wednesday, it outlines a series of "safest protesting practices" - providing masks, hand-washing stations and hand sanitizer to demonstrators, for example - while stressing that its approval of the nationwide anti-racism protests "should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-at-home orders."

A march in London turned violent when protesters brawled with police near the UK Prime Minister's offices. It was held in solidarity with the US protests sparked by the death of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of police.

The massive rally was held in the British capital on Wednesday, with thousands of protesters marching through London to condemn racism and police brutality.

As well as expressing their support for US protesters, many of those demonstrating vented their anger about domestic issues. In addition to calling out issues with UK law enforcement, many chanted derogatory slogans about Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Donald Trump.

At least six people were injured after a car drove onto the terrace of an outdoor cafe in the Netherlands, one has been rushed to the hospital. The driver of the vehicle, which was badly damaged, is now in custody.

The incident took place around 10 pm local time, as diners were busy enjoying their meals on a terrace of a sidewalk cafe in Gennep, a city in southeastern Netherlands. It's unclear if the driver lost control of the vehicle or if the crash that left six people injured, including one that had to be hospitalized, was deliberate.

The driver apparently tried to flee the scene, with police deploying a helicopter to hunt the vehicle down, local media reported.

Why are Americans surrendering to violent mobs? Because they've been told they have to.

I thank God that the brutal and senseless killing of George Floyd — an unarmed black man — by the white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, was captured on video for all the world to see. That shocking episode provides irrefutable evidence — yet again — of the callous, corrupt, and inhumane practices that are being used by some of those to whom we have granted the fearsome authority and weighty responsibility of policing the streets of our cities. Chauvin's behavior (and that of his fellow officers, who are depicted in the video standing idly by for what seems like an eternity, while Chauvin casually kneels on Floyd's neck choking the life out of him) is contemptible, enraging, and entirely unacceptable. This would be true, of course, regardless of the victim's or the policeman's race. Yet, given our country's history, when the murderous cop is white and the dead civilian is black, it is truer still. So, it is essential that those who committed this apparent crime be held accountable in a duly constituted court and, should they be found guilty, punished to the fullest extent of the law.

We have been here too many times before in recent years, and many of us have had quite enough. Crowds of angry Americans from every racial group and all walks of life have spilled into the streets, vociferously protesting this instance of racial injustice and police brutality. The protests are not merely the legitimate exercise of constitutional rights to assemble and to petition our government — they are essential for sustaining the moral health of our democracy. Protestors — the vast majority of whom have gathered peacefully to make their voices heard — render a vital public service with their insistent demands for change. Their anger is fully justified. Their impatience is entirely understandable. They must not be ignored.

Following days of violent riots and looting in cities across the country, Washington, D.C., announced a 7 p.m. curfew on Monday night. About the same time, President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Rose Garden. Afterward, he walked through Lafayette Park to St. John's Episcopal Church, which rioters had set on fire the night before. Standing before the church sign, which reads "All are welcome," President Trump, who previously said he'd be paying his respects to a very special place, held up a Bible.

The speech announcing the country would return to rule of law and protection of civil liberties, the walk through a park that the night before had been given over to rioters, and the visit to the vandalized historic church where every president has worshiped since James Madison, were reassuring to many in the country.

For the media, however, these actions were further proof that Orange Man Bad is literally the worst, restoring rule of law is criminal, and standing in front of a church holding a Bible is an assault on the American conscience. They focused on how the Park Police had cleared the area ahead of the city-wide curfew declared by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Facts were no barrier to their narrative. They spun a tale of violent, jack-booted cops running rampant through the streets over innocent docile protesters, using tear gas to clear the area. It turns out none of that was true.