The head of Britain’s MI6, Richard Moore, has warned that the spy agency must adapt to meet new 21st century digital threats if it is to remain effective at gathering intelligence and countering espionage.
In his first public speech since becoming MI6 chief, Moore has outlined the challenges facing the agency, as it seeks to compete with adversaries who exploit digital advances.
Highlighting MI6’s concerns about nations like China and Russia that embrace digital technology, Moore stated that the agency has a “white-hot focus” on understanding how to counter these threats, as the agency develops.
“They know that mastering these technologies will give them leverage,” Moore said, referring to the UK’s geopolitical rivals, adding that “an intelligence service needs to be at the vanguard of what is technologically possible.”
Pointing the finger directly at China, Iran, Russia, and international terrorism, the MI6 boss reveals that the agency has set its sight on the “Big Four” priorities for the UK and the West’s intelligence branches.
However, Moore’s speech could potentially be seen as an admission that MI6 is at risk of being left behind by nations that are swiftly developing new technologies, as he warns that “we cannot hope to replicate the global tech industry,” suggesting that the UK must, instead, “tap into it.”
Since taking over MI6, Moore has been faced with addressing the challenges posed by progress in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other digital elements that have changed the way espionage is conducted. For example, advances in biometric and facial recognition technology have made it almost impossible for spies to adopt false identities without being exposed.
MI6’s openness about its move into the tech space was shown back in September when the agency admitted it has a real Q Section, as seen in the James Bond films, that develops gadgets for its agents in the field.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 01:10AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
The world’s largest nation should be partitioned by Western powers and divided up into around a dozen separate states, Ukraine’s former foreign minister has said, insisting the move would be beneficial for all concerned.
Speaking in an interview with Ukraine’s Channel Five on Monday, ex-Foreign Minister Vladimir Ogryzko argued that the West should “go all the way” on the issue and allocate hundreds of billions of dollars for new countries to be carved out of territory currently governed from Moscow.
“Imagine that a collection of independent 10-15 non-nuclear nations is created in place of the current Russian Federation… Who will benefit from this? Everybody wins,” Ogryzko claimed.
According to him, the US and EU would be able to profit highly from this state-making venture, and would make the money back that they spent rehashing Russia’s borders.
Ogryzko’s comments come following claims in the West that Moscow is planning an attack against Ukraine, amid a series of unsubstantiated rumors that Russian troops are building up on the border.
On Sunday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned the Kremlin that if Russia uses force against Ukraine, “there will be consequences.” He remarked that the US-led military bloc has never been reluctant to impose penalties on Moscow, referring to the financial sanctions enforced in the wake of its reabsorption of Crimea.
Russia, however, insists that it has no plans for a full-scale conflict with Ukraine, with officials mocking reports showing military hardware hundreds of kilometers from the border as US-backed scaremongering.
Last month, the deputy of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, Aleksey Goncharenko, accused Moscow of stealing Kuban, a geographic region in southern Russia on the Black Sea, from its neighbor. He warned that “when Ukraine has honest leadership, then you will have to give everything back and return it all.”
Senior officials in Moscow have hit back at the increasingly fierce rhetoric coming from Kiev over its territorial claims. The deputy chairman of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, Aleksandr Sherin, said on Monday that Ukrainian politicians are trying to distract people from their own domestic problems by inflaming tensions with Russia.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 01:09AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
One of Australia’s biggest banks, Westpac, apologized and agreed to pay millions in fines after settling six of seven continuing probes over consumer harm, including charging fees to dead people.
The country’s third biggest bank will pay $81 million (AU$113 million) in penalties, and hand over $57 million in compensation to its customers in addition to the fine.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Westpac charged around $7.2 million in fees within a 10-year period to nearly 11,000 of its “deceased customers for financial advice services that were not provided due to their death,” and distributed duplicate insurance policies to more than 7,000 clients.
The banking giant was also charged for failing to ensure that financial services were provided efficiently, honestly, and fairly in all of the cases except for that of super insurance and debt on-sale. The regulator estimated that at least 25,000 customers were charged more than $5 million in fees that had not been disclosed adequately.
The Australian regulator simultaneously launched six lawsuits against the bank over “systemic failures” across Westpac’s banking, super and wealth management division, as well as the insurance business, which was sold off in August.
“The conduct and breaches alleged in these proceedings caused widespread consumer harm and ranged across Westpac’s everyday banking, financial advice, superannuation and insurance businesses,” ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said.
According to ASIC, it is unprecedented for the regulator “to file multiple proceedings against the same respondent at the same time.”
Westpac CEO Peter King has vowed to tackle widespread compliance problems by pushing ahead with a cultural overhaul at the institution.
“In each of these matters, Westpac has fallen short of our standards and the standards our customers expect of us,” King said in a statement.
