Call for expansion of Royal Navy surveillance after Kremlin spy devices found
Britain is “behind the curve” in tracking Russia’s deep-sea operations, an ex-minister has said, after spy sensors targeting Royal Navy submarines were found in waters around the UK.Tobias Ellwood, a former defence and Foreign Office minister, called for a huge expansion of the navy’s surveillance capability after it was revealed that a number of Kremlin spy devices had been seized by the military.He said the revelation, revealed by the Sunday Times, confirmed that Britain was “now in a greyzone war with Russia”.Vladimir Putin’s regime is believed to have been trying to spy on the navy’s four Vanguard submarines, which can carry nuclear missiles, with the sensors.The Sunday Times reported that some of the devices had been located by the Royal Navy, while others washed ashore.
Their discovery was deemed to be a national security threat, the newspaper reported, and it has not officially been confirmed by the British government.The sensors are part of Putin’s expansion of “greyzone” warfare – a campaign of surveillance and sabotage targeting key infrastructure.Ellwood, who stood down as a Conservative MP last year, said the use of sensors was “only half the story”, claiming that the Kremlin had established “remote seabed platforms” off the UK coast that act as recharging stations for dozens of mini-submarines “to map our undersea cable networks for potential sabotage”.He told the Guardian that government officials were aware of these deep-sea Russian bases and that efforts were being made to “realise that there is a delta between our resilience and the threat that we face”.“Ninety per cent of our data comes from the sea and 60% of gas comes from Norway by one line so you can see how vulnerable we are,” he said.
“The scale of damage [they could do] is enormous and it’s deniable and it’s cheap to do,That’s the worrying dimension of all of this,”He welcomed the commission of the RFA Proteus, the UK’s flagship deep-sea surveillance vessel that was acquired by the Royal Navy in 2023, but said the UK was “behind the curve in our deterrence and our ability to respond”,The Proteus is “just one ship and given the threat from this greyzone capability we are going to need half a dozen of these vessels if not more”, he said, citing the potentially catastrophic impact of key energy and communication lines being sabotaged,Suspicious incidents in the Baltic have intensified concerns over Russia’s “shadow fleet” and its alleged sabotage activities.
The Estlink 2 submarine cable between Finland and Estonia was disconnected from the grid last Christmas Day, little more than a month after two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish territorial waters.Investigators said the Russian tanker, Eagle S – thought to be part of Putin’s so-called “shadow fleet” – had damaged the Estlink cable by dragging its anchor over it.The Sunday Times quoted a serving British military figure as saying: “There should be no doubt, there is a war raging in the Atlantic.This is a game of cat and mouse that has continued since the ending of the cold war and is now heating up again.”Another source said: “It’s a bit like the space race.
This is a world clouded in secrecy and subterfuge … but there’s enough smoke to suggest something is on fire somewhere.”A Ministry of Defence spokesperson described the Sunday Times story as “speculation”, adding: “National security is the foundation of this government’s plan for change, which is why we are committed to enhancing the security of critical offshore infrastructure.“Our continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent continues to patrol the world’s oceans undetected as it has done for 56 years.We are also stepping up our defence spending with an extra £5bn for the defence budget this year, and a commitment to raise our spending to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027 to keep us secure at home and strong abroad.
”Luke Pollard, the armed forces minister, told MPs last month that the UK had been “more proactive” in its response to Russian aggression,But he added: “It’s not always an eye for an eye … In the event of any actions being taken against UK infrastructure, we would look at all the options available to us,”
Meta faces £1.8bn lawsuit over claims it inflamed violence in Ethiopia
Meta faces a $2.4bn (£1.8bn) lawsuit accusing the Facebook owner of inflaming violence in Ethiopia after the Kenyan high court said a legal case against the US tech group could go ahead.The case brought by two Ethiopian nationals calls on Facebook to alter its algorithm to stop promoting hateful material and incitement to violence, as well as hiring more content moderators in Africa. It is also seeking a $2
Roblox gives parents more power over children’s activity on gaming platform
Parents can now block their children from communicating with specific friends or playing certain games on Roblox, an online gaming platform popular with children.The changes form part of a suite of safety updates intended to give parents more control over their child’s experience on the platform.From Wednesday, parents and caregivers who identify themselves with an ID or credit card will have access to three new tools. The friend management tool means they can block anyone on their child’s friends list, preventing their child from exchanging direct messages with that account, and report people they believe are violating Roblox policies.They can also review and change the content maturity level for their child’s account, determining which games their child can access, and obtain detailed screen-time insights
UK needs to relax AI laws or risk transatlantic ties, thinktank warns
Tony Blair’s thinktank has urged the UK to relax copyright laws in order to let artificial intelligence firms build new products, as it warned a tougher approach could strain the transatlantic relationship.The Tony Blair Institute said enforcing firm copyright measures would strain ties with the US, which is poised to announce tariffs on UK goods on Wednesday.Warning that geopolitical considerations require “urgent and adequate attention” while AI policy is being drafted, TBI said: “Without similar provisions in the United States, it would be hard for the UK government to enforce strict copyright laws without straining the transatlantic relationship it has so far sought to nurture.”The thinktank has said that if the UK went down the route of demanding licensing of all UK content used in AI models, it would simply push that development work to other territories where there are less strict copyright laws. To enforce a strict licensing model, the UK would also need to restrict access to models that have been trained on such content, which could include US-owned AI systems
Blanket ban on teen smartphone use ‘potentially detrimental’, says academic
A leading academic tasked by the UK government with reviewing the effects of smartphones on teenagers has suggested blanket bans are “unrealistic and potentially detrimental”.Amy Orben, from the University of Cambridge, will lead the work on children and smartphone use that has been commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) along with a team of other academics from a number of UK universities.Ministers have so far been resistant to implementing any new legal restrictions on social media and smartphones for children that goes further than the current Online Safety Act, which clamps down on harmful content.Some MPs have been pushing for further restrictions that go beyond harmful content – including on access to social media for those under 16, full bans on smartphones in schools or restrictions on social media algorithms that are able to train addictive content on young teenagers.In a paper Orben published this week with four co-authors in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), they said bans and restrictions were unlikely to be effective – though they did advocate for children and teens to have phone-free spaces
Tesla quarterly sales slump 13% amid backlash against Elon Musk
Tesla reported a 13% drop in vehicle sales in the first three months of the year, making it the electric vehicle maker’s worst quarter since 2022. It’s another sign that Elon Musk’s once high-flying electric car company is struggling to attract buyers.The drop is probably due to a combination of factors, including its ageing lineup, competition from rivals and a backlash from Musk’s embrace of rightwing politics. It also is a warning that the company’s first-quarter earnings report later this month could disappoint investors.Tesla reported deliveries of 336,681 vehicles globally in the January-March quarter
Italian police increase security at Tesla dealerships after 17 cars destroyed in Rome fire
Italy’s interior ministry has written to police forces across the country to increase security at Tesla dealerships after 17 of the electric cars made by Elon Musk’s company were destroyed in a fire in Rome.Italy’s state police anti-terrorism unit, Digos, is investigating whether the fire at the Tesla dealership in Torre Angela, a suburb in the east of the capital, was started by anarchists.Firefighters worked for hours to put out the blaze in the early hours of Monday. Drone images showed a row of the burnt-out remains of the vehicles in a parking area of the dealership. Using his social media platform, X, Musk referred to it as “terrorism”
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