Parliament to be recalled next week over Afghanistan crisis – as PM calls another emergency Cobra meeting
Parliament will be recalled next week over the situation in Afghanistan, as the prime minister called a second emergency Cobra meeting later this afternoon to discuss the crisis.
MPs will return to Westminster on Wednesday to debate the government’s response to the crisis, with Taliban fighters having entered the capital Kabul after a lightning advance through the country.
Live updates on Afghanistan as government promises peaceful transition of power
The session will begin at 9.30am and will end at 2.30pm, while peers in the Lords will sit from 11am.
According to Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates, Conservative MPs have been told that there will be no virtual participation and while they are encouraged to return to Westminster, there will not be a three-line whip requiring them to do so.
MPs broke up for their summer recess on 22 July and had not been due to return until 6 September.
Calls for MPs to return to Westminster have been growing in recent days as the Taliban continues to make gains amid the withdrawal of US, UK and NATO troops.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was among those calling for such a move, saying earlier on Sunday: “The situation in Afghanistan is deeply shocking and seems to be worsening by the hour.
“The immediate priority now must be to get all British personnel and support staff safely out of Kabul.
“The government has been silent while Afghanistan collapses, which let’s be clear will have ramifications for us here in the UK.
“We need parliament recalled so the government can update MPs on how it plans to work with allies to avoid a humanitarian crisis and a return to the days of Afghanistan being a base for extremists whose purpose will be to threaten our interests, values and national security.”
Reacting to news of the recall, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News it was “extremely good news” but urged the government to act in the meantime to ensure Britons and those who have helped the UK in Afghanistan are transported out of the country.
“I suspect that this has taken so long because the government doesn’t have a clear strategy to deal with this,” she said.
“That’s what we need to hear from the prime minister this week. We need to hear that imminently.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, another supporter of the recall, told Sky News: “I think many people will be asking what this has been for.
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UK must be ‘realistic’ over Afghanistan
“There are questions that now need to be asked about the next steps. What do we do to try and give humanitarian support to those that need it.
“Many will have concerns about a potential breeding ground for terrorism and, I hate to say it, repeating some of the problems of the past.”
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, also backed calls for a recall of parliament.
He has urged Boris Johnson to hold a “crisis meeting” with party leaders “given the tragedy unfolding before our eyes and the grave threat to national security this raises”.
“It is without doubt that we face a crucial point in history and, as a nation, we must act together before it is too late,” he said.
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‘We can’t turn our back on Afghanistan’
But Rory Stewart, a Conservative former international development secretary, said he found it “very difficult to understand, I’m afraid, how this will help at this stage”.
“The focus now needs to be on refugees, and humanitarian and development assistance for the fall-out from this tragedy,” he said.
The UK is currently evacuating British nationals and local translators – with 600 troops being sent to assist with this effort.
The Home Office said it is working to “protect British nationals and help former UK staff and other eligible people travel to the UK”.
“The Home Office has already resettled over 3,300 Afghan staff and their families who have worked for the UK,” it said in a statement.
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Sky correspondent sees Taliban procession
“We will continue to fulfil our international obligations and moral commitments.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK had “reduced” its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, “but our ambassador remains in Kabul and UK government staff continue to work to provide assistance to British nationals and to our Afghan staff”.
They added: “We are doing all we can to enable remaining British nationals, who want to leave Afghanistan, to do so.”
According to The Sunday Telegraph, Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow is going to be flown out of the country by tonight.
Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who is chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was “quite clear that the battle for Afghanistan is now lost”.
“It’s been an abject defeat and the United States and United Kingdom have been routed,” he told Sky News.
“This is pretty stunning, frankly.
“It was a decision we took to withdraw and to announce that we wouldn’t be willing to fight, so perhaps it’s hardly surprising.
“What we’re now seeing is what we fought 20 years to stop, which is a Taliban victory in Afghanistan.”
The prime minister said on Friday that Britain’s sacrifices in the country were not “in vain” and that the “vast bulk” of British citizens in Afghanistan will be brought back over the “next few days”.
European Union regulators are reportedly mulling a $1 billion fine against Elon Musk’s X, taking into account revenue from his other ventures, including Tesla and SpaceX, according to The New York Times.
EU regulators allege that X has violated the Digital Services Act and will use a section of the act to calculate a fine based on revenue that includes other companies Musk controls, according to an April 3 report by the newspaper, which cited four people with knowledge of the plan.
Under the Digital Services Act, which came into law in October 2022 to police social media companies and “prevent illegal and harmful activities online,” companies can be fined up to 6% of global revenue for violations.
A spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, declined to comment on this case to The New York Times but did say it would “continue to enforce our laws fairly and without discrimination toward all companies operating in the EU.”
In a statement, X’s Global Government Affairs team said that if the reports about the EU’s plans are accurate, it “represents an unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on free speech.”
“X has gone above and beyond to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, and we will use every option at our disposal to defend our business, keep our users safe, and protect freedom of speech in Europe,” X’s global government affairs team said.
Source: Global Government Affairs
Along with the fine, the EU regulators could reportedly demand product changes at X, with the full scope of any penalties to be announced in the coming months.
