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Children and police officers among at least 30 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

Israel has carried out some of its deadliest airstrikes on Gaza in months, killing at least 30 Palestinians, some of whom were sheltering in tent cities for displaced people. Despite a nominal ceasefire, the Israeli military struck a police station in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood west of Gaza City on Saturday, killing 10 officers and detainees, the civil defence said. It indicated the death toll could rise as emergency responders searched for bodies. Another strike hit an apartment in Gaza City, killing three children and two women, while seven more people were killed when Israel bombed tents in Khan Younis,southern Gaza. “We found my three little nieces in the street. They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?” Samer al-Atbash, an uncle of the three children killed in Gaza City, told Reuters. The Israeli military said the attacks were carried out in response to an incident on Friday when eight armed men came out of a tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza. The area is still under Israeli military control under the terms of the October ceasefire. The strikes occurred the day before a border crossing is expected to open in Gaza’s southernmost city, a reminder that the death toll is still rising even as the ceasefire agreement inches forward. All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed since the start of the war, and Palestinians see the Rafah crossing with Egypt as a lifeline for the tens of thousands in need of treatment outside the territory because most of its medical infrastructure has been destroyed by Israeli bombardment. Israel wants to ensure that more Palestinians leave Gaza than enter it, according to Reuters, which said Israel was aiming to allow only 150 Palestinians into Gaza through Rafah each day. Shifa hospital said the strike on Gaza City killed a mother, three children and one of their relatives on Saturday morning, while Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said a strike on a tent camp caused a fire, killing a father, his three children and three grandchildren. Gaza’s health ministry has recorded more than 500 Palestinians deaths by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on 10 October. Despite Israel’s frequent killing of Palestinians in violation of the ceasefire, the deal has moved to a crucial second phase. Some of the thorniest issues are contained in this phase, which requires Hamas to disarm and hand over power to a Board of Peace organisation staffed by appointees of the US president, Donald Trump. A recent presentation in Davos by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is also involved in Trump’s Gaza project, showed the Trump administration’s plan for “developing Gaza”, complete with futuristic skyscrapers overlooking the Mediterranean. Most of Gaza has been levelled and basic infrastructure remains inoperable as a result of Israeli bombing over the past two years, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians. Last year, a UN commission of inquiry found that Israel had committed a genocide in Gaza.

‘Keep on dreaming’: could Europe really defend itself without the US?

