Day: March 30, 2023

The UK’s intelligence services are set to use information compiled by artificial intelligence to help detect foreign threats that might be overlooked by humans, according to plans outlined by security minister Tom Tugendhat.

In a column published in The Telegraph on Wednesday, Tugendhat said a new government department – the Open Source Intelligence Hub (OSINT) – will use information gathered from open sources to assist its more traditional intelligence services, MI5 and MI6.

Formal plans, including the scope and size of the unit, have yet to be established but are expected to be put in place by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in May.

“Traditional spying will still lift the curtain on the plans of our enemies,” Tugendhat wrote. “We still need to listen and look where they want to hide.”

He added that “intelligence has changed” over the past decade, prompting the UK’s intelligence services to divine new methods to identify and eliminate foreign threats. The new hub will also add “richness and detail” to existing methods of information gathering, he said.

Tugendhat denied that AI would be used to gather intelligence on the British public, insisting it would only survey information which was already in the public domain.

The move comes a little more than two weeks after UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt set aside £3.5 billion ($4.3 billion) in the government’s budget to fund programs in London’s science and technology sectors, which he predicted last year would transform it into a tech “superpower.”

The AI unit will also be used to target distributors of alleged “disinformation,” Tugendhat explained. “We’re seeing our security undermined by the attempt to tear us apart, to spread disinformation, to spread lies in our communities,” he said.

The newly introduced unit should rival the work being done by the likes of Bellingcat, the controversial group which specializes in the analysis of open-source information, Tugendhat said. While billed as an investigative fact-checking group, Bellingcat also receives funding from a number of Western states and was designated as a “foreign agent” by Russia in 2021.

SOURCE: RUSSIA TODAY

‘Sustainability must no longer be a niche part of tourism but must be the new norm for every part of our sector. It is in our hands to transform tourism and that emerging from COVID-19 becomes a turning point for sustainability’, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.

The EU co-funded project entitled Island Sustainable Tourism Action through Resilient SMEs (I-STARS) is all about helping tourism enterprises based on islands to take their transformation journey down the 2030 road to recovery and sustainability. To this end, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, together with 5 more organisations from the islands of Greece, Ireland, Italy (Sicily) and Spain (Mallorca), partners in the I-STARS project, are currently designing the 2030 journey of island tourism businesses and would appreciate their contribution by answering a short survey questionnaire.

By taking part in this survey

You will assist us tailor our support programs to better meet your needs and help your business transition towards sustainable practices.

You will be informed with priority as far as the I-STARS scheme is concerned for a grant of up to pound 5,600 for professional support, preparing your business to become resilient and gain a competitive advantage through responsible tourism.

Choose your language preference for the survey questionnaire by clicking below.

English

Greek

The survey closes on Friday 14th April 2023

Source: Cyprus News Agency

This year’s twentieth anniversary of the illegal Iraq invasion paradoxically coincided with major international events. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was in Moscow on the day, while a Russia-Africa Parliamentary Forum opened at the same time.

In 2003, at the height of its power, the US proclaimed its “unipolar moment” in which it would dominate unchallenged, needing no allies and tolerating no objections from adversaries. History, it was believed, had a single purpose, and they would stop at nothing to achieve it. Indeed, American military, political and economic dominance seemed total at the time, echoing the sentiments of Henry Kissinger, who a few years earlier had written “America at the Apex.” Twenty years later, we are witnessing the flowering of multi-polarity: in Moscow, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was talking to the Russian President, two countries contributing to a change the world has not seen in a hundred years. This transience of world history shows how quickly historical cycles change, but it is also important that the US itself, through its actions in different parts of the world, is accelerating its course.

One of the most important strategic mistakes made by Washington was the invasion of Iraq. Based on a false pretext and the deliberate misleading the international community, it led to a series of significant war crimes, a catastrophic civil war, the shattering of Iraqi statehood and enormous repercussions for the entire Middle East. Just a few years of American presence in Iraq resulted in huge numbers civilian deaths, indiscriminate use of force, and the destruction of several cities, including Mosul. During the evacuation of the Russian embassy amid the 2003 US invasion, a convoy of diplomats came under American fire and several were injured. US private military contractors, who at one point had the same presence in the country as official troops, committed a number of war crimes. The abuse of prisoners by the US military at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad has been well documented. When the International Criminal Court raised the question of American citizens being charged over offenses in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US responded that it would prosecute the judges who raised the issue and that they should withdraw their initiatives immediately.

