Nationalist parties in UK sign MoU calling for constitutional change

Leaders of nationalist parties in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland signed a memorandum of understanding in the Welsh capital Cardiff on Monday, calling for greater cooperation and urging the British government to prepare for possible constitutional change.

Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who leads the Scottish National Party (SNP), Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, and Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald and Vice President Michelle O'Neill attended the meeting. The leaders attended as party representatives rather than on behalf of their respective devolved governments.

The pact comes about four months after elections in the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd in Wales, which meant that for the first time, all three devolved administrations in the United Kingdom are now headed by first ministers from nationalist or pro-independence parties.

They maintain that the people in each nation should be able to decide their own future through democratic means, and call on the British government to "prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change" in each jurisdiction.

The memorandum, however, does acknowledge that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have distinct political and constitutional circumstances and different aims and timetables.

The SNP supports an independent Scotland, Plaid Cymru advocates Welsh independence, while Sinn Fein seeks the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.

Beyond constitutional questions, the three parties also agreed to step up cooperation on the economy, renewable energy and relations with Europe. The memorandum said Brexit has harmed economic opportunities and argued that the future of the nations represented by the parties lies within the European Union.

Responding to the Cardiff meeting, a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the prime minister remained committed to the union and was focused on easing pressure on household finances and improving economic security, rather than holding further constitutional debates or referendums.

Nationalist parties in UK sign MoU calling for constitutional change

A newly released Chinese documentary provides a rare glimpse into the country's crackdown on cross-border telecom scam networks in northern Myanmar, highlighting the pivotal role of technological countermeasures in the campaign.

Titled "The Demise of Telecom Fraud in Northern Myanmar," the three-part documentary was jointly produced by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and China Media Group, and was aired on CCTV nationwide on Monday. It reveals the brutal conditions inside telecom fraud compounds in northern Myanmar, where scams mainly targeted Chinese citizens.

The documentary unveils the covert methods used by fraud gangs, such as stealing China's communication signals to make their scams highly deceptive.

"For example, they secretly ran wireless bridges, cables and fiber optics to pull domestic network signals into Muse (town in Myanmar) for remote use, allowing them to pose as users inside China and carry out fraud," said Zhang Zheng, a second-level inspector at the Cybersecurity Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

According to the documentary, expert teams from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology worked with public security authorities to conduct a sweeping inspection for illegal equipment in key areas.

In just three months, they shut down 75,000 fraud-related mobile phone numbers and more than 4,000 broadband accounts, and cleared nearly 100 wireless bridges, effectively cutting off the communication channels between fraudsters and users inside China.

Chinese documentary spotlights tech in Myanmar telecom fraud crackdown