World more volatile and dangerous than at any time since Cold War, Rishi Sunak warns on trip to Europe

Published

1 year ago

April 24, 2024

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Rishi Sunak warned the world is now “more volatile and dangerous” than at any time since the Cold War, as the prime minister embarked on a trip to Poland and Germany to discuss the threat of expansionist Russia and refocus the world’s eyes back on to Ukraine.

Speaking to journalists on the flight over to Poland, the prime minister said we were “unfortunately living in a world that is more dangerous than we’ve known it in decade, probably more dangerous than the end of the Cold War”, adding that this was why it was “important in that we do invest more in our defence and that’s what we’ve been doing”.

“My first priority is to keep people safe, and you’re right, I have been honest with people that the world is less safe than it has been in decades and my job, indeed my obligation, is to invest to keep the country safe, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Announcing a further £500m of military support being sent to Ukraine – taking the UK’s total support this year to £3bn – the prime minister told journalists he was “proud” the UK had led on supporting Ukraine and also told European allies it was “important” for Europeans to invest in security in these volatile times.

“We’re stepping up because that is what the situation demands and requires,” he said.

Politics latest: Rwanda bill finally clears parliament

“And if we are joined by other European partners in that it is important that Europeans invest in their own security,” he told Sky News.

“[It was] very welcome news over the weekend from the US, but that doesn’t take away from the need for Europeans to invest in their security.

“I am very proud that the UK has always led in that regard. We are Europe’s largest defence spender and one of the few countries that’s consistently met the 2% NATO pledge and today’s action is another example of us leading by example.”

The prime minister is joined on this trip by his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, raising expectations that the prime minister might be making a bigger funding commitment on defence as he comes back on to the world stage. He will meet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over the next 24 hours.

The UK on Monday committed its largest ever donation of kit, including more than 400 vehicles, more than 1,600 missiles and 4m rounds of ammunition to the Ukraine war effort as Russia makes inroads.

“They have asked and we have answered,” said the prime minister as he warned that Mr Putin “will not stop at the Polish border” if Russia defeats Ukraine.

But having raided the UK’s arsenal to send to equipment to Ukraine, the next obvious question is whether the prime minister will finally lift the UK’s defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in the face of the growing threat of Russia and China.

The drumbeat is getting louder with two ministers last month – Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Tom Tugendhat – publicly urging the government to invest at a “much greater pace”.

The chancellor has said spending above the 2% NATO target would rise to this figure “as soon as economic conditions allow”.

The House of Commons spending watchdog – the Public Accounts Committee – has warned the gap between the Ministry of Defence budget and cost of the UK’s desired military capabilities has risen by £16.9bn – the largest deficit ever – despite a promised injection of over £46bn over the next decade.

Fresh from victory on the passing of his landmark Rwanda legislation and emphatic that a regular rhythm hour of flights will be taking off from July, the trip to Europe is part of a publicity blitz as the embattled prime minister looks to get on the front foot ahead of next week’s local elections, aware that a disastrous night could put him not just back on to his heels but into free fall.

Kyiv’s weapons pile has been depleted, with a $60bn military aid package held up in the US Congress for months. The House of Representatives finally approved the funding at the weekend, with the deal now awaiting approval in the Senate, which should mean American weapons should start flowing into Ukraine in the coming days.

Politics

Justin Sun to attend Trump’s dinner with memecoin backers

Published

2 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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<div>Justin Sun to attend Trump's dinner with memecoin backers</div>

After weeks of speculation among crypto enthusiasts and news outlets, Tron founder Justin Sun has claimed he owns the wallet that purchased the largest amount of Donald Trump’s memecoin, allowing him to qualify for a dinner and reception with the US president.

In a May 19 X post, Sun said he had received an invitation to attend Trump’s dinner at his golf club outside Washington, DC, as part of a reward for the top 220 memecoin holders. The Tron founder claimed he controlled the top wallet on the TRUMP token leaderboard under the username “Sun,” which held roughly $19 million worth of the memecoin at a price of $13.20.

According to Sun, he plans to network at the May 22 memecoin dinner, “talk crypto,” and “discuss the future” of the industry. It’s unclear why the Tron founder chose to announce his planned presence at the event now, when the leaderboard was finalized on May 12.

Cointelegraph reached out to a spokesperson for Sun for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Politics, Donald Trump, Corruption, Justin Sun, Memecoin — *Source:* *Justin Sun*

Though not a surprise to many who speculated that Sun was the individual behind the memecoin purchases, his attendance at the dinner only deepens his ties to the Trump administration and the president’s family. In addition to the dinner for the 220 tokenholders, Trump said he would hold a reception and “VIP tour” for the top 25 wallets on the leaderboard.

Sun spent $75 million on tokens through World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform backed by Trump’s three sons, including a $30 million investment a few weeks after the 2024 election. The Tron founder is also an adviser to the company.

Before Trump won the November election, Sun had been facing a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed in 2023 over the alleged “orchestration of the unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting of crypto asset securities.” In February, roughly a month after Trump took office and appointed Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair of the SEC, the regulator and Sun jointly filed a motion for a federal judge to stay the case, which was granted.

Memecoin’s potential conflicts of interest are affecting Congress

Sun’s and others’ involvement in Trump’s crypto ventures has prompted calls for investigations and oversight among many Democratic lawmakers, who argued that some individuals could use digital assets to essentially purchase influence with the president. The concerns initially slowed progress on a bill to regulate stablecoins in the Senate, the GENIUS Act, complicated by World Liberty Financial’s own stablecoin, USD1. The chamber voted to move forward on the bill on May 19, a few hours before Sun’s announcement.

