Thẻ: UK

Singapore Unravelling the secret files of Separation: Declassified

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Channelnewsasia.com It is an image etched in the minds of generations – the black-and-white footage of Lee Kuan Yew blinking back tears on Aug 9, 1965.  But what else lay behind that seminal moment and the familiar story of Singapore’s separation from Malaysia? Over five months, we sifted through hundreds of declassified files in the archives of Singapore, the United Kingdom and Australia. These were telegrams marked “top secret” – unvarnished correspondence between British officials; private and frank memos between leaders; and raw, very personal letters perhaps never meant for public eyes. Some of what we found in the archives was jaw-dropping.
A letter from the night before separation by the British High Commissioner, described how he raced to find the Tunku, pleading for a postponement of the announcement. There were reports about threats to arrest Lee,  and later, a communist plot to assassinate him. We found a letter in which an Indonesian diplomat expressed “glee” at the separation, mocking Malaysia with an “I told you so”. And perhaps even more shocking to us, the revelation that the British had secretly stored nuclear weapons at Tengah Air Base as part of its Cold War strategy.
The challenge wasn’t finding material but narrowing it down. We focused on the 100 days surrounding independence. Our litmus test for a “must-include” point? If it made us text each other with a “OMG, read this”. But at the heart of the series is the people behind the letters and behind the history-making decisions – their anxieties, their doubts, their feelings of humiliation and betrayal. And decades on, the poignancy of their children and grandchildren reading the words they had written. We hope Separation: Declassified lets you see a familiar story anew – not as a chapter in a textbook, but as lived, human history. Yuxin Peh and Clarisse Goh Producers, Separation: Declassified

The mathematics of starvation: how Israel caused a famine in Gaza

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theguardian.com

Israel controls the flow of food into Gaza. It has calculated how many calories Palestinians need to stay alive. Its data shows only a fraction has been allowed in

Emma Graham-Harrison Chief Middle East correspondentThu 31 Jul 2025 15.49 BSTShare

The mathematics of famine are simple in Gaza. Palestinians cannot leave, war has ended farming and Israel has banned fishing, so practically every calorie its population eats must be brought in from outside.

Israel knows how much food is needed. It has been calibrating hunger in Gaza for decades, initially calculating shipments to exert pressure while avoiding starvation.

Palestinians crowd at a lentil soup distribution point in Gaza City, among them children and women holding pot and pans

“The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,” a senior adviser to the then prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said in 2006. An Israeli court ordered the release of documents showing the details of those macabre sums two years later.

Cogat, the Israeli agency that still controls aid shipments to Gaza, calculated then that Palestinians needed an average minimum 2,279 calories per person per day, which could be provided through 1.836kg of food.

Today, humanitarian organisations are asking for an even smaller minimum ration: 62,000 metric tonnes of dry and canned food to meet basic needs for 2.1 million people each month, or around 1kg of food per person per day.

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Watch The British-Soviet Invasion of Iran (1941)

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briliantmap.com

The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran (Operation Countenance) occurred in August 1941, during World War II.

The invasion was carried out jointly by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, aiming primarily to secure Iranian territory against Axis influence and protect critical supply routes.

Here’s a comprehensive overview:

Lead-Up and Reasons

Strategic Importance:

  • Iran had a strategically critical position, particularly as a transportation corridor between the Allies and the Soviet Union.
  • Iranian infrastructure, notably the Trans-Iranian Railway, offered a route for delivering vital supplies from the Allies (mostly Britain and the U.S.) to the USSR following Germany’s invasion (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941.

Iranian Position and Axis Influence:

  • Although officially neutral, the Iranian ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi sympathized with Germany, partially due to historical rivalry with Britain and Russia.
  • Germany had established substantial diplomatic and commercial influence in Iran, with many German nationals working in strategic industries, raising fears of espionage and sabotage among the Allies.

Diplomatic Tensions:

  • Britain and the Soviet Union demanded Iran expel German nationals perceived as threats; Iran hesitated or refused, increasing Allied suspicions and tension.

Invasion: Operation Countenance

Date and Execution:

Began on August 25, 1941, when British forces advanced from the south and west, while Soviet forces attacked from the north.

Rapid military operations overwhelmed Iran’s defenses, which were relatively weak and poorly equipped compared to the invading powers.

Key Events:

  • British forces captured key oil fields in Khuzestan (Abadan), securing critical petroleum resources.
  • Soviet troops quickly took control of northern provinces, including major cities such as Tabriz and Mashhad.
  • Air and naval superiority allowed quick suppression of Iranian resistance.

Iranian Response: The Iranian army, despite fighting briefly in several locations, was rapidly overwhelmed, with significant casualties but limited overall resistance.