The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, was typically blunt when he met members of the European parliament this week. From the dais of the blond-wood committee room in Brussels, he was clear: “If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t.” And if Europe wanted to supplant the US nuclear deterrent, existing spending commitments would have to double, he added – “so hey, good luck!” His comments left some MEPs fuming. The former Dutch prime minister – who provoked mockery when he called Donald Trump “Daddy” – had already irritated some deputies with his robust defence of the US president’s interest in the Arctic. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, chided Rutte a day later on social media: “Europeans can and must take charge of their own security. Even the United States agrees. It is the European pillar of Nato.” Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, suggested a different approach: “We must go for a European army,” he told reporters in Brussels this week, adding, “I’m very much aware that you don’t do that from one day to another”. Europe, he said, needed “all sorts of deterrence – economic, political, security deterrence – in our hands”. But a European army has always raised more questions than answers. Is it an EU, or Europe-wide army? A brand-new force commanded from Brussels, or a souped-up version of existing structures? Sophia Besch, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, observed: “To supporters, it is a very visionary goal, and then to critics it is the symbol of overreach – and it’s just vague enough that we never have to really discuss details.” Behind the discordant public tones, however, lies a consensus that Nato’s European members need to pull their weight. Nato must “become more European” to maintain its strength, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said this week. “Europe must step up,” she told a defence industry audience. “No great power in history has ever outsourced its survival and survived.” The Nato alliance last year pledged to increase defence spending to 5% national income by 2035. The EU, which includes 23 Nato countries among its 27 members, has embarked on an €800bn defence spending plan. But after a long holiday from history, can Europe get its act together? “The Europeans are moving in the right direction and can do it,” Camille Grand, a former Nato assistant secretary-general, told the Guardian. “It is a matter of a sustained effort over a few years. It is a matter of buying and acquiring the right set of capabilities to reduce their dependency on the US,” said Grand, now secretary general of the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association for Europe. Europe’s ability to stand on its own two feet does not have a precise launch date. “It is not as if we could say on the 1st of January 2030: the Europeans will be completely autonomous,” Grand said. But the date matters because policymakers, responding to warnings from the security services about a possible Russian attack, say Europe should have “credible deterrence” to put off potential invaders by 2030. From the point of view of military planners, 2030 is “tomorrow”, said Grand, but Europe could achieve “significant progress” by then in acquiring stronger capabilities across a swathe of “strategic enablers”. This refers to a mixed bag of critical capabilities where the US dominates, such as intelligence, satellites, long-range missiles, airlift and ballistic missile defence. Europe probably would not “tick every single box by 2030” but “we can achieve significant progress”, Grand said. Although, he added, it would also require an “honest conversation with the US” that Europe would need some American assets beyond 2030. But Trump’s threats over Greenland and hot-cold support for Ukraine that often tips into Russian talking points, have called into question Washington’s commitment in a crisis. Tobias Billström, a former foreign minister of Sweden who helped negotiate his country’s Nato entry, retains confidence that the US would come to Europe’s aid if the collective defence clause, article 5, was triggered. He pointed out the US benefitted from Nato, citing the location and military capabilities of Arctic members, such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland. Billström, who now works for Nordic Air Defence, a startup developing low-cost drone interceptors, said Europe would have to be ready to defend itself for years to come. “Regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Russia will be, graphically, where it is. It will be revanchistic. It will be set on hybrid actions. It wants to disrupt. It’s going to have a very, very clear incentive to be aggressive against us for a foreseeable future.” Not everyone is so sure about US guarantees. Besch, the defence expert at the Carnegie centre in Washington, thinks trust has gone. “I don’t think that there is very much illusion among any European policymakers now that they can trust in US security guarantees.” Europe, she suggested, had to shake off decades-old habits about defining its defence interests. Europe’s capability planning – “what we buy and what we develop” – is derived from Nato’s regional capability plans, which still rely on a substantive contribution from the US, she said. “The risk of what I believe is happening right now, is that we’re all spending huge amounts of money and will not actually be much more independent from the US in 10 to 15 years’ time, because that money is not being spent in a coordinated and directed way to actually replace these US enablers.” Money alone is not the answer to Europe’s defence weakness, as illustrated by the troubled €100bn Franco-German fighter jet project, beset by disagreement and mistrust between the developers. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, indicated this week that the project could be scaled down to joint systems, without an aircraft. A fighter-jet system without a fighter jet would be an emblem of European defence for all the wrong reasons. Meanwhile, Europe has long struggled to join up its defence spending, meaning costly duplication and a mishmash of different systems that hinder effectiveness on the battlefield. EU countries, for instance, have provided 10 different types of howitzer capable of firing 155mm shells to Ukraine “creating serious logistical difficulties for Ukraine’s armed forces”, according to a report by the former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi. In another example of fragmentation, Draghi noted EU member states operated 12 different types of battle tanks, while the US used one. For Besch, the problem runs deeper than national industrial rivalries. “The key question here is who is Europe, what is Europe, and then what are we actually trying to do? … If our standard for success is to replace everything the US does now with European capabilities, militaries, enablers etc, we are bound to fail,” she said. Europe, she said, needed to figure out its own strategic interests, for instance a European version of nuclear deterrence or how to safeguard its interests in regions from the Arctic to the Pacific, which could mean “cheaper, faster” systems. “My fear is that we are still caught up in this conversation around ‘can we replace the US’, rather than trying to decide what are we actually trying to do without them.”

Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes across Berlin

Germans love their potatoes. They eat on average 63kg a person every year, according to official statistics. But the exceptional glut of potatoes produced by farmers during the last harvest has overwhelmed even the hardiest of fans. Named the Kartoffel-Flut (potato flood), after the highest yield in 25 years, the bumper crop has inspired one farmer to organise a potato dump on Berlin, with appeals going out around the German capital for people to come to various hotspots and pick them up for free. Soup kitchens, homeless shelters, kindergartens, schools, churches and non-profit organisations are among those to have taken their fill. Even Berlin zoo has participated in the “rescue mission”, taking tonnes of potatoes that would otherwise have gone to landfill, or to produce biogas, to feed its animals. Two lorry loads have been sent to Ukraine. Ordinary city residents, many feeling the squeeze over the rise in the cost of living, have arrived at pre-announced potato dump locations, filling up anything from sacks and buckets to handcarts. Astrid Marz queued recently in Kaulsdorf, on the eastern edge of Berlin, one of 174 distribution points spontaneously set up around the city, to stuff an old rucksack with spuds. “I stopped counting at 150. I think I’ve got enough to keep me and my neighbours going until the end of the year,” she said. The operation, called 4000 Tonnes after the surplus a single potato farmer near Leipzig offered in December after a sale fell through at the last minute, was organised by a Berlin newspaper with the Berlin-based eco-friendly not-for-profit search engine Ecosia. “At first I thought it was some AI-generated fake news when I saw it on social media,” Marz, a teacher, said. “There were pictures of huge mountains of ‘earth apples’,” she recalled, using the word Erdäpfel, an affectionate term for the potato sometimes used by Berliners, “with the instruction to come and get them for free!” The excitement has lifted spirits at a time when arctic cold has Berlin in its grip, hampering travel, grinding public transport to a halt and leaving pavements hazardously icy. “There was a really party-like atmosphere,” said Ronald, describing how people cheerily helped one other with heavy loads and swapped culinary tips when he recently picked up potatoes for his family at the Tempelhofer Feld. As a result of the buzz, the potato is receiving something of a new lease of life. It has helped resurrect stories about how the humble tuber first became popular in Germany, after Prussia’s Frederick II issued an order for its cultivation in the 18th century, known as the Kartoffelbefehl (potato decree), establishing it as a staple food despite reported initial scepticism over its strange texture and form. Recipes galore are being shared online as those who have scooped up the spuds try to work out what to do with the surfeit. Although the potato has sometimes been spurned in recent years as some fitness gurus have recommended avoiding carbohydrates, experts have highlighted its nutritional properties, such as vitamin C and potassium. Celebrity Berlin chef Marco Müller of the Rutz restaurant has said now is the ideal moment to give the potato the Michelin-star treatment. He uses an innovative technique to make a rich broth from roasted potato peelings and a sought-after potato vinaigrette. Another of the recipes doing the rounds is Angela Merkel’s Kartoffelsuppe (potato soup), which the former German chancellor first shared with voters in the run-up to 2017’s general election in an interview with a celebrity magazine. Her hot pot tip? To give it the necessary lumpy texture, she revealed: “I always pound the potatoes myself with a potato masher, rather than using a food mixer.” Criticism has come from farmers in the region, who say the market in Berlin is even more saturated and their crop has been devalued further still by the vast giveaway. More widely, environmental lobbyists have said the glut in part stems from a warped and out-of-control food industry, and that the mountains of potatoes pictured in storage facilities across the region is reminiscent of the notorious butter mountains and milk lakes of the 1970s, when farmers were overly incentivised to produce food owing to the European Economic Community’s guarantee to buy up surplus products at high prices. While it’s the potato’s turn this year, last year hops were in surplus and next year, it is predicted, it will be milk. A last hoorah for the intervention is expected in the coming days, and those keen to participate in the potato party are urged to keep a close eye on the organisers’ website for the next drops. There are, in theory, about 3,200 tonnes (3,200,000kg or 7,056,000lbs) still up for grabs.

‘Under pressure’: Greenland’s PM gains fans at home and abroad after his rebuke of Trump