Still, a settlement could be reached if the social media platform agrees to changes that satisfy regulators, according to the Times.
One of the officials who spoke to the Times also said that X is facing a second investigation alleging the platform’s approach to policing user-generated content has made it a hub of illegal hate speech and disinformation, which could result in more penalties.
X EU investigation ongoing since 2023
The EU investigation began in 2023. A preliminary ruling in July 2024 found X had violated the Digital Services Act by refusing to provide data to outside researchers, provide adequate transparency about advertisers, or verify the authenticity of users who have a verified account.
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X responded to the ruling with hundreds of points of dispute, and Musk said at the time he was offered a deal, alleging that EU regulators told him if he secretly suppressed certain content, X would escape fines.
Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner for internal market, said in a July 12 X post in 2024 that there was no secret deal and that X’s team had asked for the “Commission to explain the process for settlement and to clarify our concerns,” and its response was in line with “established regulatory procedures.”
Musk replied he was looking “forward to a very public battle in court so that the people of Europe can know the truth.”
Source: Thierry Breton
Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set
US crypto exchange Coinbase has filed with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to launch futures contracts for Ripple’s XRP token.
“We’re excited to announce that Coinbase Derivatives has filed with the CFTC to self-certify XRP futures — bringing a regulated, capital-efficient way to gain exposure to one of the most liquid digital assets,” stated Coinbase Institutional on April 3.
The firm added that it anticipates the contract going live on April 21.
According to the certification filing, the XRP (XRP) futures contract will be a monthly cash-settled and margined contract trading under the symbol XRL.
The contract tracks XRP’s price and is settled in US dollars. Each contract represents 10,000 XRP, currently worth about $20,000 at $2 per token.
Contracts can be traded for the current month and two months ahead, and trading will be paused as a safety measure if spot XRP prices move more than 10% in an hour.
“The exchange has spoken with FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) and market participants who support the decision to launch a XRP contract,” the firm stated.
Coinbase is not the first to launch XRP futures in the United States. In March, Chicago-based crypto exchange Bitnomial announced the launch of the “first-ever CFTC-regulated XRP futures in the US.”
XRP futures trading is available on many of the world’s leading centralized crypto exchanges, such as Binance, OKX, Bybit and BitMEX.
Funding rates remain negative
In late March, Cointelegraph reported that XRP derivatives’ funding rates had flipped negative as investor sentiment turned bearish.
Related: XRP funding rate flips negative — Will smart traders flip long or short?
Funding rates are periodic payments between traders in perpetual futures markets that help keep the futures price aligned with the spot price. Positive funding rates mean that long traders (buyers) pay short traders, while negative funding rates mean short traders (sellers) pay long traders.
When funding rates go negative, it means short traders are willing to pay a premium to maintain their positions, indicating strong conviction from bearish derivatives traders.
XRP funding rates remained negative on major derivatives exchanges as of April 4, according to CoinGlass.
XRP OI-weighted funding rates. Source: CoinGlass
Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set
Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao will begin advising the Kyrgyz Republic on blockchain and crypto-related regulation and tech after signing a memorandum of understanding with the country’s foreign investment agency.
“I officially and unofficially advise a few governments on their crypto regulatory frameworks and blockchain solutions for gov efficiency, expanding blockchain to more than trading,” the crypto entrepreneur said in an April 3 X post, adding that he finds this work “extremely meaningful.”
His comments came in response to an earlier X post from Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov announcing that Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency (NIA) had signed a memorandum with CZ to provide technical expertise and consulting services for the Central Asian country.
The NIA is responsible for promoting foreign investments and assisting international companies in identifying business opportunities within the country.
Source: Changpeng Zhao
“This cooperation marks an important step towards strengthening technological infrastructure, implementing innovative solutions, and preparing highly qualified specialists in blockchain technologies, virtual asset management, and cybersecurity,” Zhaparov said.
The Kyrgyzstan president added: “such initiatives are crucial for the sustainable growth of the economy and the security of virtual assets, ultimately generating new opportunities for businesses and society as a whole.”
Kyrgyzstan, which officially changed its name from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to the Kyrgyz Republic in 1993, is a mountainous, land-locked country.
It is considered well-suited for crypto mining operations due to its abundant renewable energy resources, much of which is underutilized.
Over 30% of Kyrgyzstan’s total energy supply comes from hydroelectric power plants, but only 10% of the country’s potential hydropower has been developed, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.
CZ has met with several other state officials in Asia
Malaysia also recently tapped CZ for guidance on crypto-related matters, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim meeting him personally in January.
CZ has also met with officials in the UAE and Bitcoin-stacking country Bhutan — however, it isn’t clear what those meetings entailed.
Related: Is Bitcoin’s future in circular economies or national reserves?
CZ’s latest pursuits come a little over six months after he was released from a four-month prison sentence in the US for violating several anti-money laundering laws.
Since being released, CZ has made investments in blockchain tech, artificial intelligence and biotechnology companies.
CZ also recently donated 1,000 BNB (BNB) — worth almost $600,000 — to support earthquake relief efforts in Thailand and Myanmar after the natural disaster in late April.
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