Latest news with #RoyalHollowayUniversityofLondon
Daily Mirror
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Expert gives definitive answer on Meghan Markle's use of HRH title
Meghan Markle has 'blurred' the lines when it comes to using her HRH title, according to an expert, amid a furious row. Controversy has grown over Meghan's use of HRH after it emerged she sent a gift basket to make-up entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima last year, with a monogrammed card reading: 'With Compliments of HRH The Duchess of Sussex'. Jamie showed an image of the present in footage of her podcast interview with Meghan which she released on Monday. As part of their Megxit negotiations with the Palace, Meghan and Harry agreed to stop using "Her Royal Highness" and "His Royal Highness" at the end of March 2020. They still retain the styles, with Harry having had his since birth, but they are essentially held in abeyance, as is the case for Prince Andrew, who also no longer uses his HRH style. The duchess's representative denied on Monday that the couple used them, but a source said on Tuesday that the Sussexes did not use HRH publicly but retained the style, and did not use it for commercial purposes. But according to constitutional expert Craig Prescott from Royal Holloway University of London, Meghan can use the title - but it is somewhat of a grey area. He explained to the Mirror: "Clearly when they stepped back from royal duties, one of the agreements was that they would not use these HRH titles but they still retained them. "That's because to strip them of their HRH titles is a little bit complex and maybe the Palace didn't want to do that and to sort of keep the door open. If we remember they were stepping back for a year and then there would be a review. "So they still have their HRH titles and the formulation was that they would not use this in an official capacity so that commercial activities don't have a royal seal of approval. "In that sense, this was a personal message and so she could and I don't think there is anything legally to prevent her from using this in a personal capacity. I think what is unusual about this is that it has come out in the open - and it's that blurring of the personal and the private. "But this is a friend, with whom she is doing a public appearances with so that's really where the controversy lies. You would have thought that discretion being the best part of valour, you would not use it in a way that could easily become public." In January 2020, the late Queen issued a statement after Harry and Meghan announced they wanted to step down as senior royals, saying that "together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family". Buckingham Palace outlined "the new arrangement" for the "next chapter" in Harry and Meghan's lives. It included the statement: "The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the royal family." No documents were signed or laws passed, but the decision was seen as a blanket ban, with no suggestion that Harry and Meghan were permitted to use the style privately. And it could have been the nature of how Harry and Meghan quit royal duties that meant there was no formal action in removing their HRH titles, as Mr Prescott explained: "To revoke a HRH you would have to pass a letters patent and the palace didn't want to do that because again i think there was always the possibility at the very least that they were coming back. Now that seems as unlikely as ever. "Your concern is maybe that now there is no indication they are going to come back, is there any indication they are going to push against that gentlemen's agreement so to speak and maybe start to use this HRH a little bit more? That will be the concern I think from the palace's point of view."
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Interconnectivity: the cornerstone of the European electricity network
Interconnected electricity networks -- the cornerstone of the European system and designed to improve security of supply -- made it possible to contain the massive power outage on the Iberian peninsula. "The grids are interconnected, which is common as it helps to manage the export and import of electricity, hence, improving the reliability of supply," said Onyema Nduka, senior lecturer in power sustainability at Royal Holloway University of London. But he added: "While electricity outages are rare in European countries they are possible, as the events in Portugal and Spain have shown. "Ideally, redundancies are built into the system such as having multiple supply points, backup generators sited at different locations, interconnected wires, cables, etc." Grazia Todeschini, reader in engineering at King's College London, said Europe has "the largest synchronous electrical grids in the world", supplying over 400 million customers in 32 countries and most of the EU. "This allows power exchange between countries but under very special and extreme situations it may mean that outages may propagate across different countries," she added. That happened on Monday, when the outage in Spain also hit its neighbour Portugal. The Iberian peninsula, situated at the edge of the European electricity network, is by its location an "electricity peninsula". Spain and France, which are separated by the Pyrenees, have had an interconnection capacity of 2.8GW since 2015, with plans to increase that to 5 GW by 2028. Spain is also interconnected with Morocco via a 700MW line. The stability of electricity networks "is related to a very close balance between electricity generation and demand", said Todeschini. "Some measures exist to limit the impact of outages to small areas but when the power unbalance is too large, these outages may spread very quickly and