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- Experts warn Putin may compel Belarus to engage in Ukraine conflict
- Nicolas Sarkozy defends against allegations of Libyan campaign funding
- Alabama petitions Supreme Court for approval of rejected congressional map
- Adam Candeub emerges as top candidate for DOJ antitrust division role
- India records first suspected Ebola case in woman returning from Uganda
- GCHQ chief warns of AI weaponisation amid rising Russian cyber threats
- Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn in Texas Republican Senate runoff
- Poll shows Latino voters increasingly disillusioned with Trump and Democrats ahead of midterms
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Global Reaction to DE Elections
Experts warn Putin may compel Belarus to engage in Ukraine conflict
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Get you up to speed: ‘Serious possibility’ Putin could drag Belarus into Ukraine war | News World
Vladimir Putin is reportedly pressuring Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to join the conflict in Ukraine, amidst ongoing military infrastructure developments in Belarus. Ukrainian officials have stated that Russia is enhancing its military capabilities in Belarus, raising concerns of an imminent invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine has identified ongoing military infrastructure developments in Belarus, including new roads and artillery positions along its northern border. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies reports that Russia’s military casualties since February 2022 have reached approximately 1.2 million, highlighting the conflict’s severe toll.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated that Ukraine is “war-gaming scenarios” involving Belarus potentially launching strikes towards Chernihiv and Kyiv, with Western leaders closely monitoring the situation. In response to the escalating threat, Ukraine continues to prepare for possible further military actions, while the Ministry of Economic Development in Russia warns of at least two more years of economic stagnation due to the war’s consequences.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain how the growing pressure on Lukashenko may affect Belarus’s potential involvement in the conflict.
Experts warn Putin may compel Belarus to engage in Ukraine conflict
The war has costly Russia dearly on the battlefield and economically over the past four years (Picture: EPA)
There is a ‘serious possibility’ that Belarus could invade Ukraine, dragging another European country into the ongoing conflict, an expert has warned
Vladimir Putin is said to be ‘actively pressuring’ Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko to enter the war on his side, according to UK Defence Journal editor George Allison.
He spoke days after Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, held major joint nuclear drills in Belarus.
At the same time, work on infrastructure which would be key to an invasion, like roads and artillery positions, has been ongoing in the former Soviet state along its border with northern Ukraine for months.
All this has sparked fears that Belarus, whose leader has been closely aligned with Putin for decades, is prepared to go beyond vocally supporting Russia to take an active part in the conflict.
Speaking from around 50 miles (70km) from the Belarusian border, Allison told WTX: ‘Ukraine has warned repeatedly this year that Russia is building up military infrastructure in Belarus, including new roads and artillery positions along the northern border.
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Russia and Belarus tested various intercontinental ballistic missiles during their recent four-day joint military exercise (Picture: EPA)
‘Kyiv says Moscow has been actively pressuring Lukashenko to commit Belarusian forces to the conflict, and claims to have details of direct conversations between Putin and the Belarusian leader.’
Allison said Russia had already been using Belarusian territory to ‘enhance’ its drone operations against Ukraine.
Just days ago, the two countries conducted joint exercises in Belarus soil involving nuclear-capable, short-range ballistic Iskander-M missile launchers.
‘Western leaders are watching closely, with (French President Emmanuel) Macron having spoken to Lukashenko by phone this week,’ he added.
‘Ukrainian military assessments have long argued that Minsk’s primary role has been to stretch Kyiv’s defences across multiple fronts, but intelligence now points to something more direct.
‘Zelensky says Ukraine is war-gaming scenarios in which Russia uses Belarus to strike toward (Ukrainian cities) Chernihiv and Kyiv, or potentially a Nato member state.
‘Analysts say a full ground offensive would require Russia to redeploy forces it cannot currently spare from the front line, but the roads, logistics routes and artillery positions going up now mean that could change.
Belarus and Russia sparked alarm among Western leaders with its recent nuclear drills (Picture: Belarusian presidential press service / AFP via Getty Images)
‘This is, I believe, a real and serious possibility. It seems likely to me that the pressure on Lukashenko will only grow.’
