Tobias Ellwood resigns as defence committee chair after controversial Afghanistan video
The chair of the Commons’ defence committee, Tobias Ellwood, has resigned from his role following criticism over a video he posted on social media.
The Tory MP, who had been the chair of the cross-party group since 2020, came under pressure to quit after sharing the clip on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, where he appeared to praise the Taliban’s leadership in Afghanistan.
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Four members of the committee tabled a motion of no confidence against him within days – the first time this measure to remove a committee chair had been used – and a vote was expected to take place by this Thursday.
But a source told Sky News the committee chair “resigned before he was pushed” on Wednesday.
In a statement, Mr Ellwood said he had made the decision with “deep regret” and was “proud of the hard-hitting inquiries” the committee had carried out.
“I believe I have a strong voice when it comes to defence and security,” he added. “I stand up, speak my mind, try to see the bigger picture and offer solutions, especially on the international stage, as our world turns a dangerous corner.
“I don’t always get it right – so it’s right I put my hand up when I don’t.”
The senior backbencher admitted to “poor communications” on his part over the video, saying it was “understandably criticised at the time and reflected poorly on the committee”.
He added: “Whilst I do believe I retained support of the majority of the committee, its dynamic and effectiveness would simply not be the same, and prove a distraction, if all in the room were not supportive of the chair.”
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Mr Ellwood shared the video in July showing him visiting Afghanistan, just under two years after the country was seized back by the Taliban.
Since its return, the Taliban has reinstated bans on education for girls and introduced laws stopping women from going to work, as well as outlawing women’s beauty salons and preventing women from being in public spaces, such as parks and gyms.
In the clip, the Tory MP – whose brother was killed by Islamist extremists – said the “war-weary nation” was now “accepting a more authoritarian leadership in exchange for stability”.
He urged the UK to reopen its embassy in Afghanistan – saying: “If the EU’s embassy can open up, so can ours.”
And he said: “Shouting from afar will not improve women’s rights.”
After a huge backlash from politicians, human rights campaigners and women’s groups, Mr Ellwood apologised, saying his “reflections” after a “personal visit” to Afghanistan “could have been worded better”.
But he appeared to defend some of his initial thoughts – reiterating that “our current strategy of shouting from afar, after abruptly abandoning the country in 2021, is not working”.
Mr Ellwood argued: “My simple call to action was to see our embassy reopen again and pursue a more direct strategy to help the 40 million people we abandoned.”
It is not yet clear who will replace Mr Ellwood as the committee chair.
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NHS must change policy on allowing trans people on single-sex wards, head of equalities watchdog says
The NHS must change its policy of allowing transgender people to be on single-sex wards aligned with their gender identity following the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a “woman”, the head of Britain’s equalities watchdog said.
On Wednesday, judges at the UK’s highest court unanimously ruled that the definition of a “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to “a biological woman and biological sex”.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said the ruling was “enormously consequential” and ensured clarity.
Politics latest: Supreme Court ruling should ‘draw a line’ under debate
She vowed to pursue organisations that do not update their policies, saying they should be “taking care” to look at the “very readable judgment”.
On single-sex hospital wards, Baroness Falkner told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS will “have to change” their 2019 policy, which says transgender patients are entitled to be accommodated on single-sex wards matching how they identify.
She said the court ruling means there is now “no confusion” and the NHS “can start to implement the new legal reasoning and produce their exceptions forthwith”.
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Gender ruling – How it happened
Women’s sport and changing rooms
The baroness also said trans women can no longer take part in women’s sport, while single-sex places, such as changing rooms, “must be based on biological sex”.
However, she said there is no law against organisations providing a “third space”, such as unisex toilets, and suggested trans rights organisations “should be using their powers of advocacy to ask for those third spaces”.
In 2021, Baroness Falkner came under criticism from trans and other LGBTIQ+ organisations after she said women had the right to question transgender identity without fear of abuse, stigmatisation or loss of employment.
Some EHRC staff resigned in protest of the body’s “descent into transphobia”, while others defended her, saying she was depoliticising the organisation. Her four-year term was extended for a further 12 months in November by the Labour government.
Public bodies must look at equality laws
Health minister Karin Smyth said public bodies have been told to look at how equality laws are implemented following the ruling.
She told Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast: “Obviously, public bodies have been asked to look at their own guidance.
“And we will do that very, very carefully.”
She said the court’s ruling was “very clear” about women’s rights being defined by sex, which she said “will give clarity to companies”.
But she warned against public bodies making statements “that may alarm people”, telling them to take their time to look at their guidance.
The ruling marked the culmination of a long battle between campaign group For Women Scotland and the Scottish government after the group brought a case arguing sex-based protections should only apply to people born female.
Read more:
Feminists ‘feel braver about speaking out’
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‘This ruling doesn’t affect trans people in the slightest’
Not a triumph of one group over another
Judge Lord Hodge said the ruling should not be read as “a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another”.
He said the Equality Act 2010 “gives transgender people protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender”.
Ms Smyth said those who identify as transgender “will feel concerned” after the ruling but said the Gender Recognition Act still stands and gives people who identify differently to the sex they were born in “the dignity and privacy of presenting differently”.
She said NHS policy of having same sex wards remains, but did not mention the 2019 transgender policy, and said the NHS has been looking at how to support both transgender men and women.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said the Scottish government “accepts” the judgment and said the ruling “gives clarity”.
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‘Today’s ruling only stokes the culture war further’
Trina Budge, director of For Women Scotland, said it was a “victory for women’s rights” and said the case was “never about trans rights” as transgender people are “fully protected in law”.