Tehran quickly realized the futility of resistance and began negotiations.

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Hereditary nobles have sat in Britain’s Parliament for centuries. Their time may be up

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FILE – Members of the House of Commons and Lords during the State Opening of Parliament, in the House of Lords, in London, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP, File)Read More

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FILE – Member of the House of Lords take their seats in the Lords Chamber, ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, in the Houses of Parliament, in London, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Henry Nicholls/POOL via AP, File)Read More

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By  JILL LAWLESSUpdated 3:48 AM GMT+7, October 16, 2024Share

LONDON (AP) — Like his ancestors for centuries, the Earl of Devon serves in Parliament, helping to make the laws of the land. But not for much longer.

British lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve in principle a bill to strip hereditary aristocrats of the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords after more than 700 years. The Labour Party government says the decision will complete a long-stalled reform of Parliament’s upper chamber and remove an “outdated and indefensible” relic of the past.

“In the 21st century, there should not be places in our Parliament, making our laws, reserved for those who are born into certain families,” Constitution Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said Tuesday as he opened debate on the bill in the House of Commons.

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British workers unite in largest strike in a generation

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Al Jazeera English – 2-2-2023

Up to half a million British teachers, civil servants, train drivers and university lecturers have walked off their jobs to demand better pay and working conditions in the largest coordinated strike action in a generation as wages fail to keep pace with soaring inflation.

About 300,000 people on strike on Wednesday are teachers, according to the Trades Union Congress.

Teachers at schools across England and Wales formed picket lines as they called for higher salaries in demonstrations that have divided public opinion.

Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba reports from the British capital, London.

The Brexit effect: how leaving the EU hit the UK

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The Brexit effect: how leaving the EU hit the UK | FT Film

Financial Times – 18-10-2022

The UK’s recent disastrous “mini” Budget can trace its origins back to Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. The economic costs of Brexit were masked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. But six years after the UK voted to leave, the effect has become clear. In this film, senior FT writers and British businesspeople examine how Brexit hit the UK economy, the political conspiracy of silence, and why there has not yet been a convincing case for a ‘Brexit dividend’.

Họ tưởng chúng tôi là con nít

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TƯỜNG ANH 25/08/2022 06:17 GMT+7

TTCT – Hơn 1.000 tác phẩm văn học đã bị đưa khỏi chương trình hoặc loại khỏi danh sách đọc bắt buộc của sinh viên nhiều đại học Anh.

Họ tưởng chúng tôi là con nít - Ảnh 1.

Hơn 1.000 tác phẩm văn học đã bị đưa khỏi chương trình hoặc loại khỏi danh sách đọc bắt buộc của sinh viên nhiều đại học Anh. Trong số này có các kiệt tác của William Shakespeare, Charles Dicken, Jane Austen, Charles Bronte… và cả của những tác giả hiện đại mà sách của họ vừa được vinh danh, theo tường thuật hôm 10-8 của The Times.

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Too little, too late? Britain introduces rules to protect tech firms from overseas takeovers

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TECH

PUBLISHED FRI, NOV 13 202010:19 AM EST UPDATED FRI, NOV 13 202012:10 PM ESTSam Shead@SAM_L_SHEAD CNBC

KEY POINTS

  • The U.K. government has rolled out new rules to protect Britain’s innovative companies from being snapped up by other nations.
  • But is it too little, too late? Arm was sold to Japan’s SoftBank in 2016 and DeepMind was sold to Google in 2014.
  • Even though DeepMind and Arm are no longer British in some people’s eyes, there are a number of other fast-growing tech companies that very much are.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving a statement in Downing Street in central London on April 27, 2020 after returning to work following more than three weeks off after being hospitalized with the Covid-19 illness.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving a statement in Downing Street in central London on April 27, 2020 after returning to work following more than three weeks off after being hospitalized with the Covid-19 illness.DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS

LONDON – The U.K. government introduced new rules this week that are designed to protect Britain’s best and brightest companies from being gobbled up by other, potentially hostile, nations.

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UK truck deaths: How Vietnam is still a hotbed of people traffickers

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Three years after Al Jazeera uncovered Vietnamese human trafficking practices to the UK, the business is still going strong.

by

UK police have charged the truck's 25-year-old driver with 39 counts of manslaughter [Hannah McKey/Reuters]
UK police have charged the truck’s 25-year-old driver with 39 counts of manslaughter [Hannah McKey/Reuters]

It was a terrifying way to die. The grim discovery of 39 people found frozen to death inside a container at the back of a truck in southern England earlier this month is a stark reminder of the risks people will take in search of a better life.