Allison spoke amid increasing pressure from within Russia to end the war, which has cost the country dearly on the battlefield and economically.
Russia’s military has suffered around 1.2million casualties since Putin ordered the invasion more than four years ago, according to the think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Its economy has suffered badly too, as world leaders including then-US President Joe Biden joined leaders in what amounted to an economic war on Russia immediately after the invasion.
This included a raft of sanctions, European countries rapidly reducing their reliance on Russian oil, and the nation being removed from the international payment system Swift.
The conflict has led to an economic war on Russia (Picture: Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
While it rode this economic isolation and partially plugged the gap by selling increased amounts of oil to India and China, the moves still had an effect.
The recent loosening of some sanctions, including by the UK and US, amid the conflict between Iran and America, provided rare positive economic news for Putin.
Despite this, even the country’s own Ministry of Economic Development – usually the Kremlin’s in-house optimist – has conceded the country faces at least two more years of stagnation.
Amid this growing discontent, usually loyal Putin supporters have started to voice their concerns.
There are growing fears that Putin could pressure Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko to join Russia in its fight with Ukraine (Picture: EPA)
A well-connected business leader told the Guardian that there was ‘a growing sense that some kind of catastrophe is looming’.
‘There’s definitely been a shift in mood among the elites this year … there is profound disappointment in Putin,’ they added.
‘No one believes everything will suddenly collapse tomorrow.
‘But there is a growing realisation that utterly senseless, self-destructive decisions keep being made.
‘People who once defended Putin no longer do. Any sense of a future has disappeared.’
This pressure may have prompted Putin to use a speech he gave earlier this month on Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany, to say the war ‘was coming to an end’.
How this plays out remains to be seen.
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Nicolas Sarkozy defends against allegations of Libyan campaign funding
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Nicolas Sarkozy defends against allegations of Libyan campaign funding
Court Appeal
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is currently facing a retrial in the Paris Court of Appeal over allegations of Libyan funding for his 2007 presidential campaign.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is currently facing a retrial in the Paris Court of Appeal over allegations of Libyan funding for his 2007 presidential campaign.
Political Implications
The case’s significance lies in its potential to redefine the political landscape in France, highlighting the risks of foreign influence in domestic elections and shaping future campaign finance regulations.
The case’s significance lies in its potential to redefine the political landscape in France, highlighting the risks of foreign influence in domestic elections and shaping future campaign finance regulations.
Sarkozy’s Assertion
“I have not betrayed the trust of the French people; this case must end in truth and transparency,” Nicolas Sarkozy stated before the Paris Court of Appeal.
“I have not betrayed the trust of the French people; this case must end in truth and transparency,” Nicolas Sarkozy stated before the Paris Court of Appeal.
Sarkozy insists on innocence in last day of appeal trial in Libya case
By Emma De Ruiter
Published on
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy insisted on Wednesday that he had “not betrayed the trust of the French people,” in his final statement before the Paris Court of Appeal, which is retrying the case into allegations that the late Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi secretly funded his successful 2007 presidential campaign.
“This case of alleged Libyan financing of my campaign began with lies and with a conspiracy; it must end in truth and transparency”, he added. “I will never be able to confess to something I did not do; that is not the performance I have been giving in front of you.”
Sarkozy, 71, was sentenced in September 2025 to five years for criminal conspiracy, becoming the first former French president in modern history to be imprisoned.
He served 20 days in Paris’ La Santé prison before being released in November under court supervision. He appealed, and prosecutors followed, seeking to revive the charges he beat and impose a longer sentence of seven years and a €300,000 fine.
On 13 May, the prosecution asked the three judges hearing the appeal to find Sarkozy guilty of corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealing the embezzlement of Libyan public funds — three charges of which he was cleared at his first trial.
Prosecutors called Sarkozy the “instigator” of the alleged corruption deal, going further than the first trial, where judges had found him guilty only of letting his aides approach the Libyan regime on his behalf.
