(Text-only) Rhondda Records Home Page

STATEMENT FROM THE MINISTRY

OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF CUBA

Author: Minrex
informacion@granmai.cu

July 2026

Unable to conceal its hidden admiration for the epic of the Cuban

Revolution, the report reveals the fear of a nuclear superpower

in the face of the example of the ideal of social justice and

defense of sovereignty. It demonstrates --- an inferiority

complex toward a national program that prioritizes

the people over the elites.

Cuba rejects, in the strongest terms, the report published on July

20th by the United States Department of State, concerning the

alleged subversive influence of Cuba against that country. It

is a mediocre propaganda pamphlet. It aims to bolster the

mendacious message that Cuba poses a threat to the

United States, a pretext that the U.S. government

uses for collective punishment and genocide

against the Cuban people.

It seeks, through the construction of accusatory narratives,

to fabricate a consensus for a potential military aggression.

It is hypocritical for the State Department to accuse Cuba of

promoting subversive activities when it is well known that

the U.S. government allocates tens of millions of dollars

from its federal budget each year to subvert internal

order in Cuba, provoke hunger and desperation,
and overthrow the Cuban government.

This is done by the same government with a sordid history of

interference and violations of international law, which

carries out extrajudicial executions in international

waters, practices political assassination, sponsors

acts of genocide, attacks sovereign nations on

every continent --------- and interferes in the

electoral processes of sovereign states.

It is also hypocritical to persist in the lie of labeling Cuba a state

sponsor of terrorism. It is evident that neither this nor any other

report --- can present any evidence, not even the slightest

indication, for such an illegitimate accusation, since

none exists, as is known to specialized agencies

of the U.S. government itself.

It is, however, common knowledge that those who finance,

organize, and instigate violent and terrorist acts against

Cuba have found protection and total impunity on

U.S. soil.

This report fits into the discourse of supposed "left-wing terrorism,"

a novel concept that the U.S. government, and -- in particular -- its

Secretary of State, are eager to promote as the new enemy.

They seek, in this way, to attack any progressive trait, social

commitment, or leftist expression within and outside U.S.

territory, to increase repression, and to establish

a neo-McCarthyism.

The aim, in particular, is to repress and attack the U.S. population

itself and to intimidate those who express solidarity, including

those who denounce their government's unjust aggression

against Cuba. It is recognized that a growing sentiment

in the United States - including among Cubans living

there.. and their descendants, opposes the energy

embargo, the strangling of the Cuban economy,

and the threat of military aggression.

The State Department persists in questioning Cuba's ties with other

sovereign nations, as if ---- international law had disappeared. It

manipulates and distorts Cuba's widely recognized history of

solidarity, anti-colonialist and internationalist stance, even

within the United States. Every year, the US suffers

repeated and forceful isolation at the United

Nations ----- for refusing to end the

economic blockade.

Unable to conceal its hidden admiration for the epic of the Cuban

Revolution, the report reveals the fear of a nuclear superpower

in the face of the example of social justice and the defense of

sovereignty. It demonstrates an inferiority complex toward a

national program that prioritizes the people over the elites.

As it has always done -- Cuba will continue to foster friendly relations

with the US people & institutions in strict adherence to international

law, the Charter of the United Nations, and the Vienna Convention

on Diplomatic Relations.

Image: People hold up a banner as they protest against Israel at the entrance of the International Criminal Court.

The Houthis announced attacks on

Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia

July 25th, 12:28pm

(RT.ru)

The Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, whose members are known

as the Houthis, has announced attacks on the Saudi Aramco

facilities in several cities in the kingdom.

According to a statement by the Houthi representative Yahya

Sariah on the Al Masirah TV channel, the Yemeni forces

have conducted two major military operations.

"The first target - was an important Aramco facility in Jizan,

which was hit by dozens of ballistic missiles and drones,"

he said.

The goal of the second operation, according to him, was to

target important Aramco facilities in the industrial town of

Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, using missiles and drones.

Earlier, the Yemeni Houthis promised to respond to

Saudi Arabia's airstrikes in the Hodeidah province.

____________________________________________________

Strikes will continue ---- until enemy’s

‘total surrender’: Iran’s security chief

July 25th, 10:43am

(PressTV)

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Mohammad-

Bagher Zolghadr says its ongoing strikes against US targets will

continue until the “enemy’s total surrender” and in retaliation

for the massacre of children in Minab and Lamerd.

In a message released on Saturday, Zolghadr said, “Every column of

smoke in the region means that a US military, security, or financial

centre has been targeted.”

He added - that the “continuous and targeted strikes” by Iranian

fighters were “the lashes of the anger of the awakened Iranian

nation upon the back of the system of domination” and would

continue “until the enemy’s total surrender and revenge is

taken for the blood of the oppressed children of Minab

and Lamerd, God willing.”

