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Four dead, others injured in UK parliament ‘terrorist’ attack

An air ambulance lands in Parliament Square during an incident on Westminster Bridge in London. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

By Toby Melville and William James

LONDON (Reuters) – Four people were killed and at least 20 injured in London on Wednesday after a car plowed into pedestrians and an attacker stabbed a policeman close to the British parliament, in what police called a terrorist incident.

The dead included the assailant and the policeman he stabbed, while the other two victims were among the pedestrians hit by the car as it tore along Westminster Bridge, which is right next to parliament.

“We’ve declared this as a terrorist incident and the counter-terrorism command are carrying out a full-scale investigation into the events today,” Mark Rowley, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, told reporters.

“The attack started when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring a number of members of the public, also including three police officers on their way back from a commendation ceremony.

“A car then crashed near to parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife continued the attack and tried to enter parliament.”

Reuters reporters who were inside parliament at the time heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards saw the knifeman and the stabbed policeman lying on the ground in a courtyard just outside, within the gated perimeter of the parliamentary estate.

A Reuters photographer said he saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus.

A woman was pulled alive, but with serious injuries, from the Thames, the Port of London Authority said. The circumstances of her fall into the river were unclear.

Three French schoolchildren aged 15 or 16 were among those injured in the attack, French officials said.

The attack took place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels.

PARLIAMENT SESSION SUSPENDED

“I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge,” eyewitness Bernadette Kerrigan told Sky News. She was on a tour bus on the bridge at the time.

“As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere.”

The House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was immediately suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside.

Prime Minister Theresa May was safe after the incident, a spokesman for her office said. He declined to say where May was when the attack took place.

Journalist Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building.

“He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates … He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick,” Letts said.

“The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs (members of parliament) and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him.”

Britain is on its second-highest alert level of “severe” meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.

In May 2013, two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street in southeast London.

In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital’s transport system in what was London’s worst peacetime attack.

(Additional reporting by Kylie Maclellan, Elizabeth Piper, Costas Pitas, Alistair Smout, Michael Holden, Kate Holton, Elisabeth O’Leary and London bureau, writing by Estelle Shirbon, editing by Stephen Addison, Mark Trevelyan and Guy Faulconbridge)

Scottish parliament suspends independence debate after London attack

A police car is parked outside the Scottish Parliament following suspension of the referendum debate in Edinburgh Scotland, Britain March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

EDINBURGH (Reuters) – Scotland’s devolved parliament suspended a planned vote on Wednesday to give its government a mandate to seek a new independence referendum after an attack on Britain’s Houses of Parliament in London which police said they were treating as a terrorist incident.

No date for the debate to resume was given.

The Scottish parliament issued a statement saying it would increase security measures, although no specific threat to Scotland had been detected.

London’s permission for a new Scottish referendum is needed because any legally binding vote on United Kingdom constitutional matters has to be authorized by the UK parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa May has not completely ruled out another Scottish independence vote but has vowed to fight for what she has called the “precious union” of the United Kingdom.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who argues that Scotland’s vote to keep its EU membership in last June’s referendum has been ignored in May’s Brexit arrangements so far, is seeking authority for a second referendum from the Scottish parliament, to be held in late 2018 or early 2019.

(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary; editing by Stephen Addison)

One shot, several injured in UK parliament ‘terrorist incident’

Police tapes off Parliament Square after reports of loud bangs, in London, Britain, March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

By Toby Melville

LONDON (Reuters) – A policeman was stabbed, an assailant shot and several people injured on Wednesday close to Britain’s Houses of Parliament in what police said they were treating as a terrorist incident.

Reuters reporters inside the building heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards a Reuters photographer said he saw at least a dozen people injured on Westminster Bridge, next to parliament.

His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one apparently under a bus. The number of casualties was unclear.

“Officers – including firearms officers – remain on the scene and we are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was immediately suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside.

Prime Minister Theresa May was safe after the incident, a spokesman for her office said. He declined to say where May was when the attack took place.

The leader of the House, David Lidington, said in the chamber that an assailant who stabbed a policeman had been shot by police.

An ambulance helicopter landed on Parliament Square, just outside the building.

The BBC said police believed there was a suspect vehicle outside parliament but police did not immediately confirm that report.

