“One of the Worst Security Breaches in Modern British History” — UK Exposed Spies, Special Forces and Afghan Allies in Massive Leak
An error revealed identities of British MI6 agents, SAS operatives, and thousands of vulnerable Afghans. Lawmakers warn: “The more we find out… the worse it gets.”
Details of British spies and special forces were included in a massive data leak that led to thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK. Information about more than 100 Britons was contained in the breach. Defence sources have said that details of MI6 spies, SAS and special forces personnel were included in the spreadsheet, after they had backed Afghans who had applied to be brought to the UK. It comes after the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), was released "in error" in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) became aware of the breach in August 2023, when excerpts from a spreadsheet containing personal information were anonymously posted on a Facebook group. After a super-injunction - imposed in September 2023 that blocked coverage of the leak - was lifted on Tuesday, Defence Secretary John Healey offered a "sincere apology" on behalf of the government. Some 6,900 Afghans - comprising 1,500 people named on the list as well as their dependents - are being relocated to the UK as part of this programme, atop the thousands moved under the Arap. The MoD said the relocation costs alone, directly linked to the data breach, will be around £850m. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people were affected. Judges said in June last year that they could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their information. The super-injunction was lifted on Tuesday after an internal review concluded it "appears unlikely that merely being on the dataset would be grounds for targeting.” MP Helen Maguire - a former military captain - says "the more we find out about this data leak, the worse it gets".- Sky News
The data breach was much worse than previously thought. The BBC’s Joel Gunter said that, in the light of today’s revelations, it is no wonder that the British government obtained an unprecedented super-injunction, a kind of gagging order that prevents the reporting of even the existence of the injunction. “Taken together, the leak of the personal information of both at-risk Afghans and some of the most sensitive officials in the UK make this one of the worst security breaches in modern British history.”
In this extended CNN International interview, I unpacked why Donald Trump’s 50-day ultimatum to Vladimir Putin may be seen in the Kremlin as a strategic victory—not a warning. I also discuss growing skepticism around the timely delivery of advanced Western weapons to Ukraine, a major government shake-up in Kyiv that raises fresh concerns about power consolidation by President Zelensky (I referred to it as ‘a reshuffling of the deck chairs’), and I reflect on the 11th anniversary of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. Nearly 300 lives were lost when a Russian missile brought down the jet—and families are still waiting for justice.
“Tomorrow there will still be a place missing at the dinner table, whether that be a son, daughter, mother, father, brother or sister…” - Jordan Withers, who lost his uncle, Glenn Thomas, in the Russian shoot down of MH17, 11 years ago today
“We have come so far and we already know a lot - but we still do not know the full truth. Who fired the missile? Why did they fire? Who gave the order and why? What were they thinking? Russia has to take responsibility and finally cooperate in finding and sharing the truth. The truth is know in the Kremlin” - Dutch mom who lost her son who was aboard MH17
One of the three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran struck by the United States last month was mostly destroyed, setting work there back significantly. But the two others were not as badly damaged and may have been degraded only to a point where nuclear enrichment could resume in the next several months if Iran wants it to, according to a recent U.S. assessment of the destruction caused by the military operation, five current and former U.S. officials familiar with the assessment told NBC News. The assessment, part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to determine the status of Iran’s nuclear program since the facilities were struck, was briefed to some U.S. lawmakers, Defense Department officials and allied countries in recent days, four of those people said. NBC News has also learned that U.S. Central Command had developed a much more comprehensive plan to strike Iran that would have involved hitting three additional sites in an operation that would have stretched for several weeks instead of a single night, according to a current U.S. official and two former U.S. officials. President Donald Trump was briefed on that plan, but it was rejected because it was at odds with his foreign policy instincts to extract the United States from conflicts abroad, not dig deeper into them, as well as the possibility of a high number of casualties on both sides, one of the current officials and one of the former officials said. “We were willing to go all the way in our options, but the president did not want to,” one of the sources with knowledge of the plan said. In a speech in the hours after they took place, Trump called the strikes he directed “a spectacular military success” and said, “Iran’s key enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.” The reality as gleaned through intelligence so far appears to be more nuanced. And if the early findings about the damage inflicted to Iran’s nuclear program hold up as more intelligence comes in, the United States could find itself back in a conflict there - NBC News