very far." - Extremely rare event - According to French high-voltage network operator RTE, Spain saw a loss of 15GW of production in a matter of seconds, leading to a nationwide outage. RTE immediately mobilised to help Spain via interconnectors between the two countries, allowing it to gradually input up to 2GW into the Spanish network depending on local demand. To tackle such situations, RTE explained that protocols have been put in place, with several manual and automatic "defence barriers" implemented to handle all possible situations, from limiting the spread of an incident to restoring power to consumers in the event of a black-out. On Monday, RTE activated automatic security measures which cut the interconnectors, isolating the Iberian peninsula and stopping the instability from spreading to central Europe, said Rystad Energy, which specialises in energy research. "France's role in the crisis was critical," it added. "The sudden drop in Iberian demand forced the country to temporarily reduce generation output and re-route its energy flows," it added. Notably, that included a shut-down of the Golfech nuclear power plant in southwest France at about the same time as the outage in Spain and Portugal. "Once stability was partially restored to Spain, France resumed limited exports to assist with recovery," Rystad added. On Monday, the Iberian network was automatically disconnected from the European network from 1038 to 1130 GMT, when the electricity line between France and Spain was restarted, RTE said. The network then took several hours to be completely restored, area by area, in Spain and Portugal. "What's certain is that cooperation and interconnections between France and Germany and between RTE... enabled and facilitated, through cooperation, the faster recovery of electricity consumption in Spain," said French energy minister Marc Ferracci on RTL radio. dlm/abb/jco/phz/cw
Int'l Business Times
29-04-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Interconnectivity: The Cornerstone Of The European Electricity Network
Interconnected electricity networks -- the cornerstone of the European system and designed to improve security of supply -- made it possible to contain the massive power outage on the Iberian peninsula. "The grids are interconnected, which is common as it helps to manage the export and import of electricity, hence, improving the reliability of supply," said Onyema Nduka, senior lecturer in power sustainability at Royal Holloway University of London. But he added: "While electricity outages are rare in European countries they are possible, as the events in Portugal and Spain have shown. "Ideally, redundancies are built into the system such as having multiple supply points, backup generators sited at different locations, interconnected wires, cables, etc." Grazia Todeschini, reader in engineering at King's College London, said Europe has "the largest synchronous electrical grids in the world", supplying over 400 million customers in 32 countries and most of the EU. "This allows power exchange between countries but under very special and extreme situations it may mean that outages may propagate across different countries," she added. That happened on Monday, when the outage in Spain also hit its neighbour Portugal. The Iberian peninsula, situated at the edge of the European electricity network, is by its location an "electricity peninsula". Spain and France, which are separated by the Pyrenees, have had an interconnection capacity of 2.8GW since 2015, with plans to increase that to 5 GW by 2028. Spain is also interconnected with Morocco via a 700MW line. The stability of electricity networks "is related to a very close balance between electricity generation and demand", said Todeschini. "Some measures exist to limit the impact of outages to small areas but when the power unbalance is too large, these outages may spread very quickly and very far." According to French high-voltage network operator RTE, Spain saw a loss of 15GW of production in a matter of seconds, leading to a nationwide outage. RTE immediately mobilised to help Spain via interconnectors between the two countries, allowing it to gradually input up to 2GW into the Spanish network depending on local demand. To tackle such situations, RTE explained that protocols have been put in place, with several manual and automatic "defence barriers" implemented to handle all possible situations, from limiting the spread of an incident to restoring power to consumers in the event of a black-out. On Monday, RTE activated automatic security measures which cut the interconnectors, isolating the Iberian peninsula and stopping the instability from spreading to central Europe, said Rystad Energy, which specialises in energy research. "France's role in the crisis was critical," it added. "The sudden drop in Iberian demand forced the country to temporarily reduce generation output and re-route its energy flows," it added. Notably, that included a shut-down of the Golfech nuclear power plant in southwest France at about the same time as the outage in Spain and Portugal. "Once stability was partially restored to Spain, France resumed limited exports to assist with recovery," Rystad added. On Monday, the Iberian network was automatically disconnected from the European network from 1038 to 1130 GMT, when the electricity line between France and Spain was restarted, RTE said. The network then took several hours to be completely restored, area by area, in Spain and Portugal. "What's certain is that cooperation and interconnections between France and Germany and between RTE... enabled and facilitated, through cooperation, the faster recovery of electricity consumption in Spain," said French energy minister Marc Ferracci on RTL radio.