Amid confusing scenes, it appeared the incident may have unfolded in several locations, including on the busy Westminster bridge where tourists take pictures of Big Ben and other attractions.

Reuters reporters inside parliament said a large number of armed police, some carrying shields, were pouring into the building.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House he had been briefed on events in London but gave no details.

The incident took place on the first anniversary of attacks on Brussels in Belgium.

Britain is on its second-highest alert level of “severe” meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.

In May 2013, two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street in southeast London.

In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital’s transport system in what was London’s worst peacetime attack.

(Additional reporting by William James, Kylie Maclellan, Elizabeth Piper and UK bureau, writing by Estelle Shirbon, editing by Stephen Addison)

UK terrorism reinsurance fund hopes to include cyber: CEO

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s 6 billion pounds ($7.3 billion) terrorism reinsurance fund hopes to extend its cover to include cyber attacks on property, chief executive Julian Enoizi said.

Pool Re, set up in 1993, acts as a backstop to insurers paying out claims on property damage and business interruption.

It is financed by the insurance industry with government backing, and pay outs depend on the British government deeming an attack to be terror-related, Enoizi said.

In 2002, Pool Re extended its cover to include chemical and biological attacks after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

There have been several cyber attacks on property in recent years. In 2014, a German steel mill suffered damage to the plant’s network from a cyber attack.

Enoizi told Reuters that this and other incidents had been ruled out as terror attacks, but Pool Re needed to be prepared.

“Insurance is there for the unimaginable – we’re here to insure the unforeseen,” he said.

The fund has held discussions with the government and industry, and it hopes to add cyber to its coverage in the next few months, he added.

Enoizi said any increase in the premium costs to businesses for adding this cover would be accompanied by discounts for implementing government-approved cyber security policies.

The U.S. cyber insurance market is likely to have totalled about $3.25 billion in premiums in 2016, according to market survey The Betterley Report. The European market is seen as one-tenth of that, but demand has been increasing, insurers say.

Demand is expected to spike after EU legislation on data privacy is implemented by mid-2018. This will require companies to notify authorities of data breaches likely to harm individuals, similar to U.S. arrangements.

But most cyber policies relate to data loss, rather than attacks on property.

“We see this as a gap in the cover,” Enoizi said.

Cyber attacks on property worry businesses and insurers. These include an attack at some apartment buildings in Finland last year which knocked out the heating system when it was below freezing outside. This attack was not deemed an act of terror.

Insurers have said the source of a cyber attack is hard to prove, and most policies pay out regardless of the cause.

Pool Re’s cover would be limited to terror-related cyber attacks, once the British government assessed it to be an act of terrorism, Enoizi said.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Edmund Blair)

EU tries to contain East-West schism as Brexit bites

European and national flags fly outside the European Parliament while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presents a white paper on options for shoring up unity once Britain launches its withdrawal process, in Brussels, Belgium, March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman

By Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – As Britain hands the European Union its formal notice to quit this month, Brussels is resigned to losing part of the EU’s western flank but is increasingly stressed that upset in the east is pulling the survivors further apart.

Poland, the biggest of the ex-communist eastern states to join after the Cold War, has picked a fight over the fairly minor matter of who chairs EU summits. Symptomatic of a mounting east-west friction, the spat will overshadow a meeting this week that was meant to forge post-Brexit unity.

Brexit has not created that friction but made it worse, as leaders struggle to quell popular disaffection with the EU that is by no means confined to Britain. Westerners are talking up faster integration, even if that means leaving nationalistic easterners behind in a “multispeed Europe”.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel, raised in East Germany and a key defender of eastern allies, joined her French, Italian and Spanish peers at Versailles on Monday to ram home a message that unless some states press ahead the EU will stall and break, Polish ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski hit right back.

“The decisions made in … Versailles … aim to reinforce the process of European Union disintegration which has started with Brexit,” he said on Tuesday.

Kaczynski will not be in Brussels for Thursday’s summit but his prime minister, Beata Szydlo, will give voice to his refusal to endorse the reappointment of her centrist predecessor Donald Tusk as European Council president. Tusk and the right-wing Kaczynski are old and bitter rivals in Polish politics.

