Was a Finland-Germany Communications Cable Sabotaged?
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Today, Finland and Germany investigate a possible act of sabotage. Around 100 aid trucks are violently looted in Gaza and 45 people have been jailed for subversion in Hong Kong. From TLDR News, this is your daily briefing for Tuesday 19th November 2024. An undersea communications cable linking Finland and Germany has been severed, according to its Finnish state operator, sparking fears of possible sabotage.

On Monday, Sinir, the operator of the Sea Lion 1 fiber optic cable which runs from Helsinki to Rostock, said it had been cut in the Baltic Sea close to Sweden and was almost certainly the result of an external force.

Sinead has declined to say whether it believes the incident was sabotage or an intentional act, adding that a ship's anchor or fishing trawler are also possible causes. But separately, just one day before the incident, the Swedish telecoms operator Telia also said that a communications cable between Sweden and Lithuania was damaged. In a joint statement on Monday, the German and Finnish foreign ministers said an investigation was underway.

They said, "...our European security is not only under threat from Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors. Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies." Moreover, without directly naming a cause behind the destruction, they added, "...the fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicion of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times."

For context, over the past few years, Russian actors have stepped up their hybrid warfare tactics in Europe, including by sabotaging infrastructure and communications networks. NATO members, especially the Nordic and Baltic states, have increased their monitoring of tens of thousands of cables and pipelines in an effort to counter such attacks.

But as well as acts of sabotage, including fires and parcel bombs, European states have also suffered disruption through cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns and election interference. And in October, the head of the UK's domestic intelligence agency, MI5, said that the range of threats posed is now the most complex and interconnected ever seen.

This latest incident, though, will also remind many people of the underwater explosions that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022, leading to long investigations by several Nordic states, which have since closed without concluding who was responsible.

However, the topic came back into the news in August 2024, with reports stating that a Ukrainian diver, named only as Volodymyr Z, had been arrested in Germany in connection with the explosions. We'll be sure to bring you further updates on this latest story as it develops. There's more on the way, but remember to subscribe and ring the bell for more Daily Briefing tomorrow. Plus, if you want to support the channel like Jose, then consider joining the TLDR Daily Membership Programme for just £1.99.

Moving to the Middle East now, where 97 aid lorries have been violently looted. This is according to UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, who claim that, on Saturday, the lorries were raided at gunpoint when passing through Kerem Shalom, which is a crossing with southern Gaza controlled by Israel. They added that the convoy was attacked by masked men who threw grenades, although it's not clear who carried out the ambush.

With only 11 of the 109 lorries in the convoy making deliveries to the intended destination, a warehouse in Deir el-Bala, this is thought to be one of the worst incidents of its kind. Right now it's not clear who is behind the looting, with the UNRWA commissioner claiming that the total breakdown of civil order in Gaza meant that it's become an impossible environment to operate in. According to Reuters, the convoy was told by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route.

When asked about this, the UNRWA commissioner said he could not comment on it. Importantly though, he did put out a statement on X, claiming that Israeli authorities are continuing to disregard their legal obligations under international law to ensure the population's basic needs are met and to facilitate the safe delivery of aid.

In Hong Kong, a court has given jail sentences to 45 pro-democracy activists for subversion under its controversial national security law. The group were accused of conspiracy to commit subversion over an opposition primary election in 2020, with prosecutors alleging that they plotted to paralyse the government by winning control of the city's legislature, which would allow them to block budgets and eventually force the city's leader to resign.

Benny Tai, a legal scholar, received the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, while the other defendants received sentences of between four and eight years. Joshua Wong, a former leading student protest organiser, was sentenced to more than four years in prison, while Gordon Ng, an Australian national, received more than seven years.

The trial of the Hong Kong 47, as it was known, was the largest under the national security law imposed by Beijing after the 2019 anti-CCP protests. Hong Kong then introduced its own legislation in March 2024, which has seen some of the city's most prominent pro-democracy politicians, activists, union officials, journalists, academics and student leaders arrested and charged.

This has also led to widespread international concern over the rule of law, with one former UK Supreme Court judge in June even warning that the city was slowly becoming a totalitarian state. Moving on to some business news now, which is that the popular video game Minecraft will be heading to the real world, as it struck a deal with Merlin Entertainment.

The deal, worth $110 million, means that themed rides, attractions, hotel rooms and retail outlets themed around Minecraft will open in the UK and US. Now, it's important to note here that this doesn't mean that a Minecraft world or anything similar will open. Rather, it means that other major theme parks will open rides in their resorts that are Minecraft-themed.

Under the terms of the deal, the first two attractions, which are not yet announced, will open in the UK and US in 2026 and 2027. The hope is that over the longer term, the two companies will expand the strategic partnership. This seems to be yet another step in the expansion of Minecraft. Starting out as an indie game, it's become the best-selling game of all time.

Next year, a Hollywood movie starring Jack Black is set to be released and Netflix has announced that they have plans to release an animated series based on the game. In our final uplifting story today, we discuss the NHS's rollout of a once-a-day pill designed to help people stop smoking called Varenicline.

The pill is designed to tackle cravings and neutralise the symptoms associated with nicotine withdrawal. If used alongside behavioural support, the pill, which is going to be available on prescription only, could help one in four people quit smoking for at least six months, according to the NHS. In total, this could account for up to 85,000 people over the next five years, which could prevent up to 9,500 smoking-related deaths.

Now obviously all of that is pretty complicated, but hopefully our analysis has made it a little clearer. Making videos like this requires a lot of effort and research to uncover what's really going on, before then summarising it into something that makes sense to everyone. But that's an expensive process. Running TL;DR this year has cost just under £800,000, which when your main product is free YouTube videos is quite a lot of money.

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