Category: 2. World

Thousands of Afghans brought to safety in the UK have had their personal data exposed, after a Ministry of Defence (MoD) sub-contractor suffered a data breach.

The names, passport information and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) details of up to 3,700 Afghans have potentially been compromised after Inflite The Jet Centre, which provides ground-handling services for flights at London Stansted airport, suffered a cyber-security incident.

It comes just a month after it was a revealed another major data breach in 2022 exposed the details of almost 19,000 people who had asked to come to the UK in order to flee the Taliban.

The government said the incident “has not posed any threat to individuals’ safety, nor compromised any government systems”.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that any data has been released publicly.

The Afghans affected are believed to have travelled to the UK between January and March 2024, under a resettlement scheme for those who worked with British troops.

An email sent out by the Afghan resettlement team on Friday afternoon warned their families that personal information may have been exposed.

“This may include passport details (including name, date of birth, and passport number) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) reference numbers,” it said.

Those affected also include British military personnel and former Conservative government ministers, the BBC understands.

A government spokesperson said: “We were recently notified that a third party sub-contractor to a supplier experienced a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access to a small number of its emails that contained basic personal information.

“We take data security extremely seriously and are going above and beyond our legal duties in informing all potentially affected individuals.”

Inflite The Jet Centre said in a statement it believes “the scope of the incident was limited to email accounts only” and has reported it to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The BBC has contacted the ICO for comment.

Professor Sara de Jong from the Sulha Alliance charity that supports Afghans who worked for the British Army called the breach “astonishing”.

“The last thing that Afghans – who saved British lives – need is more worries about their own and their families’ lives,” she said.

Prof de Jong also urged the MoD to commit to expediting all pending cases of Afghans waiting for relocation.

The incident follows a February 2022 incident in which the personal data of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to move to the UK under the Arap scheme was mistakenly leaked by a British official, leading to thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK.

The leaked spreadsheet contained the names, contact details and some family information of the people potentially at risk of harm from the Taliban.

That incident was made public for the first time in July.

BBC’s Newsnight programme has meanwhile spoken to the son of a senior commander in the Afghan “Triples” elite special forces who worked with the British Army and was part of the original MoD data breach.

The senior commander was promised sanctuary in the UK and, at the time of the interview, he and his family were staying at a hotel in Pakistan awaiting relocation.

The senior commander faced imminent deportation back to Afghanistan, Newsnight reported, after local authorities raided his Islamabad hotel.

The commander’s son, who managed to hide from the authorities and speak to the BBC, said his family would not survive if they returned to Afghanistan after their personal details were leaked.

“Please help my family and avoid their murder by the Taliban,” the commander’s son said, in a plea to the British government.

On Friday, after the interview, Newsnight learned the senior commander was deported back to Afghanistan.

In response to news of the deportation, the MoD said in a statement that it was “honouring commitments” to all eligible people who pass their relevant checks for relocation.

“As the public would rightly expect, anyone coming to the UK must pass strict security and entry checks before being able to relocate to the UK.

“In some cases people do not pass these checks,” it said.

Speaking on Newsnight, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, former UK national security adviser, called both breaches “deeply embarrassing” for the British government.

He added that while checks for relocation are necessary, it falls to the British government to “honour the commitment they made”.

“We do need to move faster to protect people who genuinely are at risk of being victimised and persecuted by the Taliban if they go back,” he said.

Also on Newsnight, former Conservative Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said the data breaches were “very serious” and “really concerning” for people facing deportation back to Afghanistan.

FROM THE moment he stepped off his plane onto the red-carpeted tarmac, Vladimir Putin’s trip to Alaska was a triumph. He was greeted with applause from his host, Donald Trump. The two men may have had nothing to announce after hours of talks—the first meeting between a Russian and American president since the invasion of Ukraine—but the encounter at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage transformed Mr Putin from a pariah of the West into an honoured guest on American soil.

IN the midst of the Gaza genocide, Israel has announced plans to build more illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that would effectively seal the fate of the already moribund two-state solution.