BREXIT HOLE

Brexit deprives the easterners, unwilling to see diktat from Brussels or Berlin replace rule from Moscow, of their strongest ally against EU centralization and euro zone domination.

It also leaves a big hole in the EU budget for paying the subsidies that fund a large slice of public spending in the east — cash that has kept voters there sold on EU membership and which Brussels fears London may now use to court eastern favor and divide the EU to extract better Brexit terms.

On Friday, leaders will work on plans for a March 25 summit in Rome where they hope to use 60th anniversary celebrations of the bloc’s founding treaty to pledge a new unity after Brexit.

Yet the road to Rome has been marked with division over the push by founding powers and the EU executive led by Jean-Claude Juncker for more differentiated EU integration.

“The key message of Rome must be the unity of the 27,” said a senior EU official involved in looking for compromises to ease the friction. “The political context of Brexit should not be a multispeed Europe. That would be completely out of tune.”

Neither side is pushing for a split and all insist they must pull together against challenges from Russia and uncertainty about U.S. support under President Donald Trump. For that reason, officials say, the words to come out of the Brussels and Rome summits will stress unity and soft-pedal the differences.

FRICTION GROWING

But east-west friction has heated up in the past two years.

There are rows over eastern reluctance to take in Syrian refugees and Kaczynski’s new policies that Brussels calls undemocratic. New border controls to curb migrants inside the passport-free Schengen zone have fueled eastern fears of losing travel freedoms cherished since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

And there is a brewing crisis over what eastern leaders see as hypocritical protectionism inside the EU single market by western governments trying to impose their own national minimum wages on enterprising — and cheap — eastern “posted workers”, who offer services like trucking and construction in the west.

Last week Poland and its allies demanded Brussels crack down on the “double standards” of firms that offer lower quality versions of western food brands in eastern markets.

It is not just outspoken Poland and Hungary who fret at fragmentation. The worry runs from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Eastern diplomats fear a new gap could open up along the old Iron Curtain that may never close, especially if the rich states play up to voters and refuse to fill the EU’s Brexit budget gap.

Prime Minister Robert Fico told Slovakia’s parliament on Wednesday he was skeptical of the Union’s future once Britain leaves in 2019.

“I’m afraid the EU will be divided by the money issue after 2020…In the spirit of Trump’s ‘America first’, we can expect to hear ‘Germany first’, ‘France first’ etc.”

Noting that current EU arrangements already allow for states to deepen their cooperation — the euro is just one of many examples — a senior diplomat from an eastern member state said he was suspicious of assurances from Merkel and others that any new moves would always be open to any member state to join.

“The only new thing they can mean is that this has changed,” he said. “They are saying ‘No, you are not welcome any more’.

“This is very dangerous.”

(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly and Justyna Pawlak in Warsaw and Tatiana Jancarikova in Bratislava; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Tight deadline for talks after nationalist surge in Northern Ireland

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adam sand Sinn Fein leader Michelle O'Neill speak to media outside the Sinn Fein offices on Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland March 4, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

By Ian Graham

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Northern Irish leaders prepared on Saturday for three weeks of challenging talks to save their devolved government after a snap election that could have dramatic implications for the politics and constitutional status of the British province.

The pro-British Democratic Unionist Party narrowly remained the largest party after the closest-ever election for the provincial assembly. But surging Irish nationalists Sinn Fein came within one seat of their rivals to deny unionist politicians a majority for the first time since Ireland was partitioned in 1921.

Major policy differences between the sides risk paralyzing government, dividing communities and creating an unwelcome distraction for Prime Minister Theresa May as she prepares to launch Britain’s formal divorce proceedings from the European Union later this month.

Northern Ireland is the poorest region of the United Kingdom and potentially the one most economically exposed to Brexit, as its frontier with the Republic of Ireland is the UK’s only land border with the EU.

“The election yesterday was in many, many ways a watershed election. Clearly the notion of a permanent or a perpetual unionist majority has been demolished,” Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams told reporters in Belfast.

“We need to reflect on that and so do the leaders of unionism and so does everyone on this island,” he added, standing in front of a mural of Bobby Sands, a member of the militant Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died in a hunger strike in prison in 1981.

