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UNITED KINGDOM
The Foreign Office is hosting a high-level trade event for Ethiopia's Foreign Minister tomorrow (21st), despite the ongoing detention of a British man kidnapped by the Ethiopian authorities 16 months ago.
Foreign minister Grant Shapps will share a stage tomorrow with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adanhom at the UK Ethiopia Trade Investment Forum, which is hosted and supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Foreign Office (FCO). The event's website says it is "the country's highest profile investment outreach on the international stage, to date", and that it is is "a unique opportunity" for potential investors to "engage directly with the government and senior decision-makers of one of the most topical investment destinations in the world."
The event is going ahead amid criticism of the UK government for failing to request that Ethiopia release Andargachew 'Andy' Tsege, a British father of three who was kidnapped by Ethiopian forces in June 2014 and forcibly taken to the country. Mr Tsege is an outspoken critic of the Ethiopian government, and was sentenced to death there in absentia in 2009. He has been held largely incommunicado since his disappearance, and has been refused regular British consular visits, as well as contact with a lawyer and his family in London. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has demanded the "immediate release of Mr Tsege" from Ethiopia, but the UK government has so far limited itself to calling for consular access and 'due process' in his case.
Human rights organization Reprieve, which is assisting Andy's family, has asked Mr Shapps to use tomorrow's Ethiopian visit to ask for Andy to be released. In a recent letter to Reprieve, Mr Shapps claimed the government "take[s] every opportunity" to raise his case with the Ethiopian authorities.Tomorrow's visit comes as the UK government faces controversy over trade deals with countries accused of human rights abuses. Today it emerged that the Business Secretary, Sajjid Javid, had invoked Article 51 of the UN Charter in a letter to Reprieve justifying the promotion of British security exports to countries including Saudi Arabia.
Commenting, Maya Foa, head of Reprieve's death penalty team, said: "The government has already admitted that human rights are 'no longer a priority' - for ministers to now take the stage with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister in the name of boosting trade sends a further worrying signal. This is a man responsible for the kidnapping and ongoing detention of a British father of three, Andy Tsege, who awaits the carrying out of an in absentia death sentence. Promoting trade with our allies is one thing, but the UK must also use its ties with countries like Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia to help victims of abuses - including British citizens. The Foreign Office must use its visit from Tedros this week to demand Andy's urgent release."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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'1.5ºC Is Dead': Climate Movement Holds Funeral for Paris Agreement Target
Almost a decade ago, parties to the Paris treaty agreed to work toward limiting temperature rise this century to 1.5ºC—but 2024 was the hottest year in human history, and countries around the world show no signs of reining in planet-wrecking fossil fuels anywhere near the degree that scientists warn is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown.
"Crossing 1.5ºC for a whole calendar year is a wake-up call for the world," said Olympic gold medalist and XR U.K. spokesperson Etienne Stott, highlighting another alarming record from last year. "If we want to avoid crossing further tipping points we need a complete transformation of society."
Extinction Rebellion and other climate groups held a funeral for the Paris agreement's 1.5°C temperature target in Cambridge, England on May 10, 2025. (Photo: Derek Langley)
Scientists from universities in the United Kingdom and Germany warned in a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Earth System Dynamics last month that humankind is at risk of triggering various climate tipping points absent urgent action to dramatically reduce emissions from fossil fuels.
"There are levers policymakers can pull to rapidly phase out fossil fuels, but this requires standing up to powerful interests," Stott said Saturday. "Activists need to build power, resilience, and the world we want to see in our communities; but we also need to keep seeking the spark that will cause the worldwide transformation we need to see."
In addition to the Cambridge and U.K. arms of Extinction Rebellion, Saturday's action was organized by Cambridge Greenpeace, Cambridge Stop the War, and the Organization of Radical Cambridge Activists (ORCA).
Varsity, the independent student newspaper at the University of Cambridge, reported that the marchers "rallied at Christ's Pieces, where they heard from one of the organizers, who emphasised the harm caused by exceeding 1.5ºC of warming."
"The march then proceeded up Christ's Lane and down Sidney Street, led by a group of 'Red Rebels,' dressed in red robes with faces painted white, followed by 'pall bearers' carrying coffins painted black, with the words 'Inaction Is Death' in white," according to Varsity. "The procession was completed by a samba band who drummed as they walked, followed by protesters carrying a large sign reading 'Don't silence the science,' along with many other smaller placards."
Members of the "Red Rebel Brigade" led a procession around Cambridge, England as part of a funeral for the Paris agreement's 1.5°C temperature target on May 10, 2025. (Photo: Derek Langley)
Photos from organizers show participants displaying banners with messages such as "No Future on a Dead Planet," and additional messages painted on the black coffins: "1.5ºC Is Dead," "Act Now," "Ecocide," "RIP Earth," and "Web of Life."
"Politicians have broken their promises to keep global temperature rises to a livable 1.5ºC," declared Zoe Flint, a spokesperson for XR Cambridge. "For decades, people around the world have been resisting environmental devastation in their own communities and beyond—often facing state repression and violence as a result."
"With dozens of political protesters now in prison in this country, that repression has come to the U.K. too," Flint noted. "But when those least responsible for climate breakdown suffer the worst effects, we can't afford to give up the fight."
Parties to the Paris agreement are set to gather next in November at the United Nations climate summit, COP30, in Belém, Brazil.
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