Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The British government said on Friday (September 6, 2024) that it would provide Ukraine with 650 lightweight multi-role missiles worth 162 million pounds ($213.13 million) to help protect the country from Russian drones and bombing.

Russia last week unleashed its largest air attack on Ukraine since the full-scale war began early in 2022. Ukraine has made repeated requests for more air defence support to defend itself from missile and drone attacks.

The new supply of missiles was announced as British Defence Minister John Healey attended the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an ad-hoc coalition of some 50 nations, at a U.S. air base in Germany.

The Ministry of Defence said, in keeping with the new government’s commitment to speed deliveries of aid to Ukraine, the first batch of missiles announced on Friday were expected to arrive by the end of the year.

“This new commitment will give an important boost to Ukraine’s air defences,” Mr. Healey said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defence said the missiles made by Thales have a range of more than 6 kilometres (3.73 miles) and can be fired from a variety of platforms on land, sea, and air.

Last Monday (September 2, 2024), Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide in what Kyiv called the war’s “most massive” attack.

Image used for representative purpose only
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Britain, the United States and South Korea on July 26 issued a warning over a North Korea-backed global cyber espionage campaign to further the country’s nuclear ambitions.

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies said that a group known as Andariel “has been compromising organisations around the world to steal sensitive and classified technical information and intellectual property data.”

Andariel has been identified as an arm of Pyongyang’s spy agency, and working “to further the regime’s military and nuclear ambitions,” the UK National Cyber Security Centre said.

Defence, aerospace, nuclear and engineering organisations have mainly been targeted, as well as medical and energy providers, some of which have been hit by ransomware attacks.

“The global cyber espionage operation that we have exposed today shows the lengths that DPRK-state-sponsored actors are willing to go to pursue their military and nuclear programmes,” said NCSC director of operations Paul Chichester, referring to the secretive communist state.

“It should remind critical infrastructure operators of the importance of protecting the sensitive information and intellectual property they hold on their systems to prevent theft and misuse.”

In a separate advisory, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said Andariel, which is known by a variety of names, “remain(s) an ongoing threat to various industry sectors worldwide.”

The group has exploited vulnerabilities in software to launch cyberattacks, including malware and phishing to gain access to sensitive data and information.

It urged companies involved in defence, aerospace, nuclear and engineering sectors “to remain vigilant in defending their networks from North Korea-state-sponsored cyber operations.”

North Korean indicted in U.S.

The FBI said Andariel had been trying to obtain information such as specifications and design drawings for uranium processing and enrichment as well as missiles and missile defence systems.

The US Justice Department announced the indictment meanwhile of a North Korean national, Rim Jong Hyok, alleged to be a member of the Andariel hacking group.

Rim was indicted by a grand jury in Kansas for alleged extortion attacks on US hospitals and other health care providers, the department said in a statement.

“North Korean hackers developed custom tools to target and extort US health care providers and used their ill-gotten gains to fund a spree of hacks into government, technology, and defence entities worldwide, all while laundering money through China,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said.

The State Department announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the apprehension of Rim.

London:

The first red mail pillar box to bear the cypher of King Charles was unveiled on Friday, keeping up a tradition dating back almost 175 years.

The new box has been installed on the High Street in Great Cambourne, central England, and local school children will get to post the first letters, and missives to the king himself about their interest in the environment.

The mailbox bears the king’s cypher, the monogram that appears on government buildings which consists of the initials ‘C’ and ‘R’ – representing Charles’s name and “Rex”, the Latin for king – alongside a depiction of the crown.

One of Britain’s most recognisable symbols, red pillar boxes appear on countless postcards and souvenir items, with about 115,000 in operation across the country.

The first post box was introduced in the 1850s, and their age can be traced by the royal cypher they bear, with the oldest dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria, Charles’ great-great-great grandmother.

Although new boxes have been installed since Charles succeeded his mother in Sept. 2022, existing stocks bearing the late queen’s cypher were used. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

India and the UK have been working towards clinching a pact to enhance the 38.1 billion pounds bilateral trading partnership but with India’s phased general election followed by Britain’s, the negotiations remain stalled. With both the elections done, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, which have been going on for two years, are expected to resume.

Keir Starmer, Labour Party leader set to be the UK’s new Prime Minister, has constantly maintained that he wants to maintain good ties with the Narendra Modi administration, marking a departure from past policies under Jeremy Corbyn.

“We are confident that we have cleansed our ranks of any members with extremist views on India,” Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds had said days ahead of the elections.

The FTA also featured prominently in the party’s poll manifesto which stated their “commitment to pursue a new strategic partnership” with India.