The two largest parties have three weeks to form a new power-sharing government to avoid a return to direct rule from London for the first time since 2007. Sinn Fein said it would make contact with the other parties on Sunday.

GENERATIONAL SHIFT

With relations at their lowest point in a decade and Sinn Fein insisting among its conditions that DUP leader Arlene Foster step aside before it will re-enter government, few analysts think an agreement can be reached in that time.

An acrimonious campaign also added to the friction. Foster antagonized nationalists with her outright rejection of some of Sinn Fein’s demands, saying: “If you feed a crocodile, it will keep coming back looking for more.”

Michelle O’Neill, the 40-year-old new leader of Sinn Fein whose elevation represented a generational shift within the former political wing of the IRA, benefited most from the highest turnout in two decades.

“Foster angered nationalists and made sure they went out to vote but Michelle O’Neill is also a much more acceptable nationalist face than previously,” said Gary Thompson, a 57-year-old voter, as he went for a jog near parliament buildings.

Pensioner Tom Smyth, a DUP supporter, said Foster had to stand up to Sinn Fein but in doing so probably helped mobilize her rivals’ vote.

“This is terrible,” he said. “There will be no living with them (Sinn Fein) now. All my life there has been a Unionist political majority. I feel a bit exposed now and wonder what the future holds.”

Nationalist candidates, traditionally backed by Catholics, narrowed the gap overall with unionists, who tend to be favored by Protestants, to just one seat. Smaller, non-sectarian parties captured the remaining 12 percent of the vote.

IRISH UNIFICATION

Northern Ireland is still marginally a mainly Protestant province but demographics suggest Catholics could become the majority within a generation. The shift in the election will embolden Sinn Fein in its ultimate goal of leaving the United Kingdom and uniting the island of Ireland.

The party has increased calls for a referendum on the issue since Northern Ireland, like Scotland, voted to remain in the EU while the United Kingdom’s two other countries, England and Wales, chose to leave in last year’s Brexit vote.

Sinn Fein’s Mairtin O’Muilleoir, the province’s outgoing finance minister, described Brexit as “the gift that keeps on giving” for those that want a united Ireland.

“The massive shift towards nationalism in this election completely changes the landscape and most certainly brings the constitutional question to the foreground,” said Peter Shirlow, Director of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool.

Britain’s Northern Ireland Minister James Brokenshire urged the parties to engage intensively in the short time available. Ireland’s foreign minister said both governments stood ready to provide whatever support was needed.

Former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble, a key player in the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed, said the British government should find a way to give the parties more time.

Senior unionist politician Jeffrey Donaldson told BBC Radio:

“If we can’t do it in three weeks it could be a prolonged period of direct rule.

“In those circumstances, with Brexit coming down the road, we won’t have our own administration to speak for us and offer the best prospect of delivering the kind of outcome we need.”

(Writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Northern Ireland talks to begin after transformative election

Sinn Fein elected candidates for East Belfast (L to R) Fran McCann, Orlaithi Flynn, Pat Sheehan and Alex Maskey pose on stage at the count centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland March 3, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

By Ian Graham

The pro-British Democratic Unionist Party narrowly remained the largest party following the closest-ever election for the provincial assembly. But surging Irish nationalists Sinn Fein came within one seat of their rivals to deny unionist politicians a majority for the first time since Ireland was partitioned in 1921.

Major policy differences between the sides risk paralyzing government and dividing communities just as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. Northern Ireland, the poorest region of the United Kingdom, which has its only land border with the EU, is considered the most economically exposed to Brexit.

“Everything has changed and we enter into a new political landscape from Monday,” outgoing finance minister Mairtin O’Muilleoir of Sinn Fein told national Irish broadcaster RTE.

The two largest parties have three weeks to form a new power-sharing government to avoid devolved power returning to London for the first time since 2007.

An acrimonious campaign also added to the friction. Foster’s outright rejection of some Sinn Fein’s demands by saying that “if you feed a crocodile, it will keep coming back looking for more” antagonized and rallied nationalists.

Michelle O’Neill, the 40-year-old new leader of Sinn Fein whose elevation represented a generational shift within the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army, benefited most from the highest turnout in two decades.

Pensioner Tom Smyth, a DUP supporter, said Foster had to stand up to Sinn Fein but in doing so probably helped mobilize their rivals’ vote.