The risk of Russia- and China-backed attacks on undersea cables carrying international internet traffic is likely to rise amid a spate of incidents in the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan, according to a report. Submarine cables account for 99% of the world’s intercontinental data traffic and have been affected by incidents with suspected state support over the past 18 months. Analysis by Recorded Future, a US cybersecurity company, singled out nine incidents in the Baltic Sea and off the coast of Taiwan in 2024 and 2025 as a harbinger for further disruptive activity. The report said that while genuine accidents remained likely to cause most undersea cable disruption, the Baltic and Taiwanese incidents pointed to increased malicious activity from Russia and China. “Campaigns attributed to Russia in the North Atlantic-Baltic region and China in the western Pacific are likely to increase in frequency as tensions rise,” the company said. Incidents flagged by the report included the severing of two submarine cables between Lithuania and Sweden in the Baltic Sea last November, which investigators blamed on an anchor dragged by a Chinese vessel. In December a ship carrying Russian oil was seized after it severed cables between Finland and Estonia. Incidents around Taiwan over the past 18 months include a Chinese-crewed freighter cutting cables between the island and its outlying Penghu Islands in February by repeatedly manoeuvring in a zigzag pattern over the cables. The previous month, a Chinese-owned cargo ship was cited as the likely cause of damage to a Taiwan-US cable. - Guardian
The Chinese yuan is increasingly being used in developing nations in Asia and Africa, a success for Beijing in its efforts to combat the ubiquity of the dollar. The head of China’s central bank last month outlined his desire for a multipolar global currency order, and new data suggests that — despite the greenback’s global dominance — those hopes are, slowly becoming reality: The share of dollar-denominated loans in emerging Asian economies declined 16% between the first quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2024, Nikkei reported, largely due to Chinese banks pivoting to yuan-based lending, while the South China Morning Post noted that an increasing number of African countries have signed up to use the currency for trade and investment.
Approval for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government rose for the first time this year, a new poll showed on Wednesday, after his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil starting in August. The Quaest poll commissioned by brokerage Genial showed that 43% of those surveyed approve of Lula's administration, up from 40% in the previous poll in May. Meanwhile, the government's disapproval fell from 57% to 53% in the period. According to the poll, 66% of the respondents were aware of President Trump's letter announcing 50% tariffs on Brazil, while 33% were not. In the letter, Trump linked the tariffs to Brazil's treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial over charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in 2023. The poll showed that 72% believe that Trump is wrong to impose tariffs on Brazil due to what he sees as persecution of Bolsonaro, while 19% think the measure is right. Despite being barred from holding public office until 2030, Bolsonaro insists he will run against Lula in a rematch in next year's election, arguing he is the only figure on the right who can defeat the incumbent - Reuters
Air India has said it found “no issues” with the fuel switches on its other Boeing planes after the fatal crash that killed 260 people last month, as a US report suggested investigators have turned their attention to the actions of the plane’s captain. A preliminary report into the incident, released last week, found that the switches that controlled fuel going into the engines had been turned off “one after another” just after the plane took off from Ahmedabad airport. It meant the engines were starved of fuel, causing them to shut down. Moments afterwards, the London-bound plane lost altitude and crashed, killing 241 people on board and 19 people on the ground. The preliminary report, by India’s aviation authority, made no recommendations for action against Boeing, which manufactures the 787 Dreamliner. However, after the report’s release, Air India ordered that the locking mechanisms of all fuel control switches – designed to prevent them from being accidentally turned off in-flight – on its Boeing planes be examined as a precautionary measure. On Thursday, an official from Air India confirmed that “inspections have been completed and no issues were found” - Guardian
Pope Leo XIV called on Thursday for "an immediate ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip, following an Israeli airstrike that struck the Catholic Church of the Holy Family. In a telegram signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the Pope expressed his "deep sorrow" and called for "dialogue, reconciliation and lasting peace in the region." The supreme pontiff's words come after Israel launched new strikes on central Gaza, hitting the Bureij refugee camp and Abu Halu School in it, as well as the Holy Family Church - Baha
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