Al Jazeera
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
How drones killed nearly 1,000 civilians in Africa in three years
The use of drones by several African countries in their fight against armed groups is causing significant harm to civilians, according to a new report. More than 943 civilians have been killed in at least 50 incidents across six African countries from November 2021 to November 2024, according to the report by Drone Wars UK. The report, titled Death on Delivery, reveals that strikes regularly fail to distinguish between civilians and combatants in their operations. Experts told Al Jazeera that the death toll is likely only the tip of the iceberg because many countries run secretive drone campaigns. As drones rapidly become the weapon of choice for governments across the continent, what are the consequences for civilians in conflict zones? Is it time for the world to regulate the sale of drones? What explains the surge in drone acquisitions by African nations? The report highlights how the number of African nations acquiring armed drones, specifically Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) drones, has increased dramatically in recent years. Since 2022, at least 10 African countries have obtained these weapons with governments justifying their purchases as a means to combat rebellions and security threats. However, the reality on the ground has often been different with many strikes leading to mass civilian casualties, raising concerns about human rights violations. Cora Morris, the report's author, said drones have been marketed as an 'efficient' and modern way to conduct warfare with minimal risk to military personnel. But in reality, that's not always true as civilian casualties have mounted. Morris said drones 'significantly lower the threshold for the use of force, making it much easier for armies to deploy munitions without risk to their own forces'. 'The result of this has been a grave civilian toll,' she told Al Jazeera. The proliferation of drones has also been fuelled by geopolitical shifts as African governments seek greater military self-reliance and turn to new suppliers willing to sell without stringent conditions. Michael Spagat, head of the department of economics at Royal Holloway University of London, sees the trend as primarily driven by economics. 'Buying drones has become a cheap way for states to acquire significant firepower. Drones have the additional advantage that attackers don't have to worry about pilots getting killed,' Spagat told Al Jazeera. 'You don't have to invest in training people you might lose.' He also said this trend is likely just at its beginning. 'Some countries may still be getting up to speed on the use of their drones, and at some point, we'll start hearing about nonstate groups using potent drones,' he warned. 'These are still fairly advanced technologies, but I doubt it will stay like this forever,' he added. While the report primarily examines the consequences of the use of drones in Africa, it also touches on the key suppliers fuelling this surge. Turkiye, China and Iran have emerged as the dominant exporters, the report found, and supply a range of drone systems to African nations. Morris said the role of actors like Turkiye and China, which have been willing to supply drones 'relatively cheaply with little concern for how they are to be used', means that these weapons have proliferated rapidly in the past few years, particularly to states fighting armed groups. Which countries were investigated? The report identifies six key nations where the use of drones has had a particularly deadly impact: Sudan Drones have been used extensively in Sudan's ongoing civil war with reports of strikes hitting civilian infrastructure, including markets and residential areas. Both warring sides – Sudan's military and its Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group – have used drones. The country has long been a battleground for drone warfare, primarily driven by operations targeting al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab. However, civilian deaths have been alarmingly frequent, raising concerns over the precision and intelligence behind these strikes. The United States military's Africa Command has conducted hundreds of air strikes in Somalia that it said targeted al-Shabab fighters but also ended up killing civilians in so-called collateral damage. Nigeria The Nigerian government has employed drones in its fight against Boko Haram and other armed groups. Yet there have been multiple instances of strikes on civilians, including in December 2023 when a drone attack hit a group of people observing a Muslim celebration in Tudun Biri in Kaduna State. Burkina Faso Conflict in Burkina Faso began to intensify around 2015 as armed group activity spilled over from neighbouring Mali. It is part of a wider regional crisis in the Sahel. Mali Both Mali and Burkina Faso have ramped up their use of drones against armed groups. But these strikes have repeatedly resulted in civilian casualties. Ethiopia The Ethiopian government has increasingly relied on drones in its fight against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Multiple strikes on refugee camps and marketplaces have led to widespread condemnation. Human rights organisations and the United Nations have decried the lack of accountability. What have been some of the deadliest strikes? The impact has been devastating with several strikes leading to significant losses of civilian lives. Among the most tragic incidents documented in the report are: Nigeria, December 2023: The drone strike in Tudun Biri village meant to target fighters from an armed group instead hit a crowd of Muslims observing the holiday celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, killing 85 people. A government statement said the civilian toll was the result of an incorrect analysis. Ethiopia, 2022-2023: An attack in October 2022 on residents in Oromia's Ofu Bekke village killed at least 86 people. The report said government forces had intensified drone attacks after a growing number of Oromo Liberation Army fighters were reported in the area. It added that in the weeks that followed the initial attack, at least a dozen further drone strikes were carried out on the Oromia region with casualties reported in at least 10 of these strikes. Somalia, March 2024: Two drone strikes that hit southern Somalia's Jaffey Farm and nearby Bagdad