Arguably the greatest crime of the US in Iraq has been to create a civil war that has resulted in a terrible number of casualties with estimates ranging from 600,000 to one million.

From 2005 to 2007, the country’s population curve flattened, despite the fact that it has always had one of the highest birth rates in the region. The dismantling of the central government triggered geopolitical processes in the region and power in the formerly Sunni-ruled country fell into the hands of the Shia Arab majority, which began a rapprochement with Shia Iran. Since then, Tehran’s strategic position in Iraq has remained significant.

Some of the consequences of the US invasion have backfired as well. For example, the fight against terror led to an increase in the influence of ISIS, an organization banned in Russia, in Iraq. Unexpectedly, Iran’s strengthened role in the country meant that 150,000 US troops were unable to control the situation in Iraq, while a few dozen Iranian diplomats in the embassy in Baghdad were quite capable of doing so. The metastasis of the Arab Spring, which began to spread to various countries in the region, was also one of the consequences of the Iraq war.

Meanwhile, US financial costs for the war are estimated at several trillion dollars. Overall, the politically unsuccessful operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to a decline in American influence and status in the region, as evidenced by the recent restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, mediated by China.

The Americans formulated a reasonable objective for the military operation as early as 2007. It was voiced by General David Petraeus at a US congressional hearing. In response to a question about American interests in the country, he said, “Our purpose is not to create a Jeffersonian democracy, our purpose is to create the conditions for our troops to withdraw.” The implication was that pulling out should not look like defeat. At the time, this reasoned objective was well in line with American interests and showed the depth of the strategic error the Americans had made in preparing for the 2003 invasion.

Today, many of those responsible for that war – and their media and academic cheerleaders – are now loudly supporting Washington’s position on Ukraine.

It’s unlikely that the impact of their actions will be any different this time.

SOURCE: RUSSIA TODAY

Pope Francis will spend several days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital after tests found a respiratory infection, the Vatican said on Wednesday afternoon. All of his events through Friday have been canceled, and it remains unclear whether the pontiff will be able to keep his Holy Week and Easter commitments as well.

“In recent days Pope Francis has complained of some breathing difficulties,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement. The tests ruled out Covid-19 but found a “respiratory infection,” Bruni added, which will “require a few days of appropriate medical therapy.”

Earlier in the day, the 86-year-old pontiff rode around Saint Peter’s Square in the “popemobile” for a scheduled general audience with the Catholic faithful, hugging the believers and kissing babies.

Bruni’s first statement described the hospital visit as a previously scheduled check-up.

The Argentinian Jesuit had part of one lung removed in his youth, due to a respiratory infection. He has had other health problems in recent years. In 2021, he had a part of his colon removed at Gemelli. He later used a wheelchair and a cane to walk after a knee injury, ruling out surgery because he had reacted poorly to the general anesthesia.

The pope’s hospital stay comes just ahead of the Catholic Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday celebrations this weekend and culminating with the Easter vigil and mass on April 9.

Francis became pope in 2013, when his predecessor Benedict XVI announced he was retiring – the first pontiff to do so since 1415 – due to advanced age. He was 85 at the time, a year younger than Francis is now. Benedict spent the next decade as “pope emeritus” until his death at the end of December 2022.

SOURCE: RUSSIA TODAY

Moscow and New Delhi have agreed to “substantially increase” the supply of crude oil to India and diversify its grades, Russian energy major Rosneft announced on Wednesday.

A deal was reached with the Indian Oil Company during a trip by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin to the Asian country, the Russian firm said in a press release on its website.

Sechin also met with the heads of some of India’s largest oil and gas companies and discussed wider cooperation in the energy sector, the press release stated. Possible trade settlements in national currencies were also on the agenda.