Starmer has pledged to forge a new strategic partnership with India and enhanced bilateral cooperation in technology, security, education, and climate change underscores his ambition to elevate relations with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

But the UK’s insistence on lowering tariffs, which can be as high as 150% on key exports like food and automobiles, remains a sticking point in the trade deal talks. Additionally, issues regarding the UK’s immigration policies, particularly concerning Indian service sector workers, continue to challenge the negotiations.

In response, India has raised concerns about proposed UK regulations, such as the carbon tax akin to the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, which could potentially undermine the tariff concessions agreed upon in the FTA.

Recent virtual meetings between Indian and UK officials in May aimed to restart discussions, focusing on economic assessments and the inclusion of new disciplines like environment, labour, gender issues, and digital trade in the agreement.

India, currently engaged in FTA negotiations with several other nations and unions including the EU, Australia, Eurasian Economic Union, and Peru, remains committed to advancing its global trade interests despite the challenges posed by the stalled talks with the UK.

As both countries navigate their post-election landscapes, the future of the India-UK FTA remains uncertain, contingent upon resolving key issues.

As was widely expected in the UK elections, the Labour Party has registered one of its biggest victories, inflicting a huge defeat on the Conservative Party.

No one had expected this seismic outcome just a few years ago. But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is going to be the next British Prime Minister, is being hailed by everyone for changing the fortune of the party. He promised to get Britain out of economic stagnation and claimed he would fix the ailing National Health Services. He even reached out to ethnic communities, including the Indian diaspora.

‘Namaste’, Starmer

In the last days of the election campaign, Keir Starmer visited the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury, a prominent Hindu temple in London, and said “namaste” with folded hands. His charm offensive included him wearing a tilak on his forehead and a floral garland around his neck. Starmer may have looked out of place, but it was an attempt to placate angry Indian diaspora voters, the majority of whom were expected to favour the Conservative Party. The temple visit was also intended to send out a strong signal of friendship with India.

Also Read | Labour Sweeps UK Polls, Rishi Sunak’s Party Ousted For 1st Time In 14 Years

Despite his awkwardness, Starmer knew he had to perform this political act, not only because his visit underscored Labour’s commitment to embracing and celebrating diversity within the UK, but also because he needed to repair relations with the influential Indian diaspora, and, by extension, India. It had been clear for quite some time that his party was returning to power after a hiatus of 14 years and he was going to be the next UK Prime Minister; that is why he needed to undertake an India outreach before assuming office.

The Baggage Of The Past

Starmer’s gesture of visiting the temple was particularly significant given the events of September 2019, when during its annual conference in Brighton, the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership had passed a motion addressing the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The motion declared that there was a humanitarian crisis in the region and asserted that the people of Kashmir should be granted the right to self-determination. Additionally, it had called for the deployment of international monitors to the area to ensure the protection of human rights and the assessment of the situation on the ground.

Needless to say, the Labour Party had gone too far. And despite the clarification issued by Jeremy Corbyn, the damage was done.

The motion was met with significant backlash from the Indian diaspora, who felt that it was one-sided and did not consider the complexities of the Kashmir issue. The event marked a turning point as many members of the Indian community began to shift their allegiances to the Conservative Party.

Also Read | “This Is A Massacre”: Conservative Leader As Labour Heads For Massive UK Win

The Indian government also responded sharply to the Labour’s motion. It was reported that the Indian High Commission in London took the unprecedented step of cancelling a scheduled dinner for Labour leaders, signalling its strong disapproval. The Indian government officially rejected the motion, emphasising its concerns about what it viewed as interference in its internal affairs.

In an effort to mend relations, Starmer attempted to address the situation last year, when he asserted that the Labour Party would strive to maintain strong relations with India, indicating a desire to rebuild trust and cooperation. Despite these efforts, the episode highlighted the fragile nature of Labour’s relations with India and underscored the significant political influence of the Indian diaspora in the UK.
Labour’s image makeover under Starmer

A Changed Labour

Indeed, the Labour Party has now made a triumphant comeback, securing a thumping majority. We should keep in mind that the party is a much-changed one under Starmer. It wants to inject more depth and substance into Britain’s strategic partnership with India.

India is most likely to carefully monitor Labour’s policy stance on Kashmir, immigration and the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Indian government may have apprehensions about Labour’s views on its internal matters, but on balance, the India-UK bilateral relations will not change much under Starmer. In fact, Labour supporters in the Indian community believe that under him, the relations are likely to improve. It is being claimed that the number of Indian-origin Labour MPs would double from the current six members in the outgoing Parliament. 