“How convenient: the day after the Senate advances the GENIUS Act, Justin Sun — a major investor in the Trump family crypto venture — announces he’s getting a private dinner as the president’s top crypto buyer,” said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, according to Bloomberg. “It’s critical that everyone understands the GENIUS Act doesn’t stop this type of corruption — it greenlights it.”

At a May 20 oversight hearing, Maryland Representative Glenn Ivey questioned SEC Chair Paul Atkins on Sun’s case being stayed, as well as his investments in World Liberty Financial and Trump’s memecoin. Though the case was stayed before Atkins was sworn in as chair, Ivey expressed concern about the timeline between Sun’s investments and the SEC not pursuing its own enforcement action.

The memecoin dinner applicants are likely still subject to background checks before meeting Trump in person. As of May 20, those planning to attend included Kronos Research chief investment officer Vincent Liu, Hyperithm co-CEO Oh Sangrok, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, a consultant named Vincent Deriu, crypto user Morten Christensen, a World Liberty Financial adviser going by the pseudonym “Ogle,” and a representative from the startup MemeCore.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Politics

Shouts of ‘genocide’ in Commons as David Lammy denounces Israel’s ‘intolerable’ actions in Gaza

Published

5 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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Shouts of 'genocide' in Commons as David Lammy denounces Israel's 'intolerable' actions in Gaza

The foreign secretary has denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza as “intolerable” but stopped short of saying it had committed genocide.

MPs could be heard shouting “genocide” in the Commons chamber as David Lammy announced the government was suspending its trade negotiations with Israel and summoning Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, to the Foreign Office.

The UK has also sanctioned a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank which it says have been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians – including Daniella Weiss, a leading settler activist who was the subject of Louis Theroux’s recent documentary The Settlers.

Politics latest: Starmer says sorry for being ‘overly rude’ at PMQs

Israel immediately criticised the UK government actions as “regrettable” and said the free trade agreement talks, which ministers have now backed out of, were “not being advanced at all by the UK government”.

Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, said: “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”

Mr Lammy’s intervention came in response to Israel ramping up its latest military offensive in Gaza and its decision to limit the amount of aid into the enclave.

Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly” imposing inhumane conditions on Palestinians by blocking aid from entering Gaza more than 10 weeks ago.

He also told the UN’s security council last week that it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim that Israel has vehemently denied.

Speaking in the Commons, the foreign secretary said the threat of starvation was “hanging over hundreds of thousands of civilians” and that the 11-week blockade stopping humanitarian aid reaching Gaza was “indefensible and cruel”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to allow a limited amount of aid into the besieged enclave in response to global concern at reports of famine.

Mr Lammy said Mr Netanyahu’s govenrment was “isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world”.

“We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict,” Mr Lammy added.

“Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”

Referring to one of the far-right ministers in Mr Netanyahu’s government, he said Bezalel Smotrich “even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what’s left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries”.

MPs from across the house shouted “genocide” as Mr Lammy said: “We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

In the Commons, a number of Labour MPs urged the government to go further against Israel.

Yasmin Qureshi, the Labour MP for Bolton South and Walkden, said there needed to be a “full arms embargo” and said: “Can I ask the foreign secretary what additional steps he’s going to be taking in order to stave off this genocide?”

Another Labour MP told Sky News that while the statement was “better than previously…without a concrete timeline and a sanctioning of responsible ministers, it’s hard to know what tangible difference it will make.”

Israeli officials have said its plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely. – which would move the civilian population southward – will help it achieve its aim of defeating Hamas.

Israel also believes the offensive will prevent Hamas from looting and distributing humanitarian aid, which it says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu has defended Israel’s actions in Gaza and reacted angrily to a joint statement penned by the leaders of the UK, France and Canada, in which they urged Israel to end its military offensive in Gaza and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid allowed into the enclave.

The Israeli prime minister said: “By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities.

“No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won’t. This is a war of civilisation over barbarism. Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”

Politics

SEC crypto task force to release first report ‘in the next few months’

Published

6 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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<div>SEC crypto task force to release first report 'in the next few months'</div>

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Paul Atkins appeared before lawmakers in one of his first hearings since becoming chair of the financial regulator, addressing questions about his plans for the cryptocurrency industry.

In a May 20 hearing discussing oversight of the SEC, Atkins reiterated his pledge to make regulating digital assets a “key priority” while chair. In response to questions from North Carolina Representative Chuck Edwards, the SEC chair did not directly answer how much of the regulator’s funds were used to support the crypto task force headed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, and said its findings were “still under development.”

“We should be having something here in the next few months with proposed steps forward,” said Atkins in response to the task force’s first report.

Cryptocurrencies, Government, SEC, United States — *Paul Atkins at a May 20 SEC oversight hearing. Source:* *House Appropriations Committee*

The SEC chair’s appearance at the oversight hearing was one of his first since being sworn into office in April. Nominated by Donald Trump, Atkins, also a former commissioner, was seen by many lawmakers and those in the digital asset industry as someone who could radically change the SEC’s approach to crypto.

Looking to Congress for help with regulatory clarity

Atkins’ remarks came less than 24 hours after US Senators voted to move forward on consideration of a bill to regulate stablecoins, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act. The bill is one of many related to aspects of digital assets that could affect how the SEC regulates the industry alongside agencies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“Whatever happens in Congress […] that will help undergird what we do,” said Atkins.

Since being sworn into office in April, the SEC chair has given opening remarks and overseen the commission’s roundtable events on digital assets. The next event, scheduled for June 9, will have SEC commissioners and industry leaders discuss issues related to decentralized finance.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered