LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “must be prepared for the possibility of foreign interference” in the election campaign ahead of the July 4 vote, parliament’s security committee warned on Friday.
Margaret Beckett, chair of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS), wrote in a letter to Sunak that there had been a “pattern of attempted foreign interference from countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea” in recent years.
The letter highlighted findings from security officials that it was “almost certain” Russian actors sought to interfere in the UK’s 2019 vote, and that China was seeking to influence democratic processes overseas.
“It is our view that the UK must be prepared for the possibility of foreign interference” during the July 4 general election, it added.
That interference could include cyberattacks, blackmailing of lawmakers, spreading of disinformation online — including AI “deep fakes” — and sowing of division on controversial topics.
The government should help educate the public to identify disinformation and ensure the safety of elected politicians, advised the committee.
Beckett, a former foreign secretary in Tony Blair’s Labour government, urged Sunak “to identify any last actions that can be taken collectively in the national interest” before the current parliament is dissolved next week.
Advancements in AI and the deepening of hostilities between the West and nations such as Russia have led experts to warn of an unprecedented threat ahead of the key elections in the UK and the United States this year.
Sunak urged to ‘safeguard’ UK vote against foreign interference
https://arab.news/ghe8v
Sunak urged to ‘safeguard’ UK vote against foreign interference
- Letter highlighted findings from security officials that it was “almost certain” Russian actors sought to interfere in the UK’s 2019 vote
- That interference could include cyberattacks, blackmailing of lawmakers, spreading of disinformation online — including AI “deep fakes”
Seven soldiers killed in clash with Al-Shabab terrorists
KAMPALA: At least seven Ugandan soldiers have been killed in Somalia, an army spokesperson said Sunday, part of the ongoing fight against the Al-Shabab terrorist group.
The soldiers were part of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, or AUSSOM, tasked with combating Al-Shabab.
Recent attacks have stoked fears of a terrorist resurgence in the Horn of Africa nation, especially coming as AUSSOM struggles with insufficient troops and funding shortfalls.
The losses came during a three-day siege over a town in the Lower Shabelle region, a Ugandan Defense Ministry statement said, adding the town was recaptured from Al-Shabab.
“Unfortunately, we lost seven soldiers during the battle,” said Ugandan People’s Defense Force spokesman Felix Kulayigye,
AUSSOM, which replaced the previous ATMIS deployment, currently has 11,146 soldiers — although it stated in April it required an additional 8,000.
Somalia has long struggled with the violent insurgency, although the Al-Qaeda-linked group had been forced onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023 by Somali forces backed by African Union-led peacekeepers.
Recent attacks in key towns have provoked worries of the organization’s resurgence, with the militants targeting President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s convoy in capital, Mogadishu in March.
US orders more diplomatic staff to leave Iraq, Lebanon
- Washington has a ‘do not travel’ advisory in place for Lebanon
- More diplomatic personnel left Iraq on Saturday and Sunday
BAGHDAD: The United States has ordered staff from its diplomatic missions in Iraq and Lebanon to leave the countries, with the departures taking place as American strikes on Sunday targeted nuclear facilities in nearby Iran.
More diplomatic personnel left Iraq on Saturday and Sunday as part of ongoing efforts to “streamline operations,” a US official told AFP.
The departures were a continuation of a process that started last week “out of an abundance of caution and due to heightened regional tensions,” the official added.
In Lebanon, the US embassy said the State Department on Sunday had ordered staffers’ family members and non-emergency US government personnel to leave the country.
A statement on the embassy website cited “the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region.”
Earlier in the day, Washington joined Israel’s war against Iran, with US President Donald Trump announcing strikes on the Islamic republic’s main nuclear sites.
After the strikes, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned that bases in the region used to launch US attacks “will be considered legitimate targets.”
Fears were also growing over possible intervention by Iran-backed armed factions around the Middle East, who have threatened Washington’s interests should it join Israel’s campaign.
Israel has already fought a war in Lebanon with the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah, leaving it badly weakened before a ceasefire took hold in November.
On Sunday, Hezbollah said the US strikes revealed “the true face of the United States of America as the largest threat to regional and international security and stability.”
The group has not previously expressed any intention to intervene militarily on Iran’s side, but its chief Naim Qassem said last week that it would “act as we see fit.”
Washington has a “do not travel” advisory in place for Lebanon.
Iraq, meanwhile, has for years navigated a delicate balancing act between its allies Tehran and Washington, has also long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.
On Sunday, the Iraqi government expressed “its deep concern and strong condemnation of the targeting of nuclear facilities” in Iran, spokesperson Basim Alawadi said.
“This military escalation constitutes a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East and poses serious risks to regional stability,” he added.
Air India cuts narrowbody jet routes, suspends international flights after deadly crash
- This is the second such reduction after the crash killed all but one of 242 people aboard this month
- The airline said in a post on X that the reductions will strengthen its network-wide operational stability
NEW DELHI: Air India said on Sunday it is temporarily reducing less than 5 percent of its narrowbody jet routes for “operational stability,” its second such reduction following a plane crash earlier this month that killed all but one of the 242 people on board.
The airline, reeling from the deadliest crash in decades, said in a post on X that the cuts will strengthen its network-wide operational stability.
Two daily flights from India to Singapore will be suspended along with disruptions on 19 domestic routes until July 15, it said.
On June 18, the airline cut international operations on its widebody aircraft by 15 percent, citing ongoing safety inspections and operational disruptions.
UK govt plan to ban Palestine Action ‘absurd’
- Member: Proscription would ‘rip apart the very basic concepts of British democracy’
- Amnesty International UK: ‘Terrorism powers shouldn’t be used to ban them’
LONDON: A member of the UK’s Palestine Action, which on Friday carried out a high-profile protest by breaking into an air force base, has described government plans to proscribe the group as “absurd.”
Saeed Taji Farouky told the BBC that the plan to effectively brand the group a terrorist organization “rips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law.” He added: “It’s something everyone should be terrified about.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is believed to be drafting a written statement on the proscription to be delivered before Parliament on Monday, the BBC reported.
It follows a protest by two members of Palestine Action who broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint inside the jet engines of two military aircraft.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer branded the protest “disgraceful,” and the story has raised questions in the national media over the security of British bases.
Farouky told the BBC that he had been convicted for criminal damage after a separate Palestine Action event.
The government move to proscribe the group is a “knee-jerk reaction” that is “being rushed through,” he added.
Palestine Action’s “whole reason for being is to break the material supply chain to genocide,” he said, describing the break-in on Friday as an “escalation in tactics because the genocide has escalated.”
RAF Brize Norton is a hub for strategic air transport and refueling operations, and military aircraft regularly fly from there to the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, which serves as an operational center for British reconnaissance flights over Gaza.
After the Brize Norton protest, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: “Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets.”
After self-recorded footage of the break-in was posted online, counterterrorism police launched an investigation. The government also launched a security review of military bases across Britain.
Amnesty International UK on Friday said it is “deeply concerned” over the use of British counterterrorism to target protests.
“Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn’t be used to ban them,” it said.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza, Palestine Action has carried out protests against arms companies, including Israel’s Elbit Systems, which operates factories in Britain.
Jonathan Hall, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the BBC that the group had “gone beyond protest to blackmail.”
He added: “It’s got to a point where they’ve started to say: ‘We will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop.’”
The UK has proscribed 81 groups as terrorist organizations under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Syrian refugees in UK threaten legal action over Home Office pause on settlement decisions
- The number of Syrians awaiting a decision on permanent settlement is not known
- UK government department citied need to “assess current situation” in the wake of Assad’s regime collapsing
LONDON: Five Syrian refugees in the UK are threatening legal action against the British Home Office after their applications for permanent settlement were left in limbo after a government decision to halt all decisions on Syrian asylum and settlement cases.
The Home Office paused interviews and decisions on Syrian asylum claims on Dec. 9 last year, citing the need to “assess the current situation” in the wake of the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime.
The freeze also applies to Syrians who have already been granted refugee status and are now seeking indefinite leave to remain, The Independent reported on Sunday.
According to government figures cited by the newspaper, at least 7,000 people have been affected by the wider pause on asylum decisions as of the end of March.
However, the number of Syrians awaiting a decision on permanent settlement is not known.
The five people mounting the challenge are being represented by law firm Duncan Lewis, which has issued pre-action letters to the Home Office arguing that the pause is unjustifiable.
Lawyers contend that if the government cannot assess whether Syria is safe to return to, it must uphold its obligations under UK immigration rules and international law.
“Our clients have all fled violence and persecution in Syria, and sought refuge in the United Kingdom,” said Manini Menon of Duncan Lewis, in comments published by The Independent.
“In granting them refugee status, the home secretary guaranteed our clients the protections afforded by the Refugee Convention and assured them that they would be treated fairly and in line with the immigration rules as approved by parliament.
“Those rules are clear: as long as the home secretary cannot conclude that individuals who have been recognised as refugees may safely return to Syria (and that they are therefore no longer entitled to refugee status), she must grant their applications for settlement,” Menon added.
Refugees are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain five years after being granted asylum. But with the Home Office yet to provide a timeline for when decisions will resume, concerns are growing about the uncertainty faced by Syrians living in the UK.
The pause follows the toppling of Assad in December by a rebel offensive led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the group’s leader, is now interim president, although HTS remains a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law.
Al-Sharaa, who previously had a $10 million US bounty on his head, met with US President Donald Trump in May.
“I think he has got the potential,” Trump said after the meeting.
In January, Home Office minister Lord Hanson told parliament that decisions had been paused because “we do not yet understand what has happened in Syria on a permanent basis or know how stable Syria is as a whole.”
Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle echoed the stance in February, saying: “As soon as there is a sufficiently clear basis upon which to make determinations, asylum decision making will recommence.”
A Home Office spokesperson told The Independent: “The Home Office has paused decisions on all Syrian asylum cases whilst we continue to assess the current situation, including those for individuals who arrived under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. We are keeping this pause under constant review.”