Will The Ties Improve?

Academics in the UK at times tend to romanticise the bilateral ties between the two countries, looking at it chiefly from the prism of colonial nostalgia. We are led to believe that it is in India’s interest to have a deeper strategic partnership with Britain. To be honest, however, India sees Britain as a middle power, whose influence on the global stage has been on the wane for long. One can only blame the Conservative Party for it, a beleaguered and divided house which presided over 14 years of stagnation. India under Narendra Modi, who was born after the country’s independence, is, whether rightly or wrongly, not in awe of its erstwhile colonial masters.

Also Read | UK’s Labour Party Commits To Stamping Out “Anti-India Sentiments”

Yes, the bilateral trade in goods and services is growing steadily, and stood at £39 billion last year, with the balance of trade heavily in India’s favour. Yes, we have a vocal, upwardly mobile Indian diaspora, which acts as a bridge between the two countries and it often works to India’s advantage. But the oomph factor in bilateral relations has been missing for a long time. For example, India and the US warmed up to each other and became trusted partners only after the Civil Nuclear Agreement between the two countries was brokered under President George W. Bush. It was a pivotal moment that added significant “oomph” to bilateral ties and transformed the dynamics of the relationship, fostering deeper strategic, economic, and technological cooperation. It set the stage for an enduring partnership in the 21st century. Even during the Obama and Trump administrations the bilateral ties never ran out of excitement. 

One cannot say the same about India-UK relations, which badly need to be injected with energy, excitement and a mega-deal. 

FTA: Starmer’s First Challenge In India-UK Ties

With regards to India, one of the first tasks on Starmer’s desk will be to reach a Free Trade Agreement. He has maintained his commitment to completing the FTA, but it is not going to be easy. India’s priority appears to be to finalise an agreement with the European Union (EU) first. The bilateral trade in goods and services last year stood at €113 billion. The two sides relaunched the negotiations in 2022 and the progress is said to be satisfactory.

According to a group of researchers, another stumbling block in the India-UK FTA is “the opposition in the UK to Indian demands for more visas for intra-company transfers and particularly to demands that social security contributions from Indian workers during such transfers be reimbursed”.

Immigration Policies

Brexit has led to record levels of Indian immigration. Of the 6.85 lakh immigrants in the UK today, the majority come from India. The Labour Party’s stated aim is to reduce legal immigration and curb illegal immigration. Many of the legal Indian immigrants are IT professionals on work permits, contributing to the UK’s technology sector. There is a small number of illegal immigrants from India as well.

The party’s policy seeks to balance the economic benefits of skilled migrants with the goal of controlling overall immigration numbers, reflecting broader political and economic priorities.
Human Rights and Citizenship Laws

Historically, the Labour Party has been vocal about human rights issues in India, particularly on laws like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Labour Party’s criticism has been viewed by the Indian government as interference and a misrepresentation of India’s internal policies aimed at addressing specific security concerns. Starmer will be under pressure from domestic human rights organisations to put forward liberal British perspectives. His diplomatic skills are bound to be tested in the coming months and years.

The relations between the UK’s Labour Party and the Indian government are complex, influenced by historical ties, diaspora politics, and divergent policy priorities. Addressing such challenges will require nuanced diplomacy, mutual respect, and an understanding of the sensitivities involved on both sides.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

London:

Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako arrive in Britain on Saturday ahead of a three-day state visit hosted by King Charles III.

The royal couple are due to touch down on a flight from Japan and spend Sunday and Monday at private engagements before the official programme begins on Tuesday.

The highlight will be a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, with all eyes on a possible appearance by the heir to the throne Prince William’s wife Catherine, rarely seen in recent months due to cancer treatment.

Naruhito, 64, will also go to Windsor Castle west of London to lay a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II, whose state funeral he and the empress, 60, attended in September 2022.

With Britain in the midst of a general election campaign, it was not immediately clear if there would be any meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Visiting heads of state have typically held talks with the premier and opposition leader, or addressed lawmakers in parliament.

But there are no MPs as parliament has been dissolved before the July 4 vote.

The trip will be the emperor’s second official state visit since his accession to the throne in 2019, following a visit to Indonesia last year.

For Charles, 75, it will be the third state visit he has hosted since he ascended to the throne following the death of his mother.

 ‘Fond memories’ 

Like Catherine, he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year but has made a limited return to public duties, and was seen this week with his wife Queen Camilla at the Royal Ascot horse racing meeting.

Catherine, a future queen who is widely known as Kate, is currently undergoing chemotherapy and has stepped back from public life to aid her recovery.