The Zionist state’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich — one of the most extreme anti-Palestine voices in the ruling set-up — announced on Thursday that the Israeli regime planned to go ahead with the so-called E1 scheme in the West Bank. He added that the plan would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”, observing that it was “Zionism at its best”.

Perhaps it is because many of Israel’s Western friends have, in reaction to the Gaza holocaust, said they would recognise a Palestinian state, that Tel Aviv has taken the extreme move. A UN official has termed the settlement plan a potential war crime. But at least Mr Smotrich should be ‘credited’ with dropping the pretence and describing Tel Aviv’s actual plans: the full occupation of Palestinian land, and obliteration of the Palestinian identity.

It is moves like these that have fuelled Palestinian resistance over the past several decades. Hamas’ Oct 7 operation — though the targeting of non-combatants is unacceptable — was, in fact, a Palestinian ghetto uprising against the chokehold of Zionist rule. It is wrong to assume that the people of Palestine are fighting their occupiers due to some inbuilt hatred of Jews; the fact is that Jews had been living in the holy land for centuries with Muslims.

The Palestinians resist because since the Nakba, they have watched their land devoured by foreign settlers, their children slaughtered, their men and women humiliated. Plans such as the two-state solution have failed as there has been no real desire on the Israeli side to create a viable Palestinian state. Tel Aviv has always sought to maintain its colonial rule over the Palestinians, while giving them minimal powers and moth-eaten territory. Gaza is already burning; the West Bank may explode in rebellion next if the settlement plan goes ahead. Little can be expected of the international community, which has shamefully watched mass murder and starvation unfold in Gaza. Mr Smotrich said that his sinister scheme has the backing of Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. This is the crux of the problem, as Israel’s crimes cannot be stopped as long as Tel Aviv has America’s blessings to wreak havoc.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2025

KISHTWAR: Rescuers pulled bodies from mud and rubble after the latest deadly flood to crash through a Himalayan village killed 60 people and washed away many more in India-occupied Kashmir on Thursday night.

Torrents of water and mud driven by intense rain tore through Chisoti village, leaving many people missing, including Hindu pilgrims who were visiting a shrine.

Officials said a large makeshift kitchen in Chisoti, where more than 100 pilgrims were staying, was completely washed away by what the occupied state’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reported was a sudden “cloudburst” rain storm.

Arun Shah, 35, had just completed his pilgrimage with his family when the flood struck.

“It was horrifying”, he said, speaking by telephone from a hospital in Kishtwar district, where Chisoti is located.

“Boulders and a rush of water came down from the mountain. We all got separated while trying to save ourselves,” he said.

Kotwal, who heads a hospital, said more than 100 people were brought in after the disaster.

“Most of the injured had head injuries, fractured bones and ribs,” Kotwal said, adding that “bodies are still being retrieved from under the mud and rubble”.

Heavy earthmovers were brought to the disaster area to dig through deep mud.

The Indian army’s White Knight Corps said its troops, “braving the harsh weather and rugged terrain, are engaged in evacuation of injured”.

Emergency supplies, inclu­ding ropes and digging tools, were being brought to the disaster site, with the army supporting other rescue teams.

Floods and landslides are common during the June-September monsoon season, but experts say climate change, coupled with poorly planned development, is increasing their frequency, severity and impact.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2025

BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem vowed on Friday to fight government plans to disarm his group, with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accusing him of making “unacceptable threats to unleash civil war”.

Qassem gave a televised address after meeting Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, whose country has long backed the Lebanese group.

Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year’s confrontation with Israel, and the Lebanese government — under US pressure — has ordered the army to draw up a plan to disarm the group by the end of the year.

Iran has also suffered a series of setbacks, most recently in its own war with Israel, which also saw the United States strike its nuclear facilities.

“The government is implementing an Ameri­can-Israeli order to end the resistance, even if it leads to civil war and internal strife,” Qassem said.

“The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues, occupation persists, and we will fight it… if necessary to confront this American-Israeli project no matter the cost.”