“The issues raised in these matters should not have occurred, and our processes, systems and monitoring should have been better. We are putting things right and unreservedly apologise to our customers.”
Leaked video shows how an F-35 fighter jet plunged into the sea after trying to take off from the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. The incident was reportedly blamed on human error.
The incident took place on November 17, but the video was leaked on social media on Monday.
The jet was accelerating up the ramp aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and dived into the Mediterranean Sea after failing to take off. The pilot safely ejected.
The Sun reported at the time that the plane likely crashed because its engine sucked in a plastic rain cover that was left on the deck. Sources told the paper that human error and bad oversight were to blame for the loss of the aircraft.
The Telegraph said on Tuesday that authorities have still not found the jet, because it likely ‘flew’ underwater for some distance.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 12:53AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization has delivered more than 300 fur coats to Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were donated by Brits wishing “to clear their wardrobes and their conscience.”
“We can’t bring back the animals who suffered for these coats, but we can use old furs to help people in need,” said PETA Director Elisa Allen, reiterating the non-profit’s call “to use unwanted fur to help the truly needy, not clothe people for vanity.”
The delivery of about 100 fur coats to Afghanistan faced obstacles after the country’s takeover by the Taliban, but was cleared thanks to “a persistent local contact,” PETA said.
In partnership with the Life for Relief and Development organization, more than 250 items, including coats, blankets, hats, and gloves, were also supplied to Pakistan to “keep people in need warm this winter.”
PETA regularly gives unwanted fur items to homeless people and animals as part of what it calls its “fur amnesty program,” and it invites those “who wish to clear their wardrobes – and their conscience” to donate their garments.
The American organization is often a defendant in lawsuits and is known for its provocative campaigns and statements that are used to raise its public profile. In the past, it compared animal suffering with Holocaust and called meat-eaters “human supremacists.”
Now, PETA is campaigning for a ban on the use of Canadian bear fur in the production of traditional Queen’s Guards’ caps in the UK, pointing out that “even the Queen has stopped buying'' any fur.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 12:52AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
A damning report on workplace culture has found that one in three Australian parliamentary staffers have been sexually harassed. Respondents called it a “man’s world” where women “felt lucky” to have anyone hear their concerns.
The report, titled ‘Set the Standard’, was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. It found that more than half of those who worked among the country’s lawmakers had experienced some form of bullying, sexual harassment or actual or attempted sexual assault. The victims were more likely to be women.
The report revealed that some 63% of respondents had experienced sexual harassment. Meanwhile, men were found to be responsible for the majority of such behavior in parliamentary workspaces. One female MP told the Australian Human Rights Commission that the “culture allowed [and] encouraged” this.
Aspiring male politicians who thought nothing of, in one case, picking you up, kissing you on the lips, lifting you up, touching you, pats on the bottom, comments about appearance, you know, the usual.
Another person told the inquiry that Parliament was a “man’s world and you are reminded of it every day thanks to the looks up and down you get.” Others said they were “lucky enough” to have female supervisors to raise their concerns.
Describing the findings as “appalling,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison stressed there was “no excuse” to “normalize inappropriate, unhealthy and unprofessional behavior.” While noting that he wished he “found [the results] more surprising,” he expressed his belief that the Parliament was safer now than it had been at the start of the year.
Current and former politicians and staffers – the majority of them women – were among the 1,723 people who responded to the inquiry, which conducted nearly 500 interviews. The review was launched earlier this year after a former staffer, Brittany Higgins, alleged she had been raped in 2019 by a colleague in a minister’s office. Her claims prompted a wave of other allegations of misconduct.
Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, Kate Jenkins, who authored the report, noted that such experiences “leave a trail of devastation for individuals and their teams and undermine the performance of our Parliament to the nation's detriments.”
The report called for structural reforms and made a host of recommendations, including improving leadership and gender balances, and addressing a culture of alcohol use.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 12:51AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
The US is deliberately distorting the facts regarding the departure of 55 Russian diplomats in order to mislead the international community, Moscow’s representative in Washington claimed on Monday.
According to news agency Interfax, Anatoly Antonov slammed the US State Department as “cunning” and accused it of making statements that have “nothing to do with reality.”
In 2022, 55 Russian diplomats will have to leave the US, in line with a new American policy to only allow them to stay for three years.
On Monday, Deputy US State Department Spokeswoman Jalina Porter said that the departure of Russian representatives was not an “expulsion” and “not punitive,” and they can be “replaced” by other members of the diplomatic corps. According to Porter, this brings the American policy in line with how Moscow treats US diplomats.