She made a tentative return to public life last week when she attended a military parade in London to mark Charles’ official birthday.

Elizabeth, whose 70-year reign began in 1952, hosted two Japanese state visits during her time on the throne: Emperor Hirohito in 1971 and his eldest son Emperor Akihito — Naruhito’s father — in 1998.

Speaking in Tokyo ahead of the trip, Naruhito said Britain’s royals treated him “like family” during his time studying in England in the 1980s.

Naruhito recalled that during his two years at Oxford University, he was invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland for a few days.

“I have very fond memories of the queen driving a car and inviting me to a barbecue… and Prince Philip showing me around by driving a carriage himself,” he told reporters in a rare press conference.

The state visit’s programme will also include a Guard of Honour ceremony, a carriage procession at Buckingham Palace, and visits to museums and the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre in London.

Before leaving on Friday the Japanese emperor and empress will visit Oxford, where they both studied, for private engagements.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

UK Labour leader Keir Starmer is a former human rights lawyer turned state prosecutor whose ruthless ambition and formidable work ethic look set to propel him to Britain’s highest political office.

The 61-year-old, whose unusual first name was his socialist parents’ tribute to Labour’s founding father Keir Hardie, is also the centre-left party’s most working-class leader in decades.

“My dad was a toolmaker, my mum was a nurse,” Starmer tells voters often, countering depictions by opponents that the one-time “lefty lawyer” is the epitome of a smug, liberal, London elite.

With his grey quiff and black-rimmed glasses, Starmer remains an enigma in the eyes of many voters, who will likely hand him the keys to 10 Downing Street in a general election on July 4 nonetheless.

Detractors label him an uninspiring opportunist, but supporters insist he is a managerial pragmatist who will approach being prime minister the same way he did his legal career: tirelessly and forensically.

“Politics has to be about service,” Starmer said in a campaign speech on Monday, repeating his mantra to put “country first, party second” following 14 years of Conservative rule that brought five prime ministers.

Sometimes appearing uncomfortable in the spotlight, the football-daft Arsenal fan — who came to politics late in life — has struggled to shed his public image as buttoned-up and boring.

But the married father-of-two is said to be funny and loyal in private, while his route to the cusp of the premiership is more interesting than he is given credit for.

Mother’s death

Born on September 2, 1962, Keir Rodney Starmer was raised in a cramped, semi-detached house on the outskirts of London by a seriously ill mother and an emotionally distant father.

He had three siblings, one of whom had learning difficulties, and his parents were animal lovers who rescued donkeys.

“Whenever one of us left home, they replaced us with a donkey,” Starmer has joked.

A talented musician, Starmer had violin lessons at school with Norman Cook, the former Housemartins bassist who became DJ Fatboy Slim, and attended a prestigious London music school at weekends.

After legal studies at the universities of Leeds and Oxford, Starmer turned his attention to radical causes, defending trade unions, anti-McDonald’s activists and death row inmates abroad.

He is friends with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney from their time together at the same legal practice and once recounted a boozy lunch he had with her and her Hollywood actor husband George.

“There were quite a lot of empty bottles by the end of the evening,” Starmer remembered.

In 2003, he began moving towards the establishment, shocking colleagues and friends, first with a job ensuring police in Northern Ireland complied with human rights legislation.

Five years later, he was appointed director of public prosecutions for England and Wales by the then-Labour government.

Between 2008 and 2013, he oversaw the prosecution of MPs for abusing their expenses, journalists for phone-hacking, and young rioters involved in the 2011 unrest across England.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, but rarely uses the prefix “Sir”, and in 2015 was elected as a member of parliament, representing a seat in left-leaning north London.

Just weeks before he was elected, his mother died of a rare disease of the joints that had left her unable to walk for many years.

Rebellion

In 2021 he broke down in tears in a TV interview as he described how her agonising death “broke” his father.

Just a year after becoming an MP, Starmer joined a rebellion by Labour lawmakers over left-winger Jeremy Corbyn’s perceived lack of leadership during the EU referendum campaign.

It failed, and later that year he rejoined the top team as Labour’s Brexit spokesman, where he remained until succeeding Corbyn in April 2020.

Starmer has since shown ruthlessness by purging Corbyn from the party, moving it back to the centre, and making moves to root out anti-Semitism that had made Labour unelectable.

The left accuses him of betrayal for dropping a number of pledges he made during his successful leadership campaign, including the scrapping of university tuition fees.

But his strategic repositioning of Labour to put it back on a path to power is indicative of a constant throughout his life: a drive to succeed.

“If you’re born without privilege, you don’t have time for messing around,” Starmer once said.