Police initially believed all the dead were Chinese citizens but more than 20 Vietnamese families, almost all from the same region, have since expressed fears that their loved ones were among the victims. Some say almost all of the 39 victims were Vietnamese.

British police have charged the truck’s 25-year-old driver with 39 counts of manslaughter.

The regular and highly dangerous smuggling of people from Vietnam to the United Kingdom was revealed in a 2016 Al Jazeera documentary.

Britain’s Modern Slave Trade revealed that Nghe An province – where families held a vigil for the truck victims last week – is a hotbed of people traffickers.

In one of Vietnam’s poorest regions, criminal gangs often exploit young people who are desperate to go to Western Europe and send money back to their families. Tiếp tục đọc “UK truck deaths: How Vietnam is still a hotbed of people traffickers” →

UK condemned for deporting survivors of trafficking back to Vietnam

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ 1 bình luận

The Guardian

Activists say British authorities are failing to identify and protect victims who have been trafficked to the UK as slaves, many of them children

Detained Vietnamese migrants who were smuggled into the UK in a van
Detained Vietnamese migrants who were smuggled into the UK in a van. Many arrive with debts of up to £25,000 for their passage. Photograph: Solent News/Rex/Shutterstock
Modern-day slavery in focus is supported by About this content

Tuesday 20 December 2016 02.00 EST

 British authorities are failing to identify and protect Vietnamese victims of trafficking who are being deported back to Vietnam without adequate support or protection, according to anti-trafficking activists.

Despite having been identified as one of the groups most vulnerable to trafficking crimes in the UK, National Crime Agency (NCA) figures shows that suspected Vietnamese trafficking victims are half as likely to be granted protection compared with other victims. Just 11% of Vietnamese referrals were accepted and offered protection last year, well below the referral average of 27%. Tiếp tục đọc “UK condemned for deporting survivors of trafficking back to Vietnam” →

UK political elite used poverty & immigration fears to secure leave vote

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BRUEGEL: The bulk of UK Leave voters come from disadvantaged areas, and perceive immigration as a threat. But significant exceptions to this trend in England and most importantly in Scotland make it hard to draw a simple causal link between wealth, immigration, and voting patterns.

BY: DATE: JUNE 29, 2016

One of the dominant explanations of the UK’s Leave vote in the EU referendum is that the most disadvantaged parts of the country voted against EU membership to express their discontent against the ruling elite, as a headline inThe Guardian recently read: ‘If you’ve got money, you vote in… if you haven’t got money, you vote out.’

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Viet Nam, UK eye further bilateral trade

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Updated  September, 12 2015 08:46:37
 LONDON (VNS)— The Vietnamese Government will create optimal conditions for British businesses to strengthen co-operation and invest in Viet Nam, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh said at the Viet Nam Economic Forum in London on Thursday.

Viet Nam was striving to finalise its market economic institutions, change its growth model and improve its competitive edge, Ninh said. The country’s economy had maintained high growth rates and curbed inflation, he said, citing the expected national gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5 per cent, the highest pace since 2011. Tiếp tục đọc “Viet Nam, UK eye further bilateral trade” →

Nợ công trong vòng xoáy lịch sử – 8 kỳ

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Climate threat as grave a risk as nuclear war

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Climate threat as grave a risk as nuclear war
By Alex Kirby

Climatenewsnetwork – An international scientific report commissioned by the UK government says the risks of climate change are comparable to those posed by nuclear conflict.

LONDON, 18 July, 2015 – The UK government says that climate change poses risks that demand to be treated as seriously as the threat  of nuclear war.

Scientists from the UK, US, India and China say in a report commissioned by the UK that deciding what to do about climate change depends on the value we put on human life, both now and in years to come. Tiếp tục đọc “Climate threat as grave a risk as nuclear war” →

Southeast Asia’s Geopolitical Centrality and the U.S.-Japan Alliance

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By Ernest Z. Bower, Murray Hiebert, Gregory B. Poling, Phuong Nguyen
JUN 11, 2015

CSIS – Building on a careful analysis of Southeast Asia’s recent history, politics, economics, and place within the Asia Pacific, this report looks forward two decades to anticipate the development of trends in the region and how they will impact the U.S.-Japan alliance. How will Southeast Asian states come to grips with the political and economic rise of China? How will they modernize their military forces and security relationships, and what role can the United States and Japan play? How will they manage their disputes in the South China Sea, and how will they pursue greater regional integration? These questions will prove critical in understanding Southeast Asia’s role in the Asia Pacific, and in the U.S.-Japan alliance, in the decades ahead.

Publisher CSIS/Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 978-1-4422-4086-5 (pb); 978-1-4422-4087-2 (eBook)
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