IRISH UNIFICATION

Nationalist candidates, traditionally backed by Catholics, also narrowed the gap overall with unionists, who tend to be favored by Protestants, to just one seat. Smaller, non-sectarian parties captured the remaining 12 percent of the vote.

The party has increased calls for a border poll since Northern Ireland, like Scotland, voted to remain in the EU while the United Kingdom’s two other countries, England and Wales, chose to leave.

Sinn Fein’s O’Muilleoir described Brexit as “the gift that keeps on giving” for those that want a united Ireland.

Taking over the administration of Northern Ireland is not a prospect likely to please British prime minister Theresa May, already fighting a renewed independence push from Scotland as she readies her Brexit launch at the end of the month.

Her Northern Ireland Minister James Brokenshire urged the parties to engage intensively in the short time available.

Former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble, who was instrumental to the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed, said the British government should find a way to give the parties more time.

“If we can’t do it in three weeks it could be a prolonged period of direct rule,” Jeffrey Donaldson, a senior member of the DUP told BBC Radio.

“In those circumstances, with Brexit coming down the road, we won’t have our own administration to speak for us and offer the best prospect of delivering the kind of outcome we need.”

(Writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Catherine Evans)

UK economy picks up in late 2016 but signs of Brexit hit appear

Workers walk to work during the morning rush hour in the financial district of Canary Wharf in London, Britain, January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

By Andy Bruce and William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s economy sped up at the end of 2016, data showed, but over the whole year it was weaker than previously thought and there were signs that the Brexit vote will increasingly act as a brake on growth in 2017.

The pound fell after Wednesday’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, which no longer showed Britain was the fastest-growing major advanced economy last year.

Gross domestic product rose by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, faster than the preliminary reading of 0.6 percent thanks to manufacturing and the strongest growth since the fourth quarter of 2015.

The figures are likely to reinforce finance minister Philip Hammond’s view that there is no case right now to borrow more to help the economy when he announces his annual budget on March 8.

But he will keep a close eye on warning signs in Wednesday’s data.

Business investment fell and slowing household spending growth raised questions about the outlook for 2017.

The ONS also trimmed its estimate for 2016 growth to 1.8 percent from 2.0 percent, due to businesses stockpiling fewer goods and materials in early 2016.

That pushed Britain’s economic growth rate slightly below Germany’s 1.9 percent.

Separate ONS data showed Britain’s dominant services sector expanded in December at the slowest pace in seven months.

Angus Armstrong, director of macroeconomics at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said the familiar pattern of consumers driving the economy was likely to fade.

“The UK economy needs another driver if it is not to have a significant slowdown in 2017,” he said. “The pattern of strong consumer spending and weaker business investment can only be a limited one.”

Business investment fell 1.0 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the July-September period. Investment by companies was 0.9 percent lower compared with the fourth quarter of 2015.

Firms are expected to rein in their investment plans as Britain negotiates its departure from the EU, a process that Prime Minister Theresa May is due to kick off in coming weeks.

The outlook for wages is key for spending by households who have driven Britain’s economy since the Brexit vote. Wednesday’s data showed compensation of employees edged up by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, the weakest rise in more than three years.

BREXIT SQUEEZE

The ONS said household spending increased 0.7 percent on the quarter, slowing from 0.9 percent in the third quarter and marking the weakest growth in a year.

Bank of England deputy governor Minouche Shafik said after the data that the central bank still expected overall economic growth this year of 2.0 percent, much stronger than most economists polled by Reuters expect.

But the bank also predicts a growing squeeze on consumers as inflation rises due to the pound’s fall since June’s vote to leave the European Union.

There are signs this has started. Data last week showed retail sales fell in each of the three months to January.

The BoE this month signaled that it is in no hurry to raise interest rates with so much Brexit-related uncertainty ahead.

The central bank expects the economy to grow at a slower pace in subsequent years than if Britain had voted to stay in the EU.

(Editing by John Stonestreet)

Israel’s Netanyahu urges Britain to join Iran sanctions

By Michael Holden and William James

LONDON (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged “responsible nations” to join new sanctions against Iran on Monday during a visit to London, but Britain defended a nuclear deal sealed between major powers and Tehran.

