Month: July 2022

FBI director Christopher Wray said China was the “biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security” and had interfered in politics, including recent elections.

MI5 head Ken McCallum said his service had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years and would be doubling it again.

MI5 is now running seven times as many investigations related to activities of the Chinese Communist Party compared to 2018, he added.

The FBI’s Wray warned that if China was to forcibly take Taiwan it would “represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen”.

The first ever joint public appearance by the two directors came at MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London.

McCallum also said the challenge posed by the Chinese Communist Party was “game-changing”, while Wray called it “immense” and “breath-taking”.

Wray warned the audience – which included chief executives of businesses and senior figures from universities – that the Chinese government was “set on stealing your technology” using a range of tools.

He said it posed “an even more serious threat to western businesses than even many sophisticated businesspeople realised”. He cited cases in which people linked to Chinese companies out in rural America had been digging up genetically modified seeds which would have cost them billions of dollars and nearly a decade to develop themselves.

He also said China deployed cyber espionage to “cheat and steal on a massive scale”, with a hacking programme larger than that of every other major country combined.

The MI5 head said intelligence about cyber threats had been shared with 37 countries and that in May a sophisticated threat against aerospace had been disrupted.

McCallum also pointed to a series of examples linked to China. These included a British aviation expert who had received an approach online and had been offered an attractive employment opportunity. He travelled to China twice to be “wined and dined” before being asked for technical information on military aircraft by a company which was actually a front for Chinese intelligence officers.

“That’s where we stepped in,” said McCallum. He also said one engineering firm had been approached by a Chinese company which led to its technology being taken before the deal was then called off, forcing the company, Smith’s Harlow, to go into administration in 2020.

And he pointed to the interference alert issued by Parliament in January about the activities of Christine Lee. He said these types of operations aimed to amplify pro-Chinese communist party voices and silence those that questioned its authority. “It needs to be challenged,” the MI5 head said.

In the US, the FBI director said the Chinese government had directly interfered in a congressional election in New York this spring because they did not want a candidate who was a critic and former protester at Tiananmen Square to be elected.

They had done so, he said, by hiring a private investigator to dig up derogatory information. When they could not find anything, he said there had been an effort to manufacture a controversy using a sex worker before even suggesting staging a car accident.

Wray said China was drawing “all sorts of lessons” from the conflict in Ukraine. This included trying to insulate themselves from any future sanctions of the type that have hit Russia. If China did invade Taiwan, the economic disruption would be much greater than that seen this year, he said, with western investments in China becoming “hostages” and supply chains disrupted.

“I don’t have any reason to think their interest in Taiwan has abated in any fashion,” the FBI director told journalists after the speech.

The MI5 head said new legislation would help to deal with the threat but the UK also needed to become a “harder target” by ensuring that all parts of society were more aware of the risks. He said that reform of the visa system had seen over 50 students linked to the Chinese military leaving the UK.

“China has for far too long counted on being everybody’s second-highest priority,” Wray said, adding: “They are not flying under the radar anymore.”

Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he “had a very productive” discussion with Mr Putin.

It comes after Sri Lanka’s energy minister warned at the weekend that the country may soon run out of petrol.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital Colombo to protest against the government.

“I requested an offer of credit support to import fuel,” Mr Rajapaksa tweeted in reference to his conversation with the Russian leader.

Mr Rajapaksa also said he had “humbly made a request” for flights between Moscow and Colombo to resume, after the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot suspended services last month.

“We unanimously agreed that strengthening bilateral relations in sectors such as tourism, trade and culture was paramount in reinforcing the friendship our two nations share,” he added.

The country has already purchased oil from Russia in recent months to help bolster fuel supplies during the crisis, and the government has signalled that it is willing to buy more from the energy-rich country.

Attempts by Mr Rajapaksa to resolve Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in more than 70 years, including securing financial support from India and China, have so far failed to end weeks of shortages of fuel, power, food and other essential items.

On Sunday, energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the country only had enough petrol left for less than a day under regular demand.