This time last year, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, was better known on the global stage for his sporting achievements than international politics. For years he dominated the territory’s badminton scene, winning the singles and doubles championships almost every year. He won several medals at the Island Games, earning himself a reputation for “very competitive” play on the court. As it turned out, that was useful preparation for his time in office. The 34-year-old was sworn in last April after winning a surprise election victory fought against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threats to acquire his homeland. Those threats morphed into a full-blown crisis this year when, fresh from his seizure of Nicolás Maduro from Caracas, the US president reiterated his desire for Greenland and initially refused to rule out taking it by force. Europe’s biggest crisis since the second world war saw Nielsen, who often sports a blue anorak in keeping with Greenlandic formal attire, thrust into the geopolitical spotlight. He seems to have weathered the storm: Greenlanders say that, after Trump pulled back from threats of military intervention at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the young leader has more of a voice on the world stage. A key moment in Nielsen’s handling of the rapidly escalating crisis came in January, on the eve of a tense meeting in Washington DC with the US vice-president, JD Vance. “If we have to choose between the US and Denmark here and now,” he said, “we choose Denmark, Nato and the EU”. Aqqaluk Lynge, a veteran of Greenlandic politics who co-founded the party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), said shortly afterwards it was the moment Greenlanders had been waiting for. “I don’t know if I could have done that when I was his age,” he told the Guardian. Nielsen grew up in Nuuk, capital of the semi-autonomous Danish territory, with a Greenlandic mother and Danish father. He speaks both languages, which some say helps him to see both sides of the relationship between Greenland and its former colonial ruler, Denmark. He has previously said he was bullied in school for looking Danish. On the badminton court, however, he flourished. In 2020, aged 28, having helped shape its direction as a consultant while studying social sciences at the University of Greenland in Nuuk, he became chair of his party, the centre-right Democrats. “Even I probably wouldn’t have seen it coming so soon. But the opportunity presented itself and I jumped at the chance because I want this,” he told the newspaper Sermitsiaq the same year. For a short period he had a government position as minister of industry and mineral resources but lost it when he withdrew his party from the government. Then, last March, the Democrats more than tripled their seats to become the biggest party in the Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament. Weeks later, just hours before Vance arrived in Greenland at the US’s Pituffik space base, Nielsen and the leaders of three other parties announced a broad four-party coalition government in a show of national unity. In a clear rebuke to Trump’s threats, the first page of the coalition agreement stated: “Greenland belongs to us.” Nielsen’s straightforward style and clear messaging seem to be impressing leaders in the rest of Europe. This week he was received by the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, side by side with Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister. “We have some red lines we cannot cross but, from a Greenlandic perspective, we will try to sort out some sort of agreement,” he said in Paris. “We have been working with the US for many years now.” Alongside the pragmatism Nielsen painted a vivid picture of the fear and stress of the unprecedented situation. “We are under pressure, serious pressure,” he said, adding that many in Greenland were “afraid and scared”. Government figures in Denmark appreciate his style. A source close to the Foreign Office said his comments about choosing Copenhagen over the US were appreciated. “In the Danish public he is a very well-liked figure and people are very impressed that he has been able to handle it under pressure and young.” His good rapport with Frederiksen also helps. “He is a great guy and he has a great chemistry with the Danish prime minister and Danish government in general, so we are pleased it is him in office,” said the source. Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament and representative of IA, who has known Nielsen since he was a child, said she thought he was doing “an amazing job” on the global stage. It takes courage to do what he has done, she said: “He is a young leader and a leader gaining experience as we speak, so of course it is a big task.”

South African artist sues minister for blocking her Venice Biennale Gaza entry

A South African artist is suing the arts minister after he blocked her from representing the country at the Venice Biennale, having called her work addressing Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza “highly divisive”. Gabrielle Goliath filed the lawsuit last week, with Ingrid Masondo, who would have curated the pavilion, and the studio manager, James Macdonald. It accuses Gayton McKenzie of acting unlawfully and violating the right to freedom of expression and demands the high court reinstates her participation by 18 February, the deadline for confirming installations with biennale organisers. Goliath, whose video work Elegy pays tribute to a Palestinian poet killed by an Israeli airstrike, told the Guardian: “We hope to reclaim the pavilion, which we believe is rightfully ours. “But more importantly than that, it is the significance of the work … that speaks far more eloquently to these very difficult questions of whose life is recognised as a life worth grieving after.” The Venice Biennale rotates between art and architecture each year. A main exhibition features works chosen by a central curator, while governments organise national exhibition pavilions. In 2024, 86 nations participated. McKenzie responded to the backlash in a statement earlier this month, indicating his concern originated from the suggestion that “a foreign country” had offered to fund South Africa’s exhibition, and alleging that South Africa’s platform was being “used as a proxy by a foreign power to endorse a geopolitical message about the actions of Israel in Gaza”. The statement seemed to refer to Qatar Museums’ inquiry about the possibility of funding South Africa’s pavilion and buying the artworks, before Goliath was selected by an independent panel. These discussions did not go anywhere, Goliath’s affidavit said. Goliath said: “I utterly reject the accusation of foreign capture,” calling it a “damaging conspiracy theory”. McKenzie, in a letter on 22 December included in Goliath’s court filing, said: “The subject matter, as outlined, is known to be highly divisive in nature and is related to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising.” A second letter, dated 2 January, said: “It would not be wise or defensible for South Africa to support an installation against a country currently accused of genocide, while we as South Africa are also fielding unjustified accusations of genocide.” South Africa’s government launched a lawsuit in 2023 accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Before McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance party joined a national coalition government in 2024, McKenzie had said there was “no genocide” of Palestinians. Donald Trump and US officials have falsely claimed there is a “white genocide” in South Africa. Goliath had planned to exhibit three videos of Elegy, a work that has been shown for more than a decade, in which female singers take turns to step on to a dais and sing the same note. One video was to honour the Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed alongside her son by an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis on 20 October 2023. The other videos would have paid tribute to Ipeleng Christine Moholane, a 19-year-old murdered in South Africa in 2015, and two female victims of the German genocide in Namibia. The minister’s decision provoked outrage among South African artists, with groups of writers and non-profits also signing open letters condemning Goliath’s removal. The Democratic Alliance, which is in the national coalition, reported him to the country’s public watchdog. The minister and his department have not made public any plans to replace Goliath’s work in Venice. McKenzie’s spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions. In July 2025, the Lebanese-Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi was reinstated as Australia’s representative at the 2026 biennale. He had been dropped that February after controversy over some of his past works, including a depiction of the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a video rendering of the 9/11 attacks on the US.

