‘Don't underestimate Putin — he can take out life as we know it'
Britain must not be 'complacent' about Russia's degraded military capability because President Putin can 'take out life as we know it', according to a former adviser for Donald Trump.
Dr Fiona Hill, who helped craft the UK's strategic defence review, said the Russian leader operates in the 'dark zone' and had many other assets at his disposal aside from troops and conventional weapons.
She warned Russia could engage in 'massive sabotage operations' such as attacking underwater cables delivering critical communications, jamming GPS signals, or taking out satellites.
'There are all kinds of things they can do without mobilising more manpower. They can take out life as we know it,' she warned, as she brushed aside suggestions that Moscow did not currently pose a threat after
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Daily Mail
31 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Hundreds of Marines enter LA ahead of mass protest... but their mission is not what you'd expect
Marines were seen standing guard outside a federal building in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon as they started to take over the post from National Guard members after protests erupted last week over immigration raids and President Donald Trump deployed the troops to the city. Major General Scott Sherman, the commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 combined troops, said the Marines finished training on civil disturbance and are starting their operations by replacing Guard troops guarding the Wilshire Federal Building, which houses several federal offices. Guard soldiers can then be assigned to protect more law enforcement agents on raids, Sherman said. About 200 Marines out of the 700 deployed to the protests are in the city, Sherman said. It's unclear if the Marines will eventually provide security on raids. At 12:30pm, two Marines were seen standing at the entrance to the 17-story Wilshire Federal Building, wearing combat gear and carrying rifles as they mingled with Guard members, who have been checking IDs of people entering the parking lot. It is the same building that Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla on Thursday was forcefully removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference and handcuffed by officers as he tried to speak up about the immigration raids. As the Trump administration targets migrants around the country for detainment and deportation, the raids have led to the arrests of asylum-seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court. The Marines are taking their posts a day after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge's order that had directed Trump to return control of Guard troops to California, shortly after a federal judge had ruled the Guard deployment was illegal, violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump's statutory authority. Some 2,000 Guard troops have been in the city since last week. Some have provided protection to immigration agents making arrests. Another 2,000 Guard members were notified of deployment earlier this week. None of the military troops will be detaining anyone, Sherman said. 'I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities,' Sherman said. 'Rather, they'll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel.' Roughly 500 Guard members have been used to provide security on immigration raids after undergoing expanded instruction, legal training and rehearsals with the agents doing the enforcement before they go on those missions. An 8pm curfew has been in place in a 1-square-mile section of downtown. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 500 square miles. Protests have ended after a few hours with arrests this week largely for failure to disperse. On the third night of the curfew, officers with the Department of Homeland Security deployed flash bangs to disperse a crowd that had gathered near a jail, sending protesters sprinting away. As with the past two nights, the hours long demonstrations remained peaceful and upbeat, drawing a few hundred attendees who marched through downtown chanting, dancing and poking fun at the Trump administration's characterization of the city as a 'war zone.' The protests began last Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades. Elsewhere, demonstrations have picked up across the US, emerging in more than a dozen major cities. Some have led to clashes with police, and hundreds have been arrested. Demonstrations are expected over the weekend in cities across the United States, and governors are weighing what to do should Trump send troops to other states for immigration enforcement. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called the troop deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty' and a power grab by Trump, and he has gone to court to stop it. The president has cited a legal provision that allows him to mobilize federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' Under federal law, active-duty forces are prohibited by law from conducting law enforcement. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 Guard members on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they may deploy troops. A group of Democratic governors earlier signed a statement this week calling Trump's 'an alarming abuse of power.' The Trump administration has said the troops are necessary to protect federal officers and quell unrest. In Los Angeles, troops work in shifts, and the public is likely to only see a few hundred out at a time, Sherman said. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests. There have been about 500 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police In LA troops work in shifts, and the public is likely to only see a few hundred out at a time So far, the protests have been centered mostly downtown near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests. There have been about 500 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department. There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Former Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt becomes a dame