The first court cleared him of corruption on technical grounds, ruling that as a presidential candidate, he lacked the “public authority” status required by France’s anti-corruption law.
The former president has faced multiple corruption cases in recent years, but the Libya case carries by far the heaviest political and symbolic weight, alleging that a foreign dictatorship helped bring a French president to power.
Other members of Sarkozy’s inner circle, including former chief of staff Claude Guéant, former Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, longtime Sarkozy fixer Alexandre Djouhri, and Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign treasurer Éric Woerth, also face charges in the case.
The appeal court’s decision has been reserved and is expected on 30 November.
Additional sources • AP, AFP
Alabama petitions Supreme Court for approval of rejected congressional map
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Get you up to speed: Alabama pushes US Supreme Court to approve congressional map for midterms
Republicans in Alabama have petitioned the United States Supreme Court to approve a congressional map previously ruled racially discriminatory. The state’s Republican leadership is seeking a decision by Monday to enable the map’s use for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
Alabama Republicans are urging the United States Supreme Court to render a decision by Monday regarding the approval of a congressional map, initially rejected in 2023, to be used for the 2026 midterm elections. Following previous rulings that deemed the map racially discriminatory, the state plans to conduct new primaries on August 11 if the Supreme Court permits the map’s implementation.
Alabama Republicans have formally petitioned the US Supreme Court, urging a ruling by Monday to reinstate a congressional map previously deemed racially discriminatory, asserting that failing to do so could lead to “irreparable harm” in their redistricting efforts. If approved, Governor Kay Ivey has indicated that new primaries will be scheduled for August 11 in four congressional districts to reflect the proposed changes.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain how the recent Supreme Court ruling will influence the final decision on Alabama’s congressional map ahead of the midterms.
Alabama petitions Supreme Court for approval of rejected congressional map
News|US Midterm Elections 2026Alabama pushes US Supreme Court to approve congressional map for midterms
Republicans have revived a push to implement a congressional map that was rejected in 2023 for racial discrimination.
Travis Jackson protests for voting rights outside the federal court in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 22 [Kim Chandler/AP Photo]
Republicans in the southern state of Alabama have petitioned the United States Supreme Court to approve a congressional election map previously ruled to be racially discriminatory.
On Wednesday, the state’s Republican leadership called on the high court to rule by Monday so that the map could be used for the 2026 midterm elections.
list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats’ redistricting plan in USlist 2 of 3Why Louisiana paused its US House primary election amid redistricting pushlist 3 of 3A redistricting re-do? What to know about Alabama’s primary electionsend of list
Previously, in 2023, the Supreme Court had declined to reverse a lower court decision, which found that the map violated prohibitions against racial discrimination under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
That law had long been one of the few limits to partisan redistricting, also known as gerrymandering.
While no law currently prohibits lawmakers from redesigning congressional maps to give their parties an advantage, the Voting Rights Act included a section that bars politicians from limiting government representation based on race or minority status.
But last month, in the case of Louisiana v Callais, the US Supreme Court weakened how the Voting Rights Act could be applied to redistricting cases.
States like Alabama have since moved to reapply congressional maps that had previously been struck down on grounds of racial discrimination.
Alabama’s redistricting push
In Alabama’s case, a three-judge panel in 2023 found that the state’s Republican leadership had intentionally diminished the political strength of Black voters, who tend to lean Democratic.
The panel ruled that the state should have two Black-majority districts: one that includes the city of Birmingham, and another that includes the state capital, Montgomery.
But in Wednesday’s court filing, Alabama Republicans argued that the panel’s ruling was no longer valid, given the April Supreme Court decision.
It instead pushed for the map that was rejected in 2023 to be restored, consolidating most of the state’s Black voters into a single district.
In their request to the Supreme Court, the Republican leaders asserted that urgent action was necessary to prevent “irreparable harm” to their partisan redistricting push.
“Worse still, voters will be forced to vote under a court-drawn racially gerrymandered map that does not meet Alabama’s legitimate districting goals,” they wrote.