Protesters to demand resignation of Hungarian politician for anti-Roma remark

Thousands of people are set to gather in Budapest to demand the resignation of a senior Hungarian politician, for making a racist remark against Roma people earlier this month. János Lázár told attendees at a political forum that migration was not the solution to the country’s labour shortage. “Since there are no migrants, and someone has to clean the bathrooms on the InterCity trains,” Lázár said Roma people would do the job, using an offensive slur in his speech. The remarks, captured on video, quickly spread online and triggered a widespread backlash. Hungarian Roma organisations, NGOs and opposition politicians demanded that Lázár, a high-ranking ally of the rightwing populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, apologise and resign. “He has crossed all boundaries,” said Péter Magyar, the leader of the largest opposition party, Tisza. The scandal comes 10 weeks before an election that could cement or break the rule of Orbán’s Fidesz party, which came to power for the second time in 2010. “Fidesz is over, its mandate has expired permanently,” said Ádám Lakatos, an 18-year-old Roma activist and the organiser of Saturday’s protest. Independent polls show a stable lead for Tisza – a centre-right party founded in 2020 – ahead of Fidesz. Outrage over Lázár’s racist remarks could further alienate undecided voters from the governing party. Lázár has apologised, but refused to resign, and has recently appeared alongside Orbán at a party event. He didn’t respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. Roma communities, who have long been scapegoated by the government, experience worse living conditions, higher levels of poverty, and face lower life expectancy than the rest of the Hungarian population. “During its 16 years of rule, Fidesz has not created jobs, or supported [Roma] families,” said Szandi Minzári, a 37-year-old international policy expert with Roma heritage. Roma people are overrepresented in low-paying public jobs, which she said can be exploited by local politicians. Independent organisations have raised concerns that these public work programs are being leveraged by officials for electoral gain. “Lázár’s resignation would be a positive move for Fidesz, helping recover some Roma support, and setting an example” said Bernadett Orbán (no relation to the PM), a 33-year-old activist. “But I don’t think he will resign.” Orbán, and her partner, Tamás Könyves, are not Roma, but will attend the protest on Saturday. “I feel it is my duty to speak up and stand up for the Roma community,” said Könyves, 51, who will give a speech at the event. Fidesz has faced increasing public anger in recent years. In 2024, the party president, Katalin Novák, resigned after mass demonstrations erupted over a decision to pardon a man convicted for covering up child sexual abuse claims at a state-run orphanage. There were also protests in 2025 after news of systemic abuse at a juvenile correctional centre. The opposition demanded resignations in Orbán’s government over inaction. “Fidesz’s actions have become unacceptable for Hungarians, for Europe and for the entire world,” said Lakatos, who grew up in state care. Both of the main parties have increased their voting base in the past year, but as Tibor Závecz from Závecz Research Institute highlights, this growth primarily drew support from smaller parties, not the large swathe of undecided voters. “And it seems like Fidesz is taking the voters from the far right,” Závecz said. While anti-Roma speeches might gain the trust of these voters, they could alienate up to half a million hesitant voters. Balázs Böcskei, a political scientist and research director at the Idea Institute,says it is surprising that Fidesz’s campaign did not help the party gain much ground. He attributes this partly to a strong opposition, and partly to a series of “public policy failures” in “every sphere that is important to people today” he said, citing the economy, and welfare services.

