British warships are traversing the world to the South China sea as the UK strengthens its foreign policy July 20, 2021 The expedition to the South China sea by the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is the largest display of British maritime power in a generation. The group, led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth, is complete with combat jets, two destroyers, two frigates, two replenishment vessels and a nuclear attack submarine. They are supported by HNLMS [...]
US, UK and allies accuse China of global ‘cyber sabotage’ including Microsoft hacks July 19, 2021 The United States government and a coalition of allies, including the UK and the EU, have accused China of a orchestrating a global cyber hacking campaign that included the major Microsoft attack earlier this year. A senior administration official speaking on behalf of the US government accused China’s Ministry of State Security of working with [...]
Burford Capital cashes in with £75m for role in high-profile Russian divorce battle July 16, 2021 Partners at Burford Capital, the City firm that backed the ex-wife of a Russian billionaire in her High Court divorce battle, have been paid £74.6m for their role in the high profile case. The financier, which funds claimants in legal disputes with the aim of taking a cut of any settlement, told the London Stock [...]
Websites run by notorious Russia-linked ransomware gang go offline July 14, 2021 Websites run by REvil, a notorious Russia-linked ransomware gang, have disappeared from the internet, according to multiple media reports. On Tuesday, monitors said a payment website and a blog run by the group became unreachable. REvil has in the past been blamed for numerous attacks on hundreds of businesses worldwide. The reason for the sites [...]
UK still ‘deeply concerned’ over treatment of human rights in Belarus July 13, 2021 The UK has again voiced its concerns over Belarus’ treatment of human rights today, following the hijacking of a Ryanair plane in May. “The United Kingdom remains deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Belarus,” the UK’s ambassador to the United Nations and World Health Organisation in Geneva, Simon Manley, said. “Tightening the laws [...]
Concerns grow as North America experiences warmest June on record July 7, 2021 North America experienced its warmest June to date with several cities in the U.S. and Canada recording a full 5 degree Celsius temperature rise above previous records, according to EU Earth observation program Copernicus. Despite a slew of rain and cloud in the UK last month, it was the second warmest June on record for [...]
US companies targeted in Russian-linked cyber-attack July 3, 2021 200 US businesses have been targeted by Russian-linked cyber-criminal groups in a “colossal” ransomware attack, a cyber-security firm announced on Friday. Huntress Labs said the attack hit Florida-based IT company Kaseya and spread through its corporate networks that use its software. Kaseya said it was investigating a “potential attack”. Russia-linked hackers REvil were the perpetrators of [...]
Russian military targeted UK and US passwords in wide-ranging hacking campaign July 1, 2021 Russian military hackers ran a campaign to steal and compromise the passwords of people employed in sensitive jobs at hundreds of companies and organisations worldwide, including US, UK and European government and military agencies, US and British national security officials said earlier today. They also targeted a range of political parties, government offices, defence contractors, [...]
Putin’s annual press conference: No World War 3 if UK navy ship had sunk June 30, 2021 Russian President Vladimir Putin’s massive annual question-and-answer session with members of the public took place earlier today. Responding to one question, Putin downplayed the idea that the confrontation between Russian forces and a British navy warship last week could have sparked World War Three, even if the situation had turned out differently. Watch the full [...]
Should EM investors be worried about tapering? June 30, 2021 In our latest Economic and Strategy Viewpoint we brought forward our expectations for Federal Reserve (Fed) policy tightening. We still think that the current bout of inflation in the US will prove to be largely transitory. However, the strength of the US economic recovery means that we now expect underlying price pressures to build next year such [...]