Should the rejected map be restored, Governor Kay Ivey has already indicated that new primaries will be held in four of the state’s seven congressional districts to reflect the new boundaries.
Primaries had already been held across the state on May 19, but voters in Alabama’s first, second, sixth and seventh congressional districts would have to recast their ballots under the plan on August 11.
The winners of those primaries would then proceed to compete in November’s midterm elections.
But the Republican-led push to redraw the congressional map hit a hurdle on Tuesday, when a lower court once again rejected the 2023 map.
“The court saw through Alabama’s blatant attempt to reinstate a race-based congressional map that the legislature deliberately enacted to deny Black voters a voice in Congress,” the plaintiffs said in a statement on Tuesday, released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
New maps nationwide
The battle over Alabama’s congressional districts reflects the hotly contested race to control the US House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.
Republicans hold both chambers of Congress by slim majorities. As a result, the outcome of a handful of elections could sway both chambers either left or right.
Currently, 217 Republicans form the House’s majority, out of 435 possible seats.
Last year, with November’s midterm elections on the horizon, Republican President Donald Trump launched a push for his party to corner the advantage.
In June 2025, reports began to emerge that the Trump White House had contacted Texas state legislators to encourage them to pass new congressional maps, which would cluster voters in a way to lessen the likelihood of Democratic victories.
Normally, redistricting happens once a decade, to reflect population changes captured by the census.
But the decision by Texas Republicans to push forward with Trump’s plan and redesign the state’s congressional map triggered a nationwide redistricting fight.
In August, Texas passed a new map drawn to help Republicans score five more House seats in the midterms.
California, a Democratic stronghold, responded by putting a ballot initiative before voters to redesign its congressional districts to help left-wing candidates increase their victories, too. That proposal passed in November 2025.
Other states have followed suit. In the wake of the April Supreme Court decision, Tennessee has moved to reshape its congressional map to break up a Democratic district containing the city of Memphis, while Louisiana Republicans have also announced their intentions to redraw its map.
Some states, however, have refused Trump’s midterm redistricting push. South Carolina, for instance, punted on a redistricting proposal earlier this week, as early voting for party primaries began in the state.
Trump, however, has framed the outcome of the midterm races as an existential crisis for his presidency.
“You’ve got to win the midterms because, if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be — I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” he told Republican leaders in January. “I’ll be impeached.”
Adam Candeub emerges as top candidate for DOJ antitrust division role
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Get you up to speed: Conservative tech critic seen as leading candidate to oversee DOJ’s antitrust division, sources say
Adam Candeub is being considered for the role of assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at the Justice Department, according to sources familiar with the matter. Omeed Assefi, the current acting assistant attorney general for antitrust, is set to depart next month for family reasons.
Adam Candeub, currently general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission, is being considered for the role of assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division, following the planned departure of Omeed Assefi next month. A coalition of 30 states has opted not to sign the recent settlement with Live Nation and will proceed with the trial in pursuit of antitrust claims.
The Justice Department has expressed gratitude for Omeed Assefi’s service as acting assistant attorney general for antitrust, noting his leadership during a challenging period. Senior officials continue to evaluate candidates for the role, with no final decision expected imminently, while the incoming appointee will oversee pivotal mergers, including the proposed takeover between Warner Bros. and Paramount Skydance.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain when a final decision on the new DOJ antitrust chief will be announced.
Adam Candeub emerges as top candidate for DOJ antitrust division role
The leading candidate to oversee the Justice Department’s antimonopoly enforcement has been a critic of the tech sector and is a government lawyer who led an effort to crack down on social media companies during President Trump’s first term.
Adam Candeub is being considered for assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division, sources familiar with the matter told WTX US News. He currently serves as the Federal Communications Commission’s general counsel, working for Chairman Brendan Carr.
Candeub did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Omeed Assefi, the acting assistant attorney general for antitrust, who oversaw a controversial settlement with concert and ticket giant Live Nation, is departing next month. He had long planned to exit in June, when his first child is due.