Russia has become one of India’s top five trading partners, with turnover reaching $38.4 billion in 2022, according to statistics from India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as cited by Rosneft.

Energy accounts for a major portion of bilateral trade. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak, oil purchases by New Delhi surged more than 20-fold last year.

India, the world’s third-largest crude importer, began to boost purchases of Russian oil shortly after the start of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine and the ensuing Western sanctions.

New Delhi has repeatedly stressed that energy security is its top priority. It has chosen not to succumb to Western pressure and has continued to stock up on Russian supplies, even after the G7 price cap on Russian oil came into force late last year.

SOURCE: RUSSIA TODAY

Russian President Vladimir Putin may travel to Türkiye for the inauguration of the country’s first nuclear power plant, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told local TV station A Haber on Wednesday. The Akkuyu facility was built in partnership with the Russian state nuclear development agency Rosatom.

The Russian leader will either attend the opening ceremony in person or via video link on April 27, Erdogan said, describing the plant as one of Türkiye’s “indispensable investments” that would help the country “seriously store energy.” Akkuyu’s first reactor is set to become operational later this year, while the entire plant is due to go on-line by 2025. When complete, it will feature four reactors capable of generating 4,800 megawatts.

The Turkish and Russian heads of state spoke on the phone recently regarding collaboration between their two nations on strategic power engineering projects, including the Akkuyu plant and natural gas supplies.

Erdogan thanked his Russian counterpart for his assistance in the aftermath of the deadly earthquakes in Türkiye last month, which included the donation of construction materials and the deployment of Russian rescue personnel and a field hospital in Hatay province. The quakes, centered near the city of Gaziantep, killed an estimated 50,000 people and injured many more.

The Turkish leader also praised Russia’s “positive stance regarding the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” according to a statement released by the Presidential Communications Directorate on Saturday. The two countries signed a deal with Ukraine and the United Nations last July, reopening grain exports from three of the Ukrainian ports that had been blocked with the start of Russia’s military operation last February, and the agreement was extended last week.

As a NATO member nation with strong economic ties to Russia, Türkiye is caught in a difficult position regarding the conflict viewed by many as a proxy war between Russia and the military alliance, which has pumped tens of billions of dollars of weapons into the Ukrainian military over the last year. Ankara and Moscow nevertheless agreed in August to trade gas in rubles and hope to increase bilateral trade volume to $100 billion.

SOURCE: RUSSIA TODAY

The UK government has revealed plans to place asylum seekers in disused army barracks as it seeks to reduce the cost of temporary housing for migrants, according to a proposal published on Wednesday.

The proposal, which was detailed on Wednesday by UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick in the House of Commons, comes amid controversial plans by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government to reduce cross-channel migration – with Jenrick citing a yearly bill of £2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) currently being paid to temporarily house migrants while asylum claims are processed.

Disused military sites, Jenrick said, will be “scaled up over the coming months and will collectively provide accommodation to several thousand asylum seekers through repurposed barracks blocks and portacabins.”

However, he refused to confirm UK media reports suggesting they intended to place migrants on barges, saying only that the Home Office is “exploring the possibility” of housing asylum seekers on vessels “as they are in Scotland and the Netherlands.”

It comes amid reports that Home Office officials have warned that accommodating migrants on barges or ships could prove to be more expensive than hotels.

Prime Minister Sunak has made curbing illegal migration one of his central priorities since he assumed office in October. He has faced flak from political rivals over the introduction of his Illegal Migration Bill which, among other things, proposes the relocation of migrants from the UK to Rwanda.

The bill also vastly reduces the options migrants might have in objecting to their removal from the UK, and places a renewed emphasis on the office of the Home Secretary Suella Braverman to “remove illegal entrants.” Critics have claimed this violates international law and it has been rebuked by various human rights groups, as well as the European Union and the Council of Europe.

The Labour Party, the chief opposition party in the UK, has accused the government of “an admission of failure.” Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs on Wednesday that the plans have been introduced only after several years of demonstrating an inability to reduce cross-channel migration and the use of hotels as temporary accommodation.

SOURCE: RUSSIA TODAY