The illegal US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran,

which began on February 28, enters its fifth month.

On April 8, after 40 days, because of Iran’s retaliatory operations

and control over the Strait of Hormuz, the US and the Israeli

regime were forced to agree to a ceasefire.

Iran determined to defend national interests, security: FM Araghchi

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, says the country remains

firmly committed to defending its national interests and security.

However, the US renewed its onslaught on Iran after violating the

Pakistan-brokered Memorandum of Understanding of June 17 by

attempting unauthorized naval movements through the Strait of

Hormuz, with the Iranian Navy intercepting the vessels ---- to

enforce the agreement.

The US military has conducted air raids across the country for

13 consecutive nights, targeting civilian sites --- including

telecommunication infrastructure, bridges and water

desalination plants, killing 55 people and injuring

645 others.

In response, Iran's Armed Forces have launched retaliatory drone

and missile strikes against US military bases across the region.

_________________________________________________________________

Israel kills 6 Palestinians in Gaza

as death toll rises to 73,317:

Health Ministry

July 25th, 10:12am

(PressTV)

Six Palestinians have been killed and 37 others injured

in Israeli attacks across Gaza over the past 48 hours,

according to the Health Ministry.

The death toll from Israel’s military aggression in the

Gaza Strip, has risen to 73,317, the Ministry said on

Saturday, as Israeli attacks on the strip continued.

The ministry added that, since the ceasefire was

announced on Oct. 10, 2025, 1,191 Palestinians

have been killed and 3,853 others wounded.

It added that the bodies of 803 victims had

also been recovered from beneath rubble

during the same period.

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas

slammed Israel for continuing its genocidal

war against civilians in Gaza.

In a statement, Hamas said Israel’s extensive airstrikes, the

destruction of residential and industrial buildings in the

Jabalia refugee camp and in the al-Yarmouk and

al-Zaytoun neighbourhoods of Gaza City, as

well as evacuation warnings issued for

several residential areas --- evidenced

a determination to continue the war

despite the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas further noted - that the Israeli regime was escalating

its military aggression, abandoning its commitments under

the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, and continuing a

campaign of killing and destruction in Gaza

“The war has not stopped for a single day

since the agreement was signed,”

Hamas said.

The Gaza-based resistance movement called on the United States,

as a guarantor of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, along with the

agreement’s other guarantor states and mediators, to intervene

against Israel’s continued violations and to compel the regime

to halt its attacks on the Palestinian people.

Israeli attacks kill at least 13 Palestinians

in Gaza ----- including an entire family

In a series of fresh Israeli assaults over the past 24 hours,

at least 13 Palestinians have been killed across the

besieged Gaza Strip, including five members
of the same family.

According to the US-based conflict monitor ACLED, Israeli

airstrikes against Palestinian targets in Gaza rose to

more than 40 in June, the highest monthly total

since the ceasefire.

Many of these strikes targeted civilians near

the dividing lines imposed on the besieged

Strip, killing and injuring..... women

and children.

Since launching its genocidal war on October 7th, 2023,

nearly 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been

damaged or destroyed.

Despite the supposed ceasefire, Israel persists with its

genocidal war - openly planning to occupy and control

around 70% of the Gaza Strip, while forcibly confining

the remaining population of nearly two million

Palestinians ---- to just 30% of their land.

_________________________________________

Yemen’s Ansarullah: Saudi Arabia

resembles Israel .....in its lying,

and aggression

July 25th, 9:31am

(PressTV)

Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement says Saudi Arabia

has adopted policies and practices similar to those of

the Israeli regime, particularly concerning lying

and aggression.

In a statement released on Saturday, Mohammed Abdul Salam, head

of the Sana’a negotiating delegation and spokesman for Yemen’s

Ansarullah movement, said, “Saudi Arabia resembles Israel in

everything; in lying, arrogance, malice and aggression.”

He described the latest Saudi airstrike on the Sana’a International

Airport as proof that Riyadh remains determined to prevent the

reopening of the country’s main civilian gateway.

He maintained that the attack - reflects Saudi Arabia’s continued

insistence that the Sana’a International Airport should operate

only with the approval of the Saudi king, despite repeated

demands ----------- to lift the restrictions on civilian and

humanitarian flights.

“On the one hand, Riyadh insists on keeping Sana’a Airport closed,

while on the other it claims to be defending Yemen’s sovereignty,”

he said.

Abdul Salam warned that Saudi Arabia’s continued refusal to accept

the realities on the ground would carry serious consequences for

the kingdom’s security and economy, urging Riyadh to abandon

its failed policies.

