My understanding is that I am unable to mention many issues contained in this article due to secret court orders: UK judge Gags Palestine Action Defendants to Secure ‘Terror’ Stitch-Up so I won’t do that. What I will say is that the UK government and state has gone to considerable lengths to restrict the rights of Palestine Action defendants and supporters of Palestine Action persecuted for holding signs.
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The UK and Finland on Saturday condemned attacks on journalists and media workers in Lebanon, calling for urgent measures to ensure their safety, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the two countries, acting as co-chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition, said journalists play a vital role in exposing the realities of war and must be protected.
“Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war. Attacks on journalists in Lebanon, including journalist Amal Khalil killed in an Israeli strike on 22 April, are unacceptable,” they said.
“As co-chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition, the UK and Finland strongly condemn all violence directed against journalists and media workers,” the statement added.
They urged all parties, including Israeli authorities, to ensure that media workers in Lebanon can operate freely and safely.
READ: 27 journalists killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, press union says
“We call on the Israeli authorities and all other parties to make every effort to ensure that media workers in Lebanon can conduct their work freely and safely,” they said.
This came as the Lebanese Press Syndicate Editors reported that at least 27 journalists and media workers have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since March 2, with many others wounded.
The syndicate said journalist Amal Khalil was killed in an Israeli strike on Wednesday in the southern town of Tayri, while her colleague Zeinab Faraj was wounded. It added that Khalil had previously received death threats from the Israeli army.
“With her killing, the number of journalists and media workers killed has risen to 27, in addition to a large number of injured,” the syndicate said. It condemned what it described as Israel’s deliberate targeting of journalists and called on international and Arab press organizations to support Lebanese media workers.
According to Lebanon’s state news agency, Israeli forces prevented rescue teams from reaching the wounded journalists during the attack and targeted roads linking Tayri and nearby areas to block emergency access.
READ: Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/21/palantir-manifesto-uk-contract-fears-mps
The US spy tech company Palantir published a manifesto extolling the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others – in what MPs have called “a parody of a RoboCop film” and “the ramblings of a supervillain”.
“Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive,” wrote Palantir in a 22-point post on X over the weekend, which also called for an end to the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan.
The post exhorted the US to reinstate a military draft, saying that “free and democratic societies” need “hard power” in order to prevail.
It also predicted a future dominated by autonomous weapons: “The question is not whether A.I. weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose. Our adversaries will not pause to indulge in theatrical debates about the merits of developing technologies with critical military and national security applications. They will proceed.”
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It led to criticism from several MPs, who said that it raised yet more questions about the UK’s portfolio of contracts with the company. Palantir has built up more than £500m in contracts in Britain, including a £330m contract with the NHS, as well as deals with the police and Ministry of Defence. These deals have come in for increasing criticism.
“Palantir’s manifesto, which embraces AI state surveillance of citizens along with national service in the USA, is either a parody of a RoboCop film, or a disturbing narcissistic rant from an arrogant organisation,” said Martin Wrigley, a Liberal Democrat MP who is a member of the commons science and technology select committee.
“Either way it shows that the company’s ethos is entirely unsuited to working on UK government projects involving citizens’ most sensitive private data.”
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The original article is at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/21/palantir-manifesto-uk-contract-fears-mps
[Easily watched/heard at X 1.5 speed]
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj98egkl7l1o
The British government has not given permission for the US to use UK military bases to support potential US strikes on Iran, the BBC understands.
The US has in the past used RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, and the UK overseas territory of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, to carry out strikes in the Middle East region.
The Times reports that US President Donald Trump’s latest criticism of Sir Keir Starmer’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius and lease back a joint UK-US military base was prompted by the UK withholding permission to use bases.
A UK government spokesperson said: “As routine, we do not comment on operational matters.”
The US has been pressuring Iran to agree to curb its nuclear programme.
It has threatened possible strikes if it fails to do so and has moved warships, aircraft and other military assets to the region in preparation for a possible strike.
At the same time, some progress has been reported at talks between American and Iranian negotiators in Switzerland.
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Insiders believe the Pentagon’s preparations for possible strikes on Iran – which could potentially be launched from Diego Garcia – may have shifted the president’s understanding of the significance of the island, the largest in the Chagos archipelago.
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rticle continues at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj98egkl7l1o