Last week, authorities suspended sales of petrol and diesel for non-essential vehicles in an attempt to preserve its dwindling fuel stocks.

On Thursday, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka raised its key interest rates by one percentage point to tackle the soaring cost of living in the country.

The lending rate was raised to 15.5%, while the deposit rate was increased to 14.5%, the highest in 21 years.

It comes as annual inflation hit a record high of 54.6% June as the cost of food rose by more than 80%.

Hundreds of protesters had a day earlier on Wednesday gathered near the parliament building in Colombo as they launched what they called the “final push” to remove Mr Rajapaksa’s government.

This week, the UK reinstated advice against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka because of civil unrest in the country.

The Foreign Office warned holidaymakers could encounter “demonstrations, roadblocks and violent unrest at short notice”.

Visiting countries against Foreign Office advice would be likely to invalidate one’s travel insurance, the Association of British Insurers said.

Anbarasan Ethirajan, South Asia Editor, BBC News

Sri Lanka desperately needs the help of Russian President Vladimir Putin for both fuel and tourists, which are both vital to rescuing the country’s economy.

The island nation has virtually run out of fuel, crippling businesses and public transport.

It is struggling to get oil shipments from its usual suppliers in the Gulf or elsewhere due to a lack of foreign currency as well as banking and logistical difficulties.

Western nations have imposed restrictions on Russian oil in response to its invasion of Ukraine. But President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is clearly willing to take the risk of triggering the displeasure in Western capitals.

To add to Colombo’s woes, Aeroflot suspended Moscow-Colombo passenger flight services last month after a Sri Lankan court briefly detained one of its planes following a commercial dispute over payment.

Russians accounted for almost a fifth of total tourist arrivals in the months before the war started in Ukraine.

Even if the flights resume, it may not be easy to attract Russian tourists as they could find it difficult to pay for things while they are on holiday.

Several Russian banks have been disconnected from using the SWIFT international payment system and Visa and Master credit cards have suspended Russian operations in response to Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

Sri Lanka has seen its foreign exchange reserves shrink due to economic mismanagement and the impact of the pandemic.

As a result it has struggled to pay for imports of essential goods, including fuel, food and medicine.

In May, it defaulted on its debts for the first time in its history after a 30-day grace period to come up with $78m (£63m) of unpaid debt interest payments expired.

The country is currently in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a £3bn bailout.

Sri Lanka’s government has said it needs $5bn this year in support from the international community, including the IMF.

According to police, the 21-year-old suspect drove for more than two hours to Wisconsin after the shooting, which left seven dead and dozens wounded.

He saw another Independence Day celebration there and allegedly considered attacking it, police said.

During a court hearing, prosecutors also said he confessed to the shooting.

At Wednesday’s court appearance, a judge ruled that the suspect, Robert Crimo, would be held without bail and assigned a public lawyer.

At a news conference following the hearing, police said investigators had determined that Mr Crimo attempted to dump his phone in Madison, Wisconsin after the Monday morning attack in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.

Police said the gunman told them he had disguised himself as a woman so he could escape Highland Park alongside fleeing residents.

In the brief hearing, Assistant State Attorney Ben Dillon said surveillance video showed the suspect leaving the area and dumping a rifle. He then took his mother’s car and drove about 150 miles (240 km) north-west to Madison.

Madison’s police chief said in a news conference that the FBI called around 17:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Monday to request that the force mobilise its SWAT team due to the suspect being in their area.

But before the tactical team was ready, the police learned that the suspect had been caught.

According to Mr Dillon, the gunman then confessed after being caught, telling police he “looked down his sights, aimed, then opened fire at people across the street”.

If convicted, the seven murder counts the suspected gunman currently faces would carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Dozens more charges are expected before the investigation ends.

Prosecutors said on Wednesday that 83 spent shell casings, as well as rifle magazines, were recovered from the scene of the shooting.

The new information comes as questions are being raised over how the suspect was able to buy guns.

He passed background checks meant to prevent potentially dangerous individuals from buying weapons, even though he had previously made threats that were reported to authorities.