Senior Trump administration officials are still considering candidates to take on the crucial role of DOJ antitrust chief, a position that oversees mergers and acquisitions and protects against price fixing.
Michigan State University 
Candeub was previously a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank founded by Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Others who have been interviewed for the post in recent weeks include Mike Murray, a former Justice Department lawyer who co-chairs the antitrust practice at Paul Hastings LLP, and Adam Cella, a lawyer who works for House Republicans, some of the sources said.
A final decision had not been made. A White House spokeswoman said there were no personnel announcements at this time.
Whoever is chosen will be in charge of reviewing highly consequential mergers, including the pending merger between Warner Bros. and Paramount Skydance, the parent company of WTX US News.
Assefi ascended to the acting assistant attorney general role after his predecessor, Gail Slater, was terminated in February after a series of clashes with then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and their team.
Assefi at the time had told White House counsel David Warrington and others that he would leave in June for family reasons.
“Omeed Assefi has been a valuable leader in our Antitrust Division, and we are grateful for his time serving the nation,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.
In an interview with WTX US News shortly after accepting the temporary post, Assefi said he hoped to focus his time on bringing antitrust enforcement cases that would have a direct impact on the wallets of everyday Americans.
Antitrust hawks have viewed Mr. Trump’s second administration as more lenient on corporate mergers, following a series of high-profile settlements.
“The level of settlements has made it quite clear that antitrust is dead during Trump’s second term,” said Reed Showalter, a former Justice Department counsel on antitrust policy during the Biden administration who is now running for Congress.
About a month after Slater’s ouster — as the Justice Department and dozens of states were in the middle of a high-stakes monopoly case against Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation — the Justice Department announced it had reached a settlement with the company. That came after growing tensions within the administration as Live Nation and other companies hired Trump-allied consultants and lawyers to advocate for settlements.
The Live Nation announcement blindsided many of the states involved in the case, as well as some of the Justice Department’s own trial attorneys.
“Ideally, given that staff were most closely connected to the facts and theory about the case, their input and involvement would have been essential to the division’s decision-making, especially surrounding such a significant matter to the American people,” said a current Justice Department trial attorney who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The negotiating team on the Live Nation case was separate from the trial team, sources said.
A coalition of 30 states decided not to sign on to the settlement and chose to proceed with the trial. In April, a New York federal judge handed them a victory, finding that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster unit had operated as an illegal monopoly.
India records first suspected Ebola case in woman returning from Uganda
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Get you up to speed: India reports first suspected Ebola case after woman travels from Uganda | News World
A 28-year-old woman has been placed in quarantine in Bengaluru, India, with a suspected case of Ebola after travelling from Uganda. The National Institute of Virology confirmed a negative test for Ebola, but health officials are maintaining precautions with a 48-hour isolation period pending further testing.
The Ministry of Health in Uganda is working with the Uganda Red Cross Society to manage evacuations and safe burials of confirmed Ebola cases. As of now, the World Health Organisation has classified the Ebola outbreaks in both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as a public health emergency of international concern, following the confirmation of five cases linked to travellers from the DRC.
The World Health Organisation has classified the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda as a “public health emergency of international concern,” amplifying the urgency for coordinated responses from local health authorities. In India, the health officials have placed a 28-year-old woman in quarantine as a precaution, requiring two negative tests before her release, despite her initial test returning negative for Ebola.
What remains unclear — It is not known whether the two aid workers in Italy were confirmed to have Ebola following their symptoms.
India records first suspected Ebola case in woman returning from Uganda
An Ebola outbreak has spread accross the DRC and Uganda (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
A 28-year-old woman who travelled to the Indian city of Bengaluru from Uganda has been placed in quarantine with a suspected case of Ebola.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated an epidemic of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda was a ‘public health emergency of international concern.’
Local authorities reported that the woman developed a mild body ache shortly after arriving in India. It was reported she had also transited through Ahmedabad in western India.
The National Institute of Virology for testing has confirmed that the woman’s test returned negative for Ebola.
