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• Until we tackle the nihilistic rage behind terrorism, it will stay the menace of our age | Kenan Malik

  26-01-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We need to rethink our understanding of violent attacks such as in Southport, in order to confront the deeper reasons why furious young men kill‘Britain faces a new threat,” Keir Starmer claimed last week after Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to the murders of three young girls in a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport; terror not just from “highly organised groups with clear political intent” but also “acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young
  
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• A spy ring – and a love triangle – podcast

  14-03-2025 04:00 via theguardian.com
  Dan Sabbagh reports on three Bulgarian nationals found guilty of spying for Russia in a string of plots around EuropeOn Friday, three UK-based Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia were found guilty of espionage charges at the Old Bailey in London.“It begins with a simple request,” Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence and security editor, tells Michael Safi. “A request from one of the world’s most wanted men.” Continue reading...
  
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• Decision not to classify Southport killer as a terrorist was right, says UK watchdog

  13-03-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Review concluded extending definition to cover extreme violence by ‘loners’ such as Axel Rudakubana is unhelpfulThe decision not to classify Axel Rudakubana as a terrorist following the Southport murders was right because it would be unhelpful to stretch the definition of terrorism to cover all extreme violence, the UK’s terror watchdog has concluded.Jonathan Hall KC wrote that the “legal definition of terrorism is already wide and should not be changed any further”
  
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• Apple to appeal against UK government data demand at secret high court hearing

  12-03-2025 20:52 via theguardian.com
  Guardian understands tech company’s appeal against Home Office request for encrypted data is to be heard by tribunal on FridayApple’s appeal against a UK government demand to access its customers’ highly encrypted data will be the subject of a secret high court hearing, the Guardian understands.The appeal on Friday will be considered by the investigatory powers tribunal, an independent court that has the power to investigate claims that the UK intelligence services have acted u
  
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• EU chief calls for defense ‘surge’, says ‘time of illusions’ over

  11-03-2025 12:36 via defencetalk.com
  
  DefenceTalkEU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday called for a “surge” in European defense spending, as the 27-nation bloc faces an aggressive Russia and faltering US support. Addressing lawmakers in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said Europe’s security order was “being shaken,” suggesting the continent could no longer rely on “America’s full protection”. “The time […]https://www.defencetalk.com/eu-chief-calls-for-defense-surge-says-time-
  
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• Moscow targeted by ‘massive’ Ukrainian drone attack

  11-03-2025 12:26 via defencetalk.com
  
  DefenceTalkUkraine targeted Moscow in a “massive” overnight drone attack, authorities said Tuesday, with Russia’s defense ministry claiming it shot down 337 UAVs across the country. “The Defense Ministry’s air defense continues to repel a massive attack by enemy drones on Moscow,” mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram early Tuesday. Russia’s military shot down 91 drones […]https://www.defencetalk.com/moscow-targeted-by-massive-ukrainian-drone-att
  
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• MI5 officers lamented lack of guidance in child terrorism cases, emails reveal

  07-03-2025 18:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Officer who investigated Rhianan Rudd, who killed herself, tells inquest ‘wider conversation’ needed on such casesMI5 officers investigating a schoolgirl who went on to kill herself after being charged with far-right terror offences had complained of a lack of guidance on handling the growing number of such cases, according to internal emails heard at an inquest.A special evidence session in London heard that intelligence agents working on the case of Rhianan Rudd, who died at the ag
  
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• Three UK-based Bulgarians found guilty of spying for Russia

  07-03-2025 18:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Jury convicts Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanchev over alleged plots around EuropeThe spymaster, the ringleader and the ‘minions’: who’s who of the spy ring trial‘Dumbest thing I’ve ever done’: spy trial’s tales of scheming, bluster and a love triangleThree Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia have been found guilty of espionage charges in a trial that heard how they were involved in a string of plots around Europe directed by
  
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• Starmer welcomes Zelenskyy’s offer to work with Trump on Ukraine peace deal – as it happened

  04-03-2025 18:57 via theguardian.com
  PM says any deal must be ‘lasting and secure’ following fiery Trump-Zelenskyy meeting last week and UK weekend summit. This live blog is closedLisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s acting Ireland correspondent.Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, has described a decision to build thousands of lightweight missiles for Ukraine in a Belfast factory as “incredulous”.I find it really incredulous that at a time when public services are being c
  
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• Extreme online violence may be linked to rise of ‘0 to 100’ killers, experts say

  01-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Criminal justice specialists call for new approach to identify emerging type of murderer with no prior convictionsThe rise of “0 to 100” killers who go from watching torture, mutilation and beheading videos in their bedrooms to committing murder suggests there could be a link between extreme violence online and in real life, experts have said.Criminal justice experts advocated a new approach, inspired by counter-terrorism, to identify an emerging type of murderer with no prior convic
  
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• UK teenager who killed herself after terror charges ‘was groomed by neo-Nazi’