A former Cabinet minister who played a prominent role during the King's coronation becomes a dame in Charles' Birthday Honours. Penny Mordaunt said it was 'lovely to be appreciated in this way' and she was 'feeling very grateful'. Her profile was boosted by her sword-carrying role as Lord President of the Council during the 2023 coronation ceremony. Dressed in a custom-made teal outfit with matching cape, and headband with gold feather embroidery, as Lord President of the Council she was responsible for bearing the Sword of State and presenting the Jewelled Sword of Offering to the King, the first time the duty had been carried out by a woman. Dame Penny told the PA news agency: 'It is lovely to be appreciated in this way, and I'm very conscious that everything I have ever got done has been with the help and efforts of others. 'So I'm feeling very grateful on many counts today.' The former defence secretary and Commons leader was widely seen as a potential Tory leader until she lost her seat at last year's general election. In Westminster she had twice challenged for the Conservative leadership, losing to Liz Truss and then pulling out of the race against Rishi Sunak, but her hopes of making it third time lucky were dashed when she lost her Portsmouth North seat. But she still harbours hopes of staging a political comeback by returning to the Commons. Sir Mark Tami, who has served as a Labour whip since 2010, has also been awarded a knighthood. The MP for Alyn and Deeside told the PA news agency that it is a 'great, great honour'. 'When I was told I was shocked,' he said. 'I think most people probably are. It's a great great honour and I'm very very pleased.' Meanwhile, Newcastle MP Chi Onwurah becomes a dame, and told PA she was 'totally overwhelmed and surprised' when she found out. 'I grew up on a council estate in Newcastle in a one-parent family,' Dame Chi said. 'I never thought about being made a dame, as you can imagine.' She said she would be 'really proud' to accept it 'on behalf of my constituents'. Other Westminster figures given honours include Sir Philip Barton, the former top civil servant at the Foreign Office, who becomes a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George. He was heavily criticised for failing to return from holiday while Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021, as MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee said they had lost confidence in him and suggested he should consider his position. But he remained in post as permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office until standing down in January this year. Former Conservative health minister Maria Caulfield becomes a CBE and said she was 'really surprised'. She told the PA news agency that she has returned to work as a nurse since losing her Lewes seat at last year's general election, and 'when I read the letter I couldn't have been more surprised'. She added: 'It's nearly a year since the general election so I'd kind of forgotten really about politics and that side of things.' She said that she was 'really lucky' to have been able to focus on women's health during her time as a minister and was now doing 'gynae cancer research […] doing the hands-on work rather than the policy work'. Among the changes brought in while Ms Caulfield was in office was the introduction of the baby-loss certificate and the HRT prescription prepayment certificate. 'It's really nice to see that's being recognised and the team that helped us achieve all of that are to thank for a lot of that hard work,' she said
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Reform's Zia Yusuf: My Doge-like mission on behalf of the taxpayer
Asylum seekers have been taken trampolining, bowling, to the cinema and on shopping sprees, including to a store selling luxury hair extensions, according to Reform's anti-waste council team. Auditors styled on Elon Musk's Doge (Department of Government Efficiency) said the trips out and other spending at JD Sports and PC World cost taxpayers more than £24,000 between April 2022 and December. The claims were made about Kent county council as part of Reform UK's drive to inspect accounts at ten local authorities of which it won control in May. Zia Yusuf, who is running Reform's Doge unit, said he was concerned that some local authority bosses were treating taxpayers as 'their own personal piggy bank'. He signalled a crackdown on spending on LGBT Pride events set to take place in June and vowed to make payments to contractors for filling potholes. A team of 15 auditors has been assembled by Reform, all working nearly full-time for free. After meetings began with the council earlier in June, Yusuf said his unit had uncovered 'profligate' spending. Up to 3,000 staff at the council can work