Similarly, Anul Kumar Banagar, the medical superintendent of the state-run Epidemic Diseases Hospital, reported that she had shown no Ebola symptoms at the Indian airport after a screening.
However, for precautions, health officials have said she will isolate for 48 hours. She will only be released when she has tested negative for the disease a second time.
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A 28-year-old woman with suspected Ebola travelled to the Indian city of Bengaluru (Picture: Getty Images)
The Hindu quoted Dr Banagar: ‘The District Surveillance team and airport health officials were tracking her condition. She developed a mild body ache nearly 24 hours later, following which samples were collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.’
The doctor explained that even if the woman tests negative, protocol states a ‘repeat test will be conducted after 48 hours of observation.’
He reiterated: ‘She will be discharged only after testing negative twice.’
This potential spread comes after approximately 220 Ebola deaths were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo after an outbreak was announced earlier this month.
Reports suggest the outbreak started several days or weeks before the Congolese authorities declared it.
Then, Ugandan health authorities reported on Monday that two new Ebola cases had been confirmed, increasing the number of infections to seven.
All have been linked to the outbreak in neighbouring Congo.
Conflict in the DRC is compromising health workers response (Picture: Getty Images)
A ‘rare’ Ebola strain with no cure could also be in Europe, after a health alert was issued in northern Italy after two aid workers developed Ebola-like symptoms.
The aid workers, who returned to Lombardy after a three-month trip to Uganda, are now presenting with symptoms consistent with the disease, including fever, nausea, vomiting, and intestinal problems.
The workers have been transferred to a hospital in Milan, which is equipped to deal with high-risk infectious diseases.
Meanwhile, Lombardy’s regional welfare minister has attempted to stop worries that the deadly disease could spread.
He told a press conference: ‘There is still no certainty that this is Ebola. We are hopeful that they will be negative.’
The risk to the public remains low.
However, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ongoing conflict has been compromising the outbreak response.
Ituri Province, in the northeast of the country, where most of the cases have been reported, has been under military rule since 2021.
The civilian authority was replaced by a military general to help disable the armed groups that operate in the region.
The WHO has called the outbreak a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
Despite this military rule, violence in the region has continued and intensified. Attacks by residents on makeshift hospitals in Ituri have risen in the last week.
This weekend, at least 18 people possibly infected with Ebola fled a hospital after it was attacked multiple times by grieving families.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, said that the east of the DRC was at the centre of a ‘catastrophic collision of disease and conflict’ as the outbreak outpaced the response.
He said stopping the spread in the region ‘depends entirely on humanitarian access.’
However, Dr Ghebreyesus stated that ‘ongoing clashes are driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors.’
He added that frontline workers are ‘risking everything, while attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.’
What is Ebola?
Ebola virus disease is ‘a serious, rare infection usually found in certain parts of Africa,’ according to the NHS.
It’s typically caught by ‘coming into contact with the body fluids of an infected person or wild animal.’
Symptoms include:
being sick
diarrhoea and tummy pain
a skin rash
yellowing of the skin and eyes
blood in your poo
lots of bruises all over your body
bleeding from your ears, eyes, nose or mouth
muscle pain
sore throat
blood in vomit or poo
bleeding from nose, gums or vagina
Source: NHS
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GCHQ chief warns of AI weaponisation amid rising Russian cyber threats
6:00 pm
GCHQ chief warns of AI weaponisation amid rising Russian cyber threats
Cyber Threat Warning
GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler noted that Russia is intensifying its hybrid activities, targeting critical infrastructure and democratic processes in the UK and Europe.
GCHQ Director Anne Keast-Butler noted that Russia is intensifying its hybrid activities, targeting critical infrastructure and democratic processes in the UK and Europe.
Cybersecurity Urgency
Keast-Butler emphasised the critical need for heightened cybersecurity across all sectors, warning that failure to do so could lead to a significant loss in the ongoing conflict in cyberspace.