  27-02-2025 20:29 via theguardian.com
  Rhianan Rudd, 16, was referred to Prevent by her mother after becoming ‘fixated on Hitler’, inquest toldA teenager who killed herself after becoming the youngest person in the UK to be charged with terror offences had been groomed online by an American “neo-Nazi”, an inquest has been told.Sixteen-year-old Rhianan Rudd, who was autistic, had been referred to the government’s Prevent counter-radicalisation programme by her mother, Emily Carter, the counsel to the inqu
  
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• My wife has put me in the Doge house | Brief letters

  24-02-2025 18:08 via theguardian.com
  Department of Government Efficiency | White House media | Dictators | Winston Churchill | Trump in Ukraine | Come again?My wife has just said that unless I can give her a list of five accomplishments I’ve achieved last week I can forget lunch; a non-response and I’m out of here (Kash Patel tells FBI staff to ignore Elon Musk request to list their achievements, 23 February).
  John Bailey
  St Albans, Hertfordshire• Perhaps MI6 could smuggle copies of the Guardian into the White Hous
  
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• Coroner to refer findings on 1992 shooting of four IRA members to DPP

  20-02-2025 13:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Justice Michael Humphreys says he is obliged to send report of Northern Ireland SAS ambush A coroner who ruled that SAS soldiers were not justified in killing four IRA members in a 1992 ambush in Northern Ireland is to refer his findings to the director of public prosecutions.Justice Michael Humphreys’ decision is likely to reignite last week’s row in the House of Commons, when unionists and Conservative MPs said his ruling earlier this month concluding that the deaths were unwarrant
  
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• Canadian warship in Taiwan Strait ‘undermines peace’, says China

  17-02-2025 13:35 via defencetalk.com
  
  DefenceTalkA Canadian warship passing through the Taiwan Strait “undermines peace” in the sensitive waterway, China’s military said Monday. Beijing views self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the island from the Chinese mainland. The Canadian vessel passed through the strait on Sunday and was the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/canadian-warship-in-taiwan-strait-undermines-peace-says-china-80528/
  
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• Chatbot vs national security? Why DeepSeek is raising concerns

  17-02-2025 13:30 via defencetalk.com
  
  DefenceTalkChinese AI chatbot DeepSeek upended the global industry and wiped billions off US tech stocks when it unveiled its R1 program, which it claims was built on cheap, less sophisticated Nvidia semiconductors. But governments from Rome to Seoul are cracking down on the user-friendly Chinese app, saying they need to prevent potential leaks of sensitive […]https://www.defencetalk.com/chatbot-vs-national-security-why-deepseek-is-raising-concerns-80523/
  
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• Taiwan detects 24 Chinese aircraft as Canadian ship transits waters

  17-02-2025 13:11 via defencetalk.com
  
  DefenceTalkTaiwan said it detected 24 Chinese military aircraft near the island on Sunday as a Canadian warship passed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait. It was the first Canadian naval vessel to transit the waterway this year, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said, and came days after two US ships made the passage. The United States and its […]https://www.defencetalk.com/taiwan-detects-24-chinese-aircraft-as-canadian-ship-transits-waters-80532/
  
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• ‘You don’t see the trauma until suddenly you do’: Lockerbie bombing’s lasting impact on a ‘normal little town’

  16-02-2025 15:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Ongoing trials, documentaries and dramatisations mean the Scottish town remains in the spotlight, willingly or notAt the end of a row of tidy redbrick bungalows in the Scottish town of Lockerbie is an empty plot, carefully landscaped now as a memorial garden. Two red tartan ribbons, tied on a leafless branch perhaps in private remembrance, flutter in a wintry gust.Eleven of the street’s residents died when the wing section of Pan Am 103 crashed into Sherwood Crescent with the force of a me
  
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• MI5 gave courts false evidence about ‘abusive’ neo-Nazi agent, judge rules

  12-02-2025 20:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Informant on far right was alleged to have attacked his partner but claimed his status put him above the lawA high court judge has found that MI5 gave false evidence to three courts as it faced scrutiny over its handling of a neo-Nazi agent alleged to have attacked his partner.The government has ordered an inquiry to determine whether the false information was deliberate and therefore a lie, or an innocent mistake, as the Security Service has told ministers it was. Continue reading...
  
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• Starmer ‘not telling truth’ over Gaza family asylum decision, claims Badenoch, after PMQs clash – as it happened

  12-02-2025 18:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Opposition leader says PM was wrong when he said that the decision was taken under the last governmentAfter PMQs there will be an urgent question in the Commons, tabled by the Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine, on “the potential security implications of the involvement of Chinese companies including Mingyang in energy infrastructure projects”. After that Dan Jarvis, the security minister, will make a statement to mark the publication of the report into Prevent’s dealings with Ali Ha
  
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• Home Office commission paid ‘incels’ to take part in study

  06-02-2025 15:21 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Hundreds of men given £20 or $20 for completing Commission for Countering Extremism surveyHundreds of men who identified as “incels” or involuntary celibates were paid by a government body to take part in a survey.Academics working for the Home Office’s Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE) gave the men £20 or $20 each for completing a 40-minute survey as part of an effort to investigate incel behaviour. Continue reading...
  
