Vicki Barker

and trans issues.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

Under the conventions of British democracy, some dating back centuries, there are certain things a member of parliament cannot say or do on the floor of the House of Commons.

They cannot be drunk, they cannot call a fellow lawmaker a liar, and they, as mere commoners, must not criticize the conduct of a member of the royal family.

a parliamentary committee had begun nipping at andrew's heels when it announced a probe into the finances of how the late queen's second son was able to live in a mansion in the grounds of windsor castle but now that andrew has been stripped of his title and demoted to commoner status himself

It may be gloves off in Parliament this week.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

George Freeman has been a Conservative member of Britain's Parliament since 2010, but a deepfake video has been circulating on Facebook in which he seems to announce his defection to the pro-Brexit, anti-immigrant Reform UK party.

Freeman says he's reported the video to the police and has urged any other victims, whether private citizens or public servants, to do the same, telling the BBC, quote,

This sort of political disinformation has the potential to seriously distort, disrupt, and corrupt our democracy.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

I'm Winsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.

Once again on Saturday, London police officers carry demonstrators from their silent sit-in supporting the banned group Palestine Action.

to sympathetic applause.

It takes five officers to carry away each protester, each protester trying to make the process of arrest as slow and laborious as possible.

Now, forces in multiple cities say their officers are exhausted and spread thin with security beefed up outside synagogues and Jewish schools following last week's synagogue attack.

So the British government says it's going to give police more powers to put conditions on repeat protests, possibly moving them to more containable locations.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.