Three other firearms were also found at his home. Police said the suspect had two prior contacts with law enforcement but was still able to purchase five guns in the past year.

In April 2019, police were called to the suspect’s home one week after he reportedly attempted to take his own life. And in September 2019, police were called by a family member who said he had made violent threats to “kill everyone”.

Police responded and seized 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from his home. He was not arrested and no further action was taken.

In a separate and more recent incident, Mr Crimo reportedly behaved suspiciously during an April visit to a local synagogue during Passover. A volunteer security co-ordinator told The Forward, a Jewish news organisation, that he believed the suspect was “sizing up” the facility, although he left without incident.

Illinois state police said that the suspect’s father sponsored his application for a firearms licence in December 2019 when he was just 19. His uncle denied this in a statement to the Chicago Sun.

Illinois is one of 19 US states with so-called red flag laws, designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who may pose a danger to themselves or others. Some commentators have pointed to the Highland Park shooting as evidence that similar regulations are ineffective.

Allison Anderman, an attorney at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said that “implementation seems to have been an issue” in his case.

The Illinois law came into effect in January 2019, just months before police first encountered the gunman.

Ms Anderman added that red flag laws do not require individuals to be taken into custody. Instead, they simply prevent them from having guns until they “get their crisis under control”.

“It’s very possible that law enforcement officers did not know about it or did not know how to properly use it,” she said. “A single instance where a law was not properly implemented does not call into question the effectiveness of these laws”.

Experts believe that data suggests that red flag laws are at least somewhat effective. In Florida, for example, data shows that judges have acted more than 8,000 times under that state’s version of the law to restrict gun access.

“These are people who were either troubled or emotionally dysregulated. or expressing homicidal threats, that had guns taken away,” said Dexter Voisin, a social sciences professor and gun violence expert at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

“It’s not that the laws don’t work. It’s that folks actually have to work with the system”.

He was among a group of UK ministers who earlier urged Mr Johnson to quit.

In his resignation letter, Mr Hart said colleagues had done their utmost to “turn the ship around” but he no longer thought that was possible.

Mr Johnson has defied calls to resign, as he tries to face down a growing mutiny among his cabinet.

In a letter addressed to Mr Johnson and handed to the chief whip, Mr Hart insisted he had “desperately hoped” not to have to write it but saw “no other option”.

He said Mr Johnson would be remembered as a prime minister “with energy, vision, determination and humour”.

“There was never a dull moment in your government and I will be forever grateful to have been given the chance to be part of it,” he said.

In his letter, he also said he had “never been a massive fan of ministerial resignations being the best way of forcing change”.

Mr Hart is the third cabinet minister to step down after Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quit within minutes of one another on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday night, 16 ministers had resigned, along with 20 government aides and five others.

Levelling Up Secretary and former leadership rival to Mr Johnson, Michael Gove, was sacked by the prime minister after being part of the group of senior Tories urging him to go.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, a former close ally, has also joined the group of rebel ministers.

Conservative Senedd leader, Andrew RT Davies, called on the prime minister to “reflect on his position and allow someone else to take on that mantle to deliver the Conservative manifesto”.

It follows Mr Johnson’s decision to appoint Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip earlier this year, despite being aware of misconduct allegations against him.

During Wednesday’s Welsh Questions, Mr Hart was asked by Plaid Cymru MP, Liz Saville Roberts, “when will he be going?”

In his response, he insisted it was “business as usual in the Wales Office”.

One of Mr Hart’s predecessors, Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb, has called for Mr Johnson to resign “for the good of the country”.

He said trust in the UK government “had been draining away month after month” as controversies piled up.

Mr Crabb, who confirmed he voted against Mr Johnson in the confidence vote last month, wrote in an article for the Pembrokeshire Herald: “Every day I open my email inbox, every Q&A session I hold in the constituency, every time I visit Tesco or Morrisons in Haverfordwest, the feedback I receive is consistent and overwhelming: Boris Johnson should resign.”

