cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43437255

The Ukrainian company Ukrspecsystems is set to collaborate with British educational institutions to train future professionals for its drone manufacturing plant in Mildenhall, the company’s UK director, Rory Chamberlain, [said].

The company is currently partnering with universities to develop educational programs for students.

Chamberlain emphasized that this collaboration will benefit not only Ukrspecsystems but also the broader drone manufacturing ecosystem and its suppliers.

“We are working on this with local educational institutions. We will create courses and transfer knowledge to local students and engineers,” Chamberlain explained.

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Ukrspecsystems is also working on a program to offer British military personnel opportunities to join the industry before they finish their service, helping them transition into related careers afterward.

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Earlier, it was reported that the Ukrainian company Ukrspecsystems has obtained a location at a UK airfield for its drones and is building a specialized runway for UAVs.

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GB News recently did an "interview" (if you could call it that) with Donald Trump which was full of misinformation, lies and was very one sided.

I saw this petition going around and thought I would share it. I will note that with petitions they can help a little but I believe it's best to also contact whoever you're trying to petition yourself. The people in organizations you're protesting, or want change from need to "feel it". Please consider giving Ofcom a call and demand they investigate this horrible interview: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/what-we-do/contact-us you can mention that there's a petition that has already got loads of signatures.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6033366

Archived version

Britain announced sanctions against Russian media and ideas outlets on Tuesday as the U.K’s top diplomat warned Western nations must raise their game to combat information warfare from “malign foreign states.”

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the U.K. was imposing sanctions on the microblogging Telegram channel Rybar and its co-owner Mikhail Sergeevich Zvinchuk, the Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad — also known as Pravfond and described by Estonian intelligence as a front for the GRU spy agency — and the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, a think-tank run by Russian ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.

Two China-based firms — i-Soon and the Integrity Technology Group — also were sanctioned “for their vast and indiscriminate cyber activities against the U.K. and its allies,” Cooper said.

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[Cooper] said threats include physical attacks such as sabotage as well as disinformation campaigns “flooding social media with generative AI and manipulated videos” aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine’s resistance to Russian invasion.

British officials point to fake websites and political ads during Moldova’s recent election and fake news sites carrying videos with false claims about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife designed to undermine support for Ukraine.

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Offering screening for neurodivergence to people detained by the police could help ensure access to appropriate support and fairer treatment in the criminal justice system, say Cambridge researchers. A study from the team suggests that one in two individuals arrested and detained in London may have undiagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and one in 20 may have undiagnosed autism.

Rachel Reeves has received over £200k from the Zionist lobby over the years - how the fuck is this a functioning democracy?

The headline here is a bit misleading, what he actually said was:

"Who's to know? [Technology firms] are spending trillions and trillions on AI and maybe it's going to produce the next War and Peace.

"And if people want to read that book, AI-generated or not, we will be selling it - as long as it doesn't pretend to [be] something that it isn't.

"We as booksellers would certainly naturally and instinctively disdain it," Daunt said.

Readers value a connection with the author "that does require a real person", he added. Any AI-generated book would always be clearly labelled as such.

My revised headline is:

Waterstones boss would rather not sell books generated by AI, but might if they are correctly labelled.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43057031

The partnership is designed to protect undersea oil and gas pipelines, as well as cables for data traffic.

Both navies will operate as one – sharing maintenance facilities, technology and equipment to create truly interchangeable forces able to deploy rapidly wherever needed, the British Ministry of Defence said in a press release.

This is the most comprehensive defence agreement in modern times, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence added as the deal was sign by Defence Secretary John Healey and his Norwegian counterpart Tore O. Sandvik at 10 Downing Street on December 4.

"The British presence in the High North plays a crucial role in safeguarding Norwegian and European security," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said after he met his British colleague Keir Starmer in London.

The two prime ministers then flew north to the Royal Airforce base Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland. It is from here British P-8 maritime patrol aircraft are operating when flying missions over the North Sea or further north over the Norwegian and Barents Seas.

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Britain’s energy watchdog gives go-ahead to initial £28bn of investment to upgrade UK energy infrastructure but reveals move will push up network charges

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/42997092

Web archived link

The UK government and prosecutors have been heavily criticised over the collapse of a China spying case in an official report that described some of their actions as “shambolic”.

The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, which has been reviewing the collapse of the case against two British men accused of spying on MPs for China, said its investigation had found that “systemic failures” contributed to the failure in bringing a prosecution.

The report found the process between the government and the Crown Prosecution Service was “beset by confusion and misaligned expectations”. It added: “Some aspects are best described as shambolic.”

The report said, however, that it “did not find evidence” of “a co-ordinated high-level effort to collapse the prosecution, nor of deliberate efforts to obstruct it.” This, in effect, cleared the government of the most serious charge laid by critics.

The case against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry collapsed in September after the government was unwilling or unable to define China as an “enemy” or “national security threat” in evidence for the CPS. Both men have always denied any wrongdoing.

The case was brought under the Official Secrets Act of 1911, which has since been superseded by the National Security Act due to inherent flaws in the old legislation, such as the need to define a country as an enemy that would enable a prosecution.

The case’s collapse led to allegations that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government had undermined the prosecution as it tried to build trade ties with Beijing, something Downing Street has always denied.

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[The chair of the joint committee Matt] Western said the government “must show the public that it is confident in standing up to adversaries when required: failing to do so will corrode public trust in our institutions”.

The report said the “episode reflects poorly on the otherwise commendable efforts across public servants to keep this country safe.”

Commenting on the government’s North Sea Future Plan, in which it has confirmed that no more licences for new oil and gas will be issued, Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director, Areeba Hamid, said:

“Britain has just made history. Closing the door to new exploration marks the beginning of the end of oil and gas in this country. By standing firm on its manifesto promise, the government has shown genuine global climate leadership, making the UK the world’s largest economy to call time on new fossil fuel exploration. This is a major milestone.

“Oil and gas production has driven both the climate and energy price crises, leaving us all paying through the nose while fossil fuel giants have pocketed billions. But the winds are changing. The future of Britain’s energy is and needs to be clean, stable, home-grown renewables – not expensive, volatile, climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

“However, the current plan – and the cash – to support North Sea workers doesn’t go far enough. It’s vital they are at the heart of Britain’s transition to a clean-energy superpower, not left behind by it – but a £20mn jobs package doesn’t cut the mustard. A fair transition will create thousands of new jobs, strengthen communities, and prove that climate leadership and economic security can go hand in hand.”