from home, Yusuf said, but his questions about how laptops were monitored to ensure productivity were met with 'filibustering'. An initial trawl of documents showed that 'civil servants are spending taxpayer money like it's their own personal piggy bank', Yusuf said. Transport for children with special educational needs (Sen) was also identified by Yusuf as an inefficient system. Councils must provide payments for taxis or bus services if the child lives more than a set distance from their nearest suitable school. Costs have risen significantly for local authorities — the County Councils Network estimates that the number of children requiring transport funding has risen by a quarter since 2019. Yusuf said: 'I've been doing some analysis already with some of the team on looking at these contracts and zooming in on how much it is costing per mile to take these kids to school. In most cases, it's somewhere between seven and 15 times the cost of an Uber ride.' Yusuf said he wanted to 'really fight for the taxpayer here and say 'it doesn't make sense, the taxpayer shouldn't be paying seven to 12 times more'. ' He said some councils could save 'tens of millions of pounds'. Yusuf said he recently met a mother whose three children all have Sen and go to the same school but are taken in three cars. 'She just thinks it's really wasteful,' he said. He stressed that 'if you're a parent with a child with Sen, then you've got nothing to fear from a Reform council', adding it was an example of how he wanted to 'deliver better services for lower marginal costs'. Action on 'vanity projects' was also signalled by Yusuf. When asked whether councils should spend money organising Pride events, he said it was up to elected representatives where to spend money — but added: 'Speaking to our councillors, I think you're going to see a lot of those things either reduced materially or cut completely … The bar for spending taxpayers' money should be ridiculously high. And those are essentially vanity projects.' Auditors have started to ask councils for full lists of staff job titles in an attempt to avoid them 'hiding' diversity, equity and inclusion roles, Yusuf said. Whistleblowers have also come forward to reveal spending Yusuf deemed wasteful. They included council workers who told him that when their laptop screen broke, they were told to have it repaired, which cost double that of buying a new one. Contract competitiveness was highlighted by Yusuf as another area of concern. He said Reform's auditors were using artificial intelligence to comb through thousands of pages of successful tenders. Too often only one firm bids and therefore automatically wins the contract, providing little in the way of competition and value for money, he said. Terms can also last for more than 20 years. 'When Nasa awarded SpaceX its space exploration contract, that was six years because you want to create accountability,' Yusuf said. 'If you give someone a 25-year contract, there's no accountability. And then you wonder why our roads are so undriveable and potholes never get repaired.' While Yusuf admitted that some of the spending criticised by Reform's Doge team was 'relatively small' in the grand scheme of council budgets, he said it was still 'egregious' and had caused the social contract to start 'fraying at the edges'. A pothole-filling pilot scheme will be set up at several councils. Yusuf said contracted firms were often paid a day rate with 'no specific deadline' and used 'Iron Age' pickaxes that delayed completion. 'We're going to run pilots and demonstrate we can massively reduce the marginal cost of repairing potholes, and then provide that as a blueprint for everybody,' he said. Audits of council finances will be replicated at the national level if Reform wins the Welsh or Scottish parliament elections next year. 'We're going to bring that to every corridor of power that Reform wins,' Yusuf said. Reform has come under criticism from political rivals for the manner of its audits. Opponents have said Nigel Farage's party will have few areas to make cuts because many council spending commitments are based on statutory requirements to deliver services. There have also been two by-elections announced for Reform councillors elected in May, leading critics to claim they are a waste of taxpayers' money. After a return to Reform last week 48 hours after he resigned as chairman, Yusuf confirmed he was 'very open' to standing as an MP and said being in parliament 'allows you to have greater impact'. He left open the possibility of vying to be Farage's pick for a potential future chancellor and said he would 'leave such decisions to him'. Yusuf was unfazed by the fact that Reform raised less than the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the first quarter of the year. He stressed that much of the party's income was from £25 membership fees and added about some perspective donors: 'Some of them are, I think, a bit deluded in thinking that the cadaver of the Conservative Party might somehow be resuscitated.' Some Tory MPs are in discussion with Reform about potentially defecting, Yusuf said, but he warned that their time was running out. He said the party would need some people with experience of working in government and taking on 'the blob' in Whitehall but 'the bar is extremely high … Why would we want a Johnny-come-lately in 2028-29 when we've got amazing people who are completely new to politics'. Kent county council was contacted for comment.