Ahead of his talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Netanyahu said other nations should follow new U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of sanctions against Iran following a ballistic missile test.

“Iran seeks to annihilate Israel. It seeks to conquer the Middle East, it threatens Europe, it threatens the West, it threatens the world. And it offers provocation after provocation,” Netanyahu told May ahead of their meeting.

“That’s why I welcome President Trump’s assistance of new sanctions against Iran. I think other nations should follow suit, certainly responsible nations. I’d like to talk to you about how we can ensure that Iran’s aggression does not go unanswered.”

May’s spokeswoman said the British leader had repeated her backing for the nuclear deal with Tehran – which is strongly opposed by both Netanyahu and Trump – but said there was a need to “rigorously monitor” Iran’s behavior.

“The prime minister made clear that we support the deal on nuclear that was agreed,” the spokeswoman told reporters, when asked whether Britain was considering joining new sanctions.

“What happens now is that (the nuclear deal) needs to be properly enforced, and we also need to be alert to Iran’s pattern of destabilizing activity in the region.”

Earlier the spokeswoman said May would also tell Netanyahu that continued Israeli settlement activity in occupied lands captured in the 1967 Middle East War on which the Palestinians hope to create independent state undermined trust in the region.

“STRONG AND CLOSE ALLY OF ISRAEL”

Despite their differences, London has adopted a more positive approach to Israel since May became leader after last year’s vote to leave the European Union, echoing the more sympathetic tone set by Trump, with whom Britain wishes to secure a post-Brexit trade deal.

May told Netanyahu that Britain was a “strong and close friend of Israel”, and highlighted their co-operation in science, trade and security.

They agreed to set up a working group to develop trade ties both before and after Brexit, the spokeswoman said.

Last month Britain said it had reservations about a French-organized Middle East peace conference in Paris and did not back the final communique by 70 countries which reaffirmed that only a two-state solution could resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its stance angered many EU members.

In December, Britain also scolded then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for a speech criticizing Israeli policy.

Netanyahu’s talks on Monday got off to an awkward start as he arrived before May was at her official Downing Street residence to greet him. Having entered her office alone, he came back outside minutes later for the customary handshake.

Small groups of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters gathered outside Downing Street and Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, said May’s stance on settlements was not good enough.

“Theresa May must make clear to the Israeli prime minister that the British government will stand unequivocally behind the rights of the Palestinian people,” said Corbyn, who once described members of Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah as friends in comments he later said he regretted.

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

‘Alphabet soup’ of agencies leave UK exposed to cyber attacks: report

projection of man in binary code representing cyber security or cyber attack

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government has taken too long to coordinate an “alphabet soup” of agencies tasked with protecting the country from an ever-increasing risk of cyber attack, a parliamentary report said on Friday.

The Public Accounts Committee report said that as of last April there were at least 12 separate organizations in Britain responsible for protecting information, with “several lines of accountability with little coherence between them.”

Processes for recording breaches of personal data by government departments are inconsistent and chaotic, the report said, adding that the government is struggling to meet a skills gap in the security profession.

The findings come in the wake of a spate of cyber attacks that have targeted banks, businesses and institutions, including Tesco Bank, Lloyd’s Bank, Talk-Talk, and the National Health Service.

“The threat of cyber-crime is ever-growing yet evidence shows Britain ranks below Brazil, South Africa and China in keeping phones and laptops secure,” said committee chair Meg Hillier.

“Leadership from the center is inadequate and, while the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has the potential to address this, practical aspects of its role must be clarified quickly.”

The NCSC was established by the government last October as part of a 1.9 billion-pound ($2.37 billion) program to tighten cyber security.

An NCSC spokesman said in response to the report: “The government has been clear that the newly formed NCSC is the UK’s definitive authority on cyber security.”

On Thursday night, British defense minister Michael Fallon said Russian president Vladimir Putin was trying to undermine the West by spreading lies and attacking critical infrastructure with hackers.

The Kremlin called the accusation baseless.

Britain launched a cyber security review in January after U.S. intelligence agencies said Putin ordered an effort to help President Donald Trump’s electoral chances by discrediting his rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

(Reporting by Ritvik Carvalho)

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