Mr Hart’s resignation came after three other Welsh Conservative MPs quit their roles as government aides, with a fourth threatening to follow suit.

Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams and Vale of Clwyd MP James Davies have both quit.

Brecon and Radnorshire MP Fay Jones, a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Leader of the House of Commons said she would step down on Thursday if Mr Johnson was still in office after he had overseen an “erosion of trust and decency at the heart of government”.

Mr Williams, a PPS to the Treasury, said it was becoming impossible for Mr Johnson to rebuild trust with the public, while Mr Davies added that it was “clear that the party and the country are no longer governable” under him.

On Tuesday night, Virginia Crosbie became the first Welsh MP to call publicly for Mr Johnson to go as she resigned from her post in the Wales Office.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Saville Roberts accused Mr Johnson of putting “political survival over public duty”.

But she said whatever happened “the same Westminster arrogance will continue to dictate our futures in Wales”, asking him if he wanted a “medal for being the best recruiting sergeant for independence we could wish for?”

The prime minister responded: “I see the bonds of our union are being strengthened the whole time.”

Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford called for a general election to determine which political party should occupy Downing Street.

“Let the people of the United Kingdom decide whether this is a government they want to see continue or whether, as I believe they would want, to see a fresh start,” he said.

The PM was defiant despite many previously-loyal supporters – including Priti Patel and Grant Shapps – calling for him to step down on Wednesday.

Welsh Secretary Simon Hart became the latest cabinet minister to quit, while Attorney General Suella Braverman launched a leadership challenge.

But the PM insisted he had a “colossal mandate to keep going” from voters.

Taking aim at his critics, the prime minister sacked Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove in a shock move, with a Downing Street source calling him a “snake” who “gleefully briefs the press that he has called for the leader to go”.

Mr Gove, a former ally in the Brexit campaign but who derailed Mr Johnson’s first bid for the Tory leadership, had urged the PM to resign earlier in the day.

His sacking on Wednesday evening came after more than 40 ministers and aides resigned – a record for a 24-hour period.

Even late into the night, the resignations continued, with Welsh Secretary Mr Hart standing down just before 23:00 BST.

Mr Hart said he had “no other option left”, adding that colleagues had done their utmost in private and in public “to help you turn the ship around, but it is with sadness that I feel we have passed the point where this is possible”.

He had been among a group of cabinet members who attempted to persuade the prime minister to stand down, which also included Mr Johnson’s former close allies Home Secretary Ms Patel, Transport Secretary Mr Shapps and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

Mr Johnson – who is facing his most serious leadership crisis of his premiership – now has around 20 ministerial posts it needs to fill after an unprecedented number of resignations.

Later on Wednesday night, former loyalist Ms Braverman joined the calls for Mr Johnson to stand down, telling ITV’s Peston that he had handled matters “appallingly” in recent days.

She said she would not resign as it was her duty to carry on in her current job – but said: “If there is a leadership contest, I will put my name into the ring.”

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock also withdrew his backing for the PM, saying he had “supported him through thick and thin” but he now needed to go.

Mr Hancock – who said he would not be running for the leadership – predicted Mr Johnson would not be leader for much longer, “whether that’s tomorrow or next week”.

This morning, bluntly, there is a standoff.

A standoff between the prime minister and swathes of the Conservative Party, from the cabinet down.

The last two days have robbed Boris Johnson of much of his authority; but not yet his job.

He is still there in Downing Street – determined and defiant, his government pockmarked by unfilled ministerial vacancies after a slew of resignations.

Mr Johnson’s career has been defined by a convention smashing attitude.

That style now confronts what some fear could soon be a constitutional conundrum: what happens if the prime minister won’t budge.

The former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith said it was a “disgrace” – “our system works on confidence, he has lost it,” Mr Smith said, fearing what he called a “major constitutional situation”.

Conservative backbenchers who want rid of the prime minister still have another option – changing the rules, next week, so another vote of confidence in him could be held.

But some cabinet ministers – including Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg remain loyal to the prime minister.