Alarm raised over Chinese CCTV cameras guarding ‘symbol of democracy’ Magna Carta

Security cameras guarding Magna Carta are provided by a Chinese CCTV company whose technology has allegedly aided the persecution of Uyghurs and been exploited by Russia during the invasion of Ukraine, it has emerged. In letters seen by the Guardian, campaigners called on Salisbury Cathedral, which houses one of four surviving copies of the “powerful symbol of social justice”, to rip out cameras made by Dahua Technology, based in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. They have also written to the authorities responsible for the Parthenon temple in Greece, which is monitored by cameras produced by another Chinese company, Hikvision. Cameras made by the firms have already been removed from sensitive UK government sites, over concerns that they could be remotely accessed by China and used to spy on sensitive sites. Now fresh concerns about the two companies’ roles at sites housing foundational symbols of democracy and human rights have been raised by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and a Ukrainian organisation called Don’t Fund Russian Army. Dahua Technology boasts on its website that its low-light surveillance cameras help ensure the safety of a copy of Magna Carta, sealed by King John at Runnymede, England, in 1215. The document established limitations on feudal powers and is widely seen as a precursor to later formulations laying down democratic values and human rights protections. Salisbury Cathedral’s website calls the 811-year-old document a “powerful symbol of social justice” that has “inspired and encouraged freedom movements around the world”. But in a letter that has emerged during Keir Starmer’s visit to China, the WUC said Dahua was implicated in “genocide or crimes against humanity”. The organisation, which represents the persecuted minority ethnic group from China’s Xinjiang region, cited the company’s alleged involvement in facial recognition systems designed to identify Uyghurs and automate police reporting. The WUC said Dahua’s CCTV systems had “played a role in control and surveillance mechanisms” in Xinjiang designed to persecute the primarily Muslim group. “For us, it is particularly painful that the technologies of such companies are being used to protect one of the most prominent symbols of democracy and freedom,” the WUC wrote, in a letter emailed to the cathedral’s head of security. A spokesperson for the cathedral said it had not received the email. The Guardian has seen evidence that appears to show that the email was sent on 22 December. The cathedral spokesperson added: “We also do not comment on security matters; however, our systems and suppliers are regularly reviewed, working with external advisers.” Dahua’s technology was installed by a UK security firm, ARC Fire Safety & Security, according to the Chinese company’s website. The UK company did not return a request for comment. The WUC raised the same concerns in an email to authorities in charge of the Parthenon temple in Greece, which uses cameras made by Hikvision, urging it to remove the CCTV. It called for the technology to be removed at both sites. The WUC, which operates from Munich, also pointed to reports that the companies’ cameras have systemic vulnerabilities that allowed them to be hacked by Russia in reconnaissance during the invasion of Ukraine. Oleksii Kuprienko, of the Ukrainian organisation Don’t Fund Russian Army, said there had been several incidents where footage from surveillance cameras appeared to have been accessed – and even broadcast online – during Russian missile strikes. “Such footage can be used to analyse the effectiveness of strikes and, at the same time, to intimidate civilians by openly showing the power of Russian weapons,” he said. Kuprienko referred to an incident in early 2024 when footage from a camera believed to have been made by Hikvision broadcast the operation of a Ukrainian air defence system. “Shortly afterwards, that position was struck,” he said. Grigory Mamka, a Ukrainian MP who sits on a parliamentary committee scrutinising law enforcement, confirmed that cameras made by Dahua and Hikvision were being removed. “[The security services] established that entrance codes were hacked and connection was made to equipment installed by these two companies,” Mamka said, in an interview mediated by a translator. Mamka said security services identified in 2024 that the cameras had been hacked, apparently by the Russian army, to spy on defensive positions. Footage of missile strikes, apparently from CCTV cameras, has also appeared on video streaming sites, which Kuprienko said was part of Russian psychological warfare, designed to intimidate Ukrainian civilians. A spokesperson for Dahua said: “Dahua never has, and never will, develop a product or solution designed to identify or otherwise target any specific ethnic, racial or national group, including the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. The company has investigated these allegations and found no evidence that our products have been used to this end. “All Dahua products and solutions adhere to the highest international standards of cybersecurity, and are certified by globally recognised standards organisations. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Dahua immediately suspended shipments to Russia and does not supply any surveillance equipment to the country.” Hikvision did not return requests for comment. An email to a representative of the authority responsible for stewardship of the Parthenon went unanswered.