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• Misspelling of Southport killer’s name may have caused Prevent to close case, MPs told

  05-02-2025 19:21 via theguardian.com
  Review finds Axel Rudakubana’s surname was incorrect in one of three referrals to scheme to spot potential terroristsThe misspelt name of the Southport killer in the government’s database for potential terrorists may have hampered his assessment as a possible mass murderer, an inquiry has disclosed.A rapid learning review of the Prevent programme found that Axel Rudakubana’s case was closed “prematurely” after three referrals for an interest in knives and mass atroc
  
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• Keir Starmer says he wants ‘ambitious security partnership’ with EU

  03-02-2025 19:29 via theguardian.com
  
  PM says UK does not have to choose between Europe and US, before meeting EU leaders in BrusselsStarmer’s EU dinner date a big moment in tightrope actKeir Starmer has said he wants an “ambitious security partnership” with the EU, while insisting the UK does not have to choose between Europe and the US.The prime minister was speaking before meeting EU leaders in Brussels to discuss security and defence, the first time a British leader has attended a European Council meeting since
  
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• Family pays tribute to women of three generations killed in Omagh bombing

  29-01-2025 19:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Mary Grimes, Avril Monaghan, Maura Monaghan and Avril’s unborn twins died in 1998 attack, inquiry hearsA family from which women of three generations were killed in the Omagh bombing have spoken about the immeasurable pain caused by the atrocity and said they hope no other family suffers as they have.They were speaking at a public inquiry established to determine whether the attack, the worst in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, could have been prevented. Continue reading...
  
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• IS fighters in Syria could break free amid Trump aid cut, terrorism expert warns

  28-01-2025 21:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Prediction by ex M16 counter-terror director comes as security paused around two main detention facilitiesDonald Trump has thrown into doubt the security and administration of the main two detention facilities in north-east Syria that hold thousands of Islamic State fighters, the former counter-terrorism director of M16 Richard Barrett says.The state of limbo has been caused in the short term by the US president unexpectedly suspending all USAid funding for 90 days, and by long-term uncertainty
  
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• Sister of Omagh bombing victim tells inquiry about ‘mind-blowing shock’

  28-01-2025 20:14 via theguardian.com
  Paloma Abad Ramos thanks the inquiry chair for the only support her family has felt ‘for many, many years’The sister of a 23-year-old Spanish visitor killed in the devastating Omagh bomb has said the public inquiry into the atrocity is allowing the family “to close a wound that has been open for 26 years”.During the opening day of the resumed inquiry, Paloma Abad Ramos told of the “mind-blowing shock” she and her family felt in 1998 when they learned the young
  
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• Ex-Tory Brexit minister Lord Frost rejects party’s claims over Europe-wide customs scheme – as it happened

  28-01-2025 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This blog is now closed, you can read more of our UK political coverage hereQ: Are doctors able to recognise depression? And can they decide if that affects someone’s capacity to make a decision about their health?Whitty says doctors can identify depression. But he says it is harder for them to assess if that is affecting capacity.That’s where help from colleagues from psychiatry, mental health more widely, is going to be useful. But that should be good medical practice, in my view,
  
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• Southport attack: families not told for six months about killer’s Prevent referrals

  28-01-2025 15:13 via theguardian.com
  Police knew Axel Rudakubana had been referred three times after his arrest last JulyThe families of those killed or wounded in the Southport attack were not told for six months that the killer had repeatedly been referred to Prevent, the Guardian has learned.Police knew that Axel Rudakubana had been referred three times to the official scheme aiming to stop people becoming terrorists, less than 24 hours after his arrest at the scene of the atrocity on 29 July 2024. Continue reading...
  
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• Yvette Cooper to reject call to broaden extremism definition

  28-01-2025 11:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Home Office to maintain focus on Islamist and far-right threats despite report’s call for behaviour-based approachYvette Cooper will reject internal Home Office advice to potentially widen the definition of extremism to include violent misogyny and conspiracy theorists, the Guardian understands.A report commissioned in the wake of violent riots after the Southport murders last year suggests authorities should adopt a “behaviour-based and ideologically agnostic approach” to comb
  
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• Misogyny identified as breeding ground for extremism in UK, says leaked report

  27-01-2025 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The ‘manosphere’ and Hindu nationalism were also identified by report commissioned after last summer’s riotsHindu nationalism, misogyny and the “manosphere” have been identified as breeding grounds for extremism in a leaked report commissioned by Yvette Cooper after last summer’s riots.The home secretary’s “rapid analytical sprint” also dismissed claims of “two-tier policing” as a “rightwing extremist narrative”. It ar
  
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• Review to criticise Prevent over Axel Rudakubana and his interest in violence

  26-01-2025 19:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Counter-terrorism scheme should have accepted more help to deal with the Southport killer despite following policyPrevent’s assessment of the danger posed by Axel Rudakubana followed policy at the time, an official review will find but it will criticise the scheme for rejecting extra help to tackle his interest in violence.This week the government is expected to publish the review into Prevent’s handling of the three referrals of Rudakubana, the last of which was three years before h
  
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