However, according to Antonov, Washington is singling out Russia, and the diplomats of other countries are subject to a five-year period of stay in the US. America’s unilateral decision to place a shorter limit on Russian diplomats is tantamount to the US “trying to limit the sovereign right of Russia to make its own staffing decisions,” he said.
“The US Side has made it clear that in case of refusal to fulfil this request, the immunity and other diplomatic privileges of the Russian employees will be revoked. This is a de facto expulsion,” he continued.
As things stand, both the Russian Embassy in Washington and the American Embassy in Moscow are suffering from staff issues. Multiple rounds of tit-for-tat expulsions have left diplomatic missions limiting their services, such as the US decision to no longer process visa applications by Russians.
According to Antonov, Russia is in favour of nullifying “all the restrictions of recent years” and getting both countries’ diplomatic missions back to normal.
“Our proposals remain on the table,” he said.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 12:42AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
France’s Europe minister has accused the UK of practicing an economic model that allows for “quasi-modern slavery,” as Paris called on London to change its policy on legal migration to prevent more Channel crossings.
France has hit back at the UK over the ongoing English Channel crossing row after London urged Paris to do more to prevent migrants casting off from its shores. Speaking on Monday to France Inter TV, French Europe Minister Clement Beaune claimed that Britain’s economic model allows for the exploitation of illegal workers.
“There is – let’s say it – an economic model of, sometimes, quasi-modern slavery or at least of illegal work that is very strong,” the outspoken politician stated, adding that the exploitation of illegal workers “is more prevalent in the UK than [in France] because there are less checks.”
Beaune said the UK needs to introduce more checks as well as measures to create a “more humane, more compliant labor market regulation.” Unless this happens, he argued, there will still be a draw for illegal migration. “We’re asking the British to change their framework,” he added.
Speaking at the same time, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFMTV that the issue of Channel crossings is “first and foremost an English issue.” He said Britain needed to create more mechanisms for legal immigration. Migrants are choosing the risky path “because there is no legal path for immigrants to go to the UK... and because it’s possible to work without an ID card in England,” he noted.
Reiterating Beaune’s remarks, he claimed Britain's economic policy was a driver of illegal immigration. “One of the engines of the English economic policy – not all of it, obviously – is to employ workers illegally,” he stated.
Britain and France have engaged in an ongoing war of words over the migrant crisis. Thousands of people have crossed from France to the UK this year in the hope of finding a better life.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 12:14AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich ended a three-year absence from UK football by watching Chelsea host Man United – and he has the chance to watch his side play two more games in four days if he remains in London.
Abramovich, who bought the reigning Champions League winners in 2003, had not attended a game at the club's Stamford Bridge home after visa complications had prohibited him travelling to the United Kingdom.
However, Abramovich watched Thomas Tuchel's league leaders rescue a point against Manchester United with a 1-1 draw on Sunday, according to a report.
Abramovich is said to have been there in person to see Jorginho equalize from the penalty spot after Jadon Sancho's opener, when the England livewire capitalized on a calamitous error from the the Italy international early in the second half.
The 55-year-old was not spotted by TV cameras despite the game being broadcast live in the UK and around the world, The Telegraph has said.
Abramovich - who became an Israeli citizen in 2018 - was in London last week to add his support to a campaign opposing anti-semitism, hosting Israeli president Isaac Herzog as part of an exhibition at Stamford Bridge about Jewish athletes.
He also paid a visit to the the Holocaust Galleries at the Imperial War Museum.
A spokesman for Abramovich said he had not attended Chelsea's conclusive 4-0 Champions League win at home to Juventus on Tuesday after he opted to return to Moscow to attend a charity event.
He returned to London shortly afterwards, reportedly attending his first Blues game since he witnessed their Champions League final win against reigning Premier League champions Manchester City in May at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto.
He was also at Chelsea's 2019 Europa League win against London rivals Arsenal in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Russian has revolutionized the London club since taking charge in 2003 and has bankrolled their success ever since, overseeing the capture of five Premier League titles, two Champions League trophies and countless other glories during his 18 years asChelsea owner.
German boss Tuchel revealed last week that he is yet to formally meet Abramovich since taking over from Frank Lampard in January, although his boss congratulated him on the pitch following that Champions League triumph.
"I think firstly, and most importantly, he is a football fan. A huge football fan. He’s in love with the game and in love with the details.
"He wants to know everything about it, about what is going on here at [training ground] Cobham."
Chelsea are not at home again until December 11 but Abramovich could watch them play two Premier League games in the capital this week, with a trip to Watford on Wednesday followed by a visit to West Ham on Saturday.
They are then away to Zenit St. Petersburg on December 8 in a Champions League clash that will decide whether Chelsea win their group and the Russian side reach the Europa League.
Read more
November 30, 2021 at 12:07AM
from RT - Daily news
via IFTTT