“You don’t walk around problems without fixing them, and you don’t surrender to the instincts of organisations that won’t face up to change.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

 Russia may use sea mines to target civilian shipping in the Black Sea, including by laying them on the approach to Ukrainian ports, the British government said on Wednesday citing intelligence.

Russia pulled out of a deal in July that had allowed Ukraine to safely ship food products out through what is traditionally its main export corridor.

Ukraine responded by setting up a temporary “humanitarian corridor” for cargo vessels, and several ships have left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since.

Britain said its assessment of the intelligence was that Russia was seeking to target civilian shipping travelling through the humanitarian corridor in order to deter the export of Ukrainian grain.

“Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea,” Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement.

“By releasing our assessment of this intelligence, the UK seeks to expose Russia’s tactics to deter any such incident from occurring.”

Last month Britain accused Russia of targeting a civilian cargo ship at port in the Black Sea on Aug. 24 in a missile attack it said was successfully thwarted by Ukrainian defences.

Britain said it was working with Ukraine and other partners to put in place arrangements to improve the safety of shipping, and was using its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to monitor Russian activity in the Black Sea.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Major U.S. tech companies have acknowledged a need for AI regulations.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Britain pitched itself to the world Friday as a ready leader in shaping an international response to the rise of artificial intelligence, with Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden telling the UN General Assembly his country was “determined to be in the vanguard.”

Touting the United Kingdom’s tech companies, its universities and even Industrial Revolution-era innovations, he said the nation has “the grounding to make AI a success and make it safe.” He went on to suggest that a British AI task force, which is working on methods for assessing AI systems’ vulnerability, could develop expertise to offer internationally.

His remarks at the assembly’s annual meeting of world leaders previewed an AI safety summit that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is convening in November. Dowden’s speech also came as other countries and multinational groups — including the European Union, the bloc that Britain left in 2020 — are making moves on artificial intelligence.

The EU this year passed pioneering regulations that set requirements and controls based on the level of risk that any given AI system poses, from low (such as spam filters) to unacceptable (for example, an interactive, children’s toy that talks up dangerous activities).

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The U.N., meanwhile, is pulling together an advisory board to make recommendations on structuring international rules for artificial intelligence. Members will be appointed this month, Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly on Tuesday; the group’s first take on a report is due by the end of the year.

Major U.S. tech companies have acknowledged a need for AI regulations, though their ideas on the particulars vary. And in Europe, a roster of big companies ranging from French jetmaker Airbus to to Dutch beer giant Heineken signed an open letter to urging the EU to reconsider its rules, saying it would put European companies at a disadvantage.

“The starting gun has been fired on a globally competitive race in which individual companies as well as countries will strive to push the boundaries as far and fast as possible,” Dowden said. He argued that “the most important actions we will take will be international.”

Listing hoped-for benefits — such improving disease detection and productivity — alongside artificial intelligence’s potential to wreak havoc with deepfakes, cyberattacks and more, Dowden urged leaders not to get “trapped in debates about whether AI is a tool for good or a tool for ill.”

“It will be a tool for both,” he said.

It’s “exciting. Daunting. Inexorable,” Dowden said, and the technology will test the international community “to show that it can work together on a question that will help to define the fate of humanity.”

London:

Prince Harry paid tribute on Thursday to the late Queen Elizabeth as he returned to Britain to attend an awards ceremony a day before the first anniversary of his grandmother’s death.

Harry only occasionally comes back to Britain since his move to California with his wife Meghan after the couple stepped down from their official royal roles in 2020, and then fell out with the other Windsors, including his father King Charles and elder brother Prince William.

“As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last year as my grandmother passed away,” he said in a speech at the annual ceremony staged in London by WellChild, a charity supporting children suffering from serious illnesses, for which he is a patron.

“As you also probably know, she would have been the first person to insist that I still come to be with you all instead of going to her and that’s precisely why I know exactly one year on that she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together continuing to spotlights such an incredible community,” he said.

The timing of the annual WellChild ceremony and other events meant that both Harry and Meghan happened to be in Britain when the queen died at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, on Sept. 8 last year.

Harry pulled out of last year’s ceremony following news the queen was seriously ill, and travelled north separately from the rest of the royal family, indicative of their recent feud.

He said in his memoir published in January that his father had told him that Meghan was not invited. Kate, William’s wife, also did not go to Balmoral.

The royal family will not be gathering together to mark the anniversary on Friday, and media reports said Harry would not be seeing them during his trip. He is due to head to Düsseldorf in Germany for Saturday’s start of the Invictus Games.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)