village killed at least 23 people in an incident that drew a widespread outcry and calls for accountability. Families of the victims described the incident as a massacre while a statement by Somalia's government claimed all who were killed were 'terrorists', refusing to acknowledge harm done to civilians, according to the report. Burkina Faso, August 2023: A drone strike by the Burkinabe military hit a market in Bouro village, killing at least 28 people. The incident is just one that exposes 'erratic bombings of innocent communities which sow only further destruction and insecurity', the report said. Sudan, September 2023: A drone attack on the Goro market in Khartoum killed at least 46 people. Reports and witness statements suggested the attack was carried out by drones or military aircraft believed to be affiliated with Sudan's military. Morris said there is 'an obvious unwillingness to properly investigate claims of civilian casualties', adding that 'the mounting scale of civilian harm worldwide betrays a wholesale failure to take seriously the loss of civilian life. 'This is altogether more brazen where the use of drones is concerned with a concerning normalisation of civilian death accompanying their proliferation,' she said. Does the sale of drones require better oversight and regulation? The report emphasises the urgent need for greater oversight and regulation of drone use amid a rapid expansion of drone warfare worldwide. In the past 10 years, the number of countries operating drones has gone up from four to 48, according to the report. It said three main international arms control agreements currently apply to the export of armed drones but they all have 'significant weaknesses'. In its recommendations, the report's author urged the international community to move rapidly towards establishing a new international control regime focused on the prevention of harm arising from the proliferation of armed uncrewed systems. Morris and Spagat agreed that drone warfare is only going to expand. 'I do think that the use of drones is going to grow quite substantially and possibly proliferate to nonstate groups,' Spagat said.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Diplomat Charles: UK king's role in Trump-Ukraine tightrope act
From showing solidarity with Volodymyr Zelensky to inviting US President Donald Trump for an historic state visit, Britain's diplomatic drive over Ukraine has a surprising pivotal figure: King Charles III. The UK head of state may be politically neutral, but that has not stopped the Labour government from calling upon him three times in recent days to aid international diplomacy efforts. Charles helped smooth Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to the White House last week before separately welcoming Zelensky and Canadian leader Justin Trudeau to his country retreat in Norfolk. "It's slightly unusual, but I think it's a very good use of the royals," professor Pauline Maclaran at Royal Holloway University of London said of the flurry of meetings. "Their big asset is this soft power that they can provide, and I think it was much needed at this time," the royal expert told AFP. The 76-year-old monarch appears all-too-happy to play his part, as Britain's diplomatic blitz over Ukraine sees it emerge from the wilderness of the post-Brexit years to take its place again on the world stage. "It has been six days of royal diplomacy at its most delicate, deliberate and nuanced," a royal source briefed UK media on Monday. The source added that Charles "is very conscious of his responsibility globally, regionally and nationally -– and passionately engaged in all the detail". "As a global statesman and a head of state for both the UK and Canada, the king's role is highly significant, and his majesty is determined to play his part, within appropriate parameters," the source added. Buckingham Palace never shares information about what is discussed during the monarch's meetings, but the source said his role "is to offer symbolic gestures, rather than express comment". The symbolism was plain to see in the Oval Office last week when Starmer brandished a signed letter from Charles inviting Trump to become the first leader in history to undertake a second state visit to Britain. In front of the TV cameras a beaming US president read the invitation, said it would be an "honour" to accept, and declared the king "a beautiful man, a wonderful man". - 'Masterstroke' - That set the tone for a friendly meeting between Starmer and Trump that was devoid of any verbal fireworks. "It was a little bit of a masterstroke," said Maclaran, adding that the king's invitation was "to impress Trump, to show him the greatest respect, and to ease the way for Starmer to negotiate with him". Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, agrees that the gesture helpfully played to Trump's ego. "He wants to feel big and important, and we can do that" with a state visit, she told AFP. Charles's next diplomatic endeavour was much less flashy but sent an equally strong message, the analysts say. On Sunday, he warmly welcomed Zelensky to his Sandringham Estate in eastern England just two days after Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukraine's leader in the Oval Office. According to royal watchers it cleverly symbolised solidarity with British ally Zelensky, but in a low-key way so as not to offend the thin-skinned Trump. "The royal family was giving their legitimacy to Zelensky at a time where he really needs it with Trump," said Aspinall. For Maclaran, it helped portray "equal respect" to both leaders at a time when Britain is trying to bridge the divide between the United States on one side, and Europe and Ukraine on the other. Charles is Canada's head of state and Trudeau said he was going to use Monday's meeting to talk about defending Canada's sovereignty, as Trump repeatedly calls for it to become the 51st US state. It is custom that the monarch acts only on the advice of the prime minister in matters involving the Commonwealth nation but some Canadians have asked why the king has not spoken out in defence of Canada. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams says Charles must remain wary of becoming too involved in diplomacy due to the unpredictability of the Trump era. "It's not only the complexities, it's the speed at which it moves. It's very confusing and he's got to be very, very careful," Fitzwilliams told AFP. pdh/jkb/yad