“It means there’s absolute clarity in law regarding what a woman is. We know for sure now that we are referring to the biological sex class of women,” she told Sky News.
“And that when we see a women-only space, it means exactly that. Just women. No men. Not even if they have a gender recognition certificate.”
Transgender woman and Scottish Greens activist Ellie Gomersall said the ruling “represents yet another attack on the rights of trans people to live our lives in peace”.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman added: “This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society.”
LGBT charity Stonewall said there was “deep concern” around the consequences of the ruling.
As Polygon lays the groundwork for mainstream Web3 adoption in India by bringing blockchain access to over 450 million Reliance Jio users, it remains focused on balancing speed, scalability and affordability, without compromising on decentralization.
Polygon is working with Jio, a telecom giant owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, to find ways to infuse blockchain technology into its existing services. The duo is currently adding blockchain-based capabilities to the JioSphere web browser, which would have been expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming via traditional methods.
“We’re building at an insane pace, onboarding massive partners, and pushing blockchain into the mainstream, but with that growth comes the responsibility to make sure we’re doing it the right way,” Polygon’s co-founder, Sandeep Nailwal, said while discussing Polygon’s India-focused initiatives with Cointelegraph.
Preserving decentralization while ensuring system scalability
“Scalability and decentralization don’t have to be either-or, and that’s exactly the balance we’re focused on at Polygon,” Nailwal said as he underscored the importance of keeping the core values of blockchain intact: security, transparency and decentralization.
At the same time, Nailwal revealed that Polygon is investing heavily in zero-knowledge technology to make scaling more seamless across the ecosystem. “The goal is to give developers and users the best of both worlds: faster, cheaper transactions without compromising trust or decentralization,” he added.
As a result of delivering the combination of low fees, fast transactions and decentralized security, Polygon is already powering some of the most active use cases in Web3, from stablecoin payments on Polygon PoS to real-world tokenization with major institutions:
“The key challenge is making blockchain as seamless and accessible as Web2 without compromising what makes it special. That’s why we’re all-in on ZK technology and Agglayer, which let us scale while keeping the ecosystem trustless and interoperable.”
Bringing blockchain tech to millions of users
According to Nailwal, a one-size-fits-all approach does not work when onboarding 450 million users from India’s diverse population. “We’ll be working closely with Jio to develop use cases that truly resonate with their users, and gradually onboard them onto the chain based on these real-world applications,” he added.
Nailwal said that developers never have to compromise on the fundamentals, as Polygon’s infrastructure can scale without sacrificing what makes blockchain powerful in the first place:
“What excites me most is that we’re moving beyond technical discussions about blockchain to solving real problems for real people. These are the use cases that will drive the next wave of adoption.”
“At the end of the day, it’s about more than just technology. We’re here to create a decentralized future that billions of people can actually use. And while that’s a massive challenge, it’s also what excites me the most,” Nailwal said.
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Real-world problem solving will drive the next wave of adoption
Rising threats driven by artificial intelligence tools, including deepfakes and other misinformation campaigns, are another use case blockchain technology can help solve. Nailwal said that the escalating threat of misinformation and growing consumer insistence on trusted sources will eventually result in an uptick of blockchain-based verification tools.
Additionally, Nailwal highlighted the growing relevance of Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market, in mainstream finance and reporting. “Polymarket’s success is exactly what we’ve been working toward,” he said, adding:
“Prediction markets are proving to be incredibly valuable tools for finance, risk assessment, journalism and even governance. They pull in insights from a wide range of sources, often making them more reliable than traditional polling.”
Nailwal is placing his full bet on blockchain’s immutable nature to transform economic forecasting, policy-making and journalism, among others.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is involved in discussions on establishing strategic digital asset reserves with several countries, its CEO, Richard Teng, reportedly said.
Binance has been advising multiple governments on establishing strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserves and formulating crypto asset regulations, Teng said in an interview with the Financial Times on April 17.
“We have actually received quite a number of approaches by a few governments and sovereign wealth funds on the establishment of their own crypto reserves,” Teng told the FT.
Teng did not identify any countries but said that the United States is “way ahead on that front.”
US fuels global crypto reserve spree
According to Teng, the main reason for governments approaching Binance for help in handling potential strategic reserves is the new crypto-friendly agenda in the US.
Teng referred to key US crypto policy developments, such as discussions around creating a national Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile. Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve seeded with BTC forfeited in federal criminal and civil cases.
While governments of Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan have announced collaboration with Binance and former CEO Changpeng Zhao on crypto regulations in the past few weeks, none of the jurisdictions mentioned crypto reserve plans on their agenda.
Binance shifts stance on headquarters
As Binance deepens its involvement in efforts to help countries set up crypto reserves and regulations, it appears to have shifted away from its no-formal-headquarters approach under Zhao.
According to Teng, Binance is “working very hard” on plans for a global headquarters for the exchange.
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“It requires serious deliberation and the board and the senior management are spending a lot of time doing the evaluation,” Teng reportedly said, adding: “Hopefully we are able to announce our intentions on that front.”
In 2019, Zhao said that offices and headquarters are “old concepts like SMS and MMS.”
The shift comes as more jurisdictions adopt clearer frameworks for regulating crypto businesses. Binance was subject to heavy scrutiny and investigations by multiple governments in 2020.
Cointelegraph approached Binance for comment regarding its crypto policy collaboration with governments worldwide, but had not received a response by the time of publication.
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