And justifying Mr Johnson staying in the role, a No 10 source said: “The prime minister has a mandate from 14 million people to get a job done… If the party wants to stop him they have to take that mandate away.”

The BBC has also been told Mr Johnson has been stressing that “millions” voted for him, and questioning whether any of his would-be successors would be able to “replicate his electoral success at the next election”.Boris Johnson has a long history with Michael Gove – who he sacked after Mr Gove called for the PM to quit

Mr Johnson appeared in front of the Liaison Committee earlier on Wednesday – a group of MPs which scrutinises government decisions and policies.

He ruled out calling a snap general election, saying the earliest date he can see for one is 2024.

The PM survived a confidence vote last month and under current rules he is immune from another challenge for 12 months.

But there are elections next week to the top team of the 1922 Committee, which organises the confidence votes. Rebel Tories want to get elected so that they can push through a rule change so that a confidence vote can be held sooner.

The wave of resignations on Tuesday and Wednesday was triggered by revelations about the prime minister’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations against former Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher.

On Tuesday, it emerged that Mr Johnson had been personally briefed about a complaint against Mr Pincher in 2019 when the Tamworth MP was a minister in the Foreign Office.

It contradicted days of denials from No 10 that the prime minister had known of any formal complaints about Mr Pincher, and prompted resignations that evening by two key cabinet colleagues, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Mr Javid told the Commons in his resignation speech on Wednesday that “enough was enough” and “the problem starts at the top and I believe that is not going to change”.

The row is the latest issue to prompt Conservative MPs to question the prime minister’s leadership and direction of government.

Mr Johnson’s government has been dogged by a series of controversies in recent months, not least by a police investigation into parties in Downing Street during lockdown.

Some Tory MPs have also expressed dissent over tax rises, the government’s response to rising living costs and its policy direction.

If party bosses change the one-year rule on leadership challenges, rebel Tory MPs could try again to oust him later this summer, or in the autumn.

If Mr Johnson lost a vote of no confidence in Parliament, he would have to resign or call an election.

Otherwise, he would have to resign himself – possibly in the face of cabinet pressure, like Margaret Thatcher – or after a fresh wave of ministerial resignations.

Mr Lapid, head of a centrist party, will lead the country as it heads towards elections on 1 November.

It follows the collapse last week of the coalition which he formed with Mr Bennett. The upcoming elections will be Israel’s fifth in less than four years.

Mr Lapid faces a tough challenge from former PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to return to power.

Although the new prime minister has previously said he is committed to a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, he is unlikely to begin any bold new initiatives as an interim leader.

Naftali Bennett handed over to Mr Lapid on Thursday in accordance with an existing agreement to rotate the premiership. Mr Bennett will occupy the post of alternate prime minister until the November election, which he has said he will not take part in.

Israel has seen a record-setting cycle of elections since April 2019 as parties time and again failed to secure enough seats to form a governing coalition with a majority. The Lapid-Bennett coalition temporarily broke the stalemate.

Mr Lapid, a 58-year-old former TV news anchor, ousted Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving leader, last June.

The outgoing government was the most diverse in Israel’s history, comprising eight parties from across the political spectrum – including those with ideologically opposing views. It also contained an independent Arab party for the first time since the state was established in 1948.

Despite Mr Bennett’s attempts to focus only on issues where parties could work together, it started to fray towards the end of its first year, becoming a minority government when a member of his right-wing Yamina party quit earlier this month.

In an emotional TV address last week, Mr Bennett said he and Mr Lapid had “turned over every single rock” to try to keep the coalition going, but that they had run out of options.

Mr Netanyahu welcomed the announcement as “great news for millions of Israeli citizens”.

Polls currently indicate that his party will take most seats in a new election but will still struggle to form a governing majority with its religious and nationalist allies.

The prospect of a further period of political uncertainty comes at a sensitive time, as Israel faces the challenges of rising living costs, an upsurge in violence in its conflict with the Palestinians, and renewed international efforts to revive a nuclear deal with Iran – something which alarms Israel.