Keast-Butler emphasised the critical need for heightened cybersecurity across all sectors, warning that failure to do so could lead to a significant loss in the ongoing conflict in cyberspace.
Urgent Warning
“I’ve spent three decades working in national security and the risk of miscalculation is as high as I’ve ever seen it,” stated Anne Keast-Butler, GCHQ director.
“I’ve spent three decades working in national security and the risk of miscalculation is as high as I’ve ever seen it,” stated Anne Keast-Butler, GCHQ director.
UK cyberspy chief calls AI ‘unstoppable force’ and warns about threats from Russia
artificial intelligence is “an unstoppable force” that is being weaponised in ways that fall just short of traditional warfare, Britain’s cyberspying chief warned on Wednesday.
Anne Keast-Butler, director of the communications intelligence agency GCHQ, also said Britain and its allies are in “a space between peace and war” as Russia increases its “daily hybrid activity” against the West, even as Russian combat deaths in Ukraine approach 500,000.
She said the West risks losing the conflict in cyberspace against Russia and other adversaries unless citizens, companies and governments treat cybersecurity with greater urgency.
“I’ve spent three decades working in national security and the risk of miscalculation is as high as I’ve ever seen it,” Keast-Butler said in a speech at a World War II code-breaking centre near London.
She said that “tech companies are releasing AI-driven innovations at a remarkable pace, with untold consequences, as algorithms are weaponised often just below the threshold of traditional warfare.”
“AI is an unstoppable force with great opportunity,” she added. “But it is also a force with risks.”
Threat from Russia
Keast-Butler singled out Russia as a threat, accusing Moscow of “relentlessly targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust” in Britain and Europe, as well as stealing technology and plotting sabotage and assassination attempts.
“Russia is scaling up its daily hybrid activity against the UK and Europe, stretching from the seabed to cyberspace,” she told an audience of computing experts, diplomats, journalists and senior officials.
“One area in sharp focus for us is protecting the data and energy flowing through the critical cables and pipelines in and around British waters,” she added. “We do this by exposing Russia’s intent, motive and underwater capabilities.”
At the same time, she said Russian troops are “going backwards on the battlefield,” with new intelligence suggesting “almost half a million Russian soldiers” have been killed since the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The speech is the latest in a string of warnings from Western intelligence experts that Russia is stepping up hostile activity in a “grey zone” that falls just below the threshold of war.
In recent months, authorities in countries including Sweden, Poland, Denmark and Norway have alleged that hackers linked to Russia targeted their critical infrastructure, including power plants and dams.
The head of the UK’s National cyber security Centre, Richard Horne, warned last month that hostile states including Russia, China and Iran are behind the most serious cyberattacks the country faces. He said such attacks could increase dramatically if Britain becomes involved in an international conflict.
Keast-Butler said rapid advances in artificial intelligence mean that “the ground beneath our feet is shifting” and there is a “narrowing window for the UK and allies to stay ahead” of countries such as China, a science and technology “superpower.”
She argued that there must be an effort “from boardrooms to living rooms” to make cybersecurity “10 times more urgent.”
The spy chief said that GCHQ is developing a plan to “hardwire cutting-edge agentic AI into machine-speed cyber defence.” Harnessed responsibly, she said, AI can help spies “enhance algorithms, translate foreign languages, and find needles in haystacks quicker than ever before.”
Keast-Butler also stressed the importance of international partnerships as US President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and disregard for longtime allies strain the relationship between London and Washington.
She said the UK-US intelligence partnership is “fundamental for the security of both our nations.”
GCHQ, short for Government Communications Headquarters, is the UK’s electronic and cyberintelligence agency. It works alongside the domestic security service MI5 and the foreign intelligence agency MI6.
Keast-Butler, the first woman to head the agency, delivered the GCHQ director’s annual lecture speech at the agency’s World War II headquarters of Bletchley Park, a manor house 72 kilometres northwest of London where hundreds of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzlers, chess masters and other experts worked to crack Nazi Germany’s supposedly unbreakable secret codes.
Their work both shortened the war and hastened the birth of modern computing.
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