He urged the government “not to hand over the country to an insatiable Israeli aggressor or an American tyrant with limitless greed”, adding the state would “bear responsibility for any internal explosion and any destruction of Lebanon”.

Prime Minister Salam later denounced the remarks, saying on X that they “constitute an implicit threat of civil war”.

He added that “any threat or intimidation related to such a war is totally unacceptable”.

Salam also hit back at Hezbollah’s characterisation of the disarmament push as an American-Israeli effort.

“Our decisions are purely Lebanese, made by our cabinet, and no one tells us what to do,” he said.

“The Lebanese have the right to stability and security… without which the country will not be able to recover, and no reconstruction or investment will take place.”

Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military before last year.

It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal in order to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2025

US President Donald Trump called his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin productive but indicated that a path to end the war had still not been finalized, adding that he would speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and tell him to make a deal.

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the summit Trump said that there were a few sticking points remaining after his discussion with Putin, even as he cautioned that the two had not reached a deal, and shifted his focus to Zelenskiy, saying it was up to him to resolve the war.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin lavished praise on each other but offered no details of their nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska on Friday, with the US president saying “great progress” but no deal had been made on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal. I will call up Nato … I’ll of course call up [Ukraine’s] President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting,” he said.

Putin, speaking through an interpreter, described Trump’s efforts on Ukraine as “precious” and suggested the two leaders had hammered out “an understanding”. He urged Europe to “not throw a wrench in the works” and “not use backroom dealings” to torpedo it.

As the press conference ended, Putin suggested their next meeting might take place in Moscow and dozens of reporters shouted questions in vain. The US president, who can typically never resist a free-wheeling press conference, left the stage without answering any of them.

Here are the key US politics stories at a glance:

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No deal after brief Trump-Putin talks on Ukraine in Alaska

Donald Trump left more questions than answers on Friday as he claimed “great progress” in his high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin, but said that no deal had been reached to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“I believe we had a very productive meeting,” the US president said at a joint press conference in Anchorage, Alaska. “There were many, many points that we agreed on.”

_{Read the full story}

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Washington DC and White House agree to scale back Trump ‘takeover’ of city police

White House officials and attorneys for Washington DC have agreed to scale back the Trump administration’s takeover of the city’s police department.

Under an agreement announced early Friday evening, the US capital city’s metropolitan police department will remain under the control of its chief, Pamela Smith, instead of Terry Cole, the top administrator for the Drug and Enforcement Administration, according to reports.

_{Read the full story}

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Trump says Xi told him China will not invade Taiwan while he is in office

The US president, Donald Trump, has said that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office.

“He told me, ‘I will never do it as long as you’re president’. President Xi told me that and I said, ‘Well, I appreciate that’, but he also said, ‘But I am very patient and China is very patient’,” Trump said.

_{Read the full story}

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Obama praises Texas Democrats as state legislature ends special session

Texas lawmakers adjourned their first special session without passing new congressional maps on Friday – though Greg Abbott, the state’s governor, has said he will immediately call another session – and Democratic lawmakers signaled they are likely to return to the state.

Former president Barack Obama spoke to the Texas Democrats via video, praising them for fighting against the redistricting plan. He told them they should return to Texas “feeling invigorated” and with the knowledge that they helped lead what will be a long fight. Former attorney general Eric Holder also joined the call.

_{Read the full story}

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Republicans accepted more than $105m from big oil

The Republican lawmakers who voted for Donald Trump’s anti-environment tax and spending bill have accepted more than $105m in political donations from the fossil fuel industry, a new analysis has found, raising concerns about their relationship with big oil.

_{Read the full story}

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Scrutiny on officials for raising river water level for Vance’s birthday

The US Secret Service and US military engineers are facing scrutiny after Adam Schiff, the California senator, demanded they answer questions about the Trump administration’s recent decision to change the water level of a lake in Ohio to facilitate a family boating trip for the vice-president, JD Vance, on his birthday.

_{Read the full story}

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What else happened today:

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Catching up? Here’s what happened on 14 August 2025.