Starmer hopes his China trip will begin the thaw after recent ice age

The last British prime minister to visit China was Theresa May in 2018. Before the visit, she and her team were advised to get dressed under the covers because of the risk of hidden cameras having been placed in their hotel rooms to record compromising material. Keir Starmer, in Beijing this week, was more sanguine about his privacy, even though the security risks have, if anything, increased since the former Tory prime minister was in town. China has been accused of spying on parliament, has sanctioned British MPs and peers, engaged in severe cyber-attacks, adopted aggressive trade practices and generally been, in the government’s own words, an “epoch-defining challenge”. “I can confirm that I didn’t,” Starmer replied to whether he had taken refuge while getting dressed. “I’ve always said that we need to seize the opportunities, mindful of our national security.” The prime minister’s instincts are indicative of his broader approach to balancing the risks on this trip – one of the most significant of his time in office. After years of what Starmer has described as the “ice age” in relations between the UK and China, it was intended to begin the thaw. But for all the potential offered by closer ties with the world’s second-biggest economy for a country desperate for growth, Beijing does not open the doors for nothing. While officials stress there was no political involvement, the UK’s decision to green-light the new Chinese mega-embassy in London smoothed the way. After that, Starmer was given the full works: ceremonial welcome, military march-past, lavish banquet, praise from his host and, crucially , more than three hours of talks with President Xi Jinping. The prime minister appeared to be getting into the spirit. When Xi’s business secretary greeted him with a deep bow, Starmer looked quizzically at Peter Kyle, his British counterpart. Kyle managed a polite nod. While there were some tangible gains from the trip – a visa waiver, cuts to whisky tariffs, investment in China by British firms – it was the 10 different agreements signed that will really make the difference. One British official described them as “jam tomorrow” deals. But the Chinese state is such a bureaucratic monolith that unless the man at the top is signed up, British businesses will struggle to get access to the market. So while some back home may have asked “was that it?”, in No 10’s view what mattered was the turning up – and a “more sophisticated” future relationship. “This trip is just the start,” Kyle told a reception at the British embassy on Thursday night. But a more sophisticated relationship means not just cosying up to China for the sake of our domestic economy – and ending up in a second “golden age” despite Beijing’s aggression. Before the trip, the prime minister promised he would raise “issues that need to be raised” – including the fate of pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai and the persecuted Uyghur community. He did raise them, but whether that will have any effect has yet to be seen. There was one clear breakthrough: China lifted its sanctions on six serving British parliamentarians. While Starmer will be leaving China for the next leg of his trip on Saturday, he will feel that it is job done. Of course, deepening bilateral relations does not happen in a vacuum, as Donald Trump reminded the UK with his usual bluntness. Starmer’s attempts were “very dangerous”, he warned. It is the US president’s unreliability, however, that encourages “middle powers” such as Britain, France and Canada to consider their options. China spies an opportunity. But the biggest challenge for the prime minister waits back at home. While he is at his most comfortable – and some say most effective – on the international stage, it is not lost on his team that he is seen as the very opposite in the UK. While leadership speculation has abated while he has been out of the country, it has not gone away. When he returns to Westminster on Monday, his many political and policy problems await him. He has had a confidence boost in China, and is more intent than ever to keep calm and carry on. But he may not get long to do so. On Wednesday afternoon, as the British Airways plane carrying Starmer and his delegation began its descent into Beijing, a familiar voice came over the cabin’s public address system. It was the prime minister. “Sit back, enjoy the rest of the flight – I’ll be bringing the plane in from here,” he joked. It remains unclear whether he’ll be able to deliver a safe landing at home.