“The Yemeni people will not give up their rights and will

reclaim them --- by every possible means,” he asserted.

On July 13, Saudi forces struck Sana’a International Airport,

violating a four-year-long ceasefire, and prompting Yemen’s

armed forces to resume retaliatory operations.

In the following days, the Yemeni armed forces targeted

strategic sites in Saudi Arabia, including Abha

International Airport, with the Ansarullah

movement saying the operations were

a direct response to the continued

Saudi military aggression.

On Monday, Ansarullah announced the start of what it

described as a “siege for siege” policy, declaring a

naval blockade against Saudi maritime traffic

through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The movement said the measure -- was intended to match

the restrictions and military pressure imposed on Yemen,

stressing that its operations would continue until attacks

on the country ...came to an end.

Today, July 25th, in 1941,

Emmett Till,

a lynched, shot,

and mutilated

boy,

is born.

Emmett Louis Till was a US-African boy who, at
14 years old, was abducted and lynched, in

Mississippi in 1955.

The brutality of his murder -- and the acquittal

of his killers ---- drew attention to the long
history of the violent persecution of
US-Africans in the US.

Till --- posthumously --- became an

icon of the civil rights movement.

Till was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. During summer vacation

in August 1955, he was visiting relatives near Money, Mississippi, in

the Mississippi Delta region. Till spoke to 21-yr-old Carolyn Bryant,

the white, married proprietor of a local grocery store.

Although what happened at the store... is a matter of dispute,

Till was, after his death, accused of flirting with, touching,

or whistling at Bryant.

Till's alleged interaction with Bryant, violated the unwritten

racist code of behaviour - for a black male interacting with

a white female in the extreme racist Jim Crow–era South.

Several nights after the encounter, Bryant's husband Roy and his

half-brother J. W. Milam went to Till's great-uncle's house armed

- and abducted Till, age 14. They beat and mutilated him before

shooting him in the head ........and then sinking his body in the

Tallahatchie River. Three days later, Till's mutilated, bloated

body was discovered - and retrieved from the river.

Till's body was returned to Chicago, where his mother insisted on

a public funeral service with an open casket, which was held at

Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ.

It was later said that... "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till

Bradley ---- exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's

bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention on, not

only American racism and the barbarism of lynching, but also

the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy."

Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his open casket,

and the images of Till's mutilated body were published in black-

oriented magazines and newspapers, rallying black support

and white sympathy across the US.

Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the lack of black civil rights

in Mississippi, with newspapers around the U.S. critical of the state.

Although local newspapers and law enforcement officials

initially decried the violence against Till and called for

justice, they responded to white racist criticism by

ultimately .....giving support to the killers.

In September 1955, an all-white jury acquitted Bryant and Milam

of Till's murder. Protected against double jeopardy, the two men

publicly admitted in a 1956 interview with Look magazine that

they had tortured & murdered Till, selling the story for $4,000

(equivalent to $47,000 in 2025).

Till's murder was seen as a catalyst -- for the next phase of the civil

rights movement. In December 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott

began in Alabama and lasted for over a year, resulting eventually

in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling ------ that segregated buses were

unconstitutional.

According to historians, events surrounding Till's life and death

continue to resonate. An Emmett Till Memorial Commission

was established in 2006 by Tallahatchie County residents,

and the county courthouse in Sumner was restored and

includes the Emmett Till Interpretive Centre. Fifty-one

sites in the Mississippi Delta are memorialized as

associated with Till.

The Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act, a US law - finally!
- making lynching a federal hate crime, was signed
into law on March the 29th, 2022, by President
Joe Biden.

For the song by Bob Dylan -----

see The Death of Emmett Till.

1,150 health professionals, organizations

launch petition ---- to boycott Israeli

medical association over

Gaza genocide

June 26th, 4:20pm

(PressTV)

More than 1,150 health professionals and medical organizations

have signed a petition --------- demanding a boycott of the Israeli

Medical Association (IMA), saying it is directly complicit in the

ongoing genocide against Palestinians ------ in the besieged

Gaza Strip.

The signatories, are urging the World Medical Association (WMA)

to expel the IMA over its complete silence on Israel’s systematic

destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure, as well as the killing,

abduction, and torture of Palestinian doctors, nurses, and

first responders.

Led by the People’s Health Movement (PHM), Doctors for Gaza,

and the Health Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace,

the petition also calls for the WMA to suspend the Israeli

body for its blatant failure.. to uphold core medical

ethical standards.

Among the hundreds of signatories are Spain’s Health Workers

for Palestine, the US-based Doctors Against Genocide, and

the Health Alliance for Democracy in the Philippines.

The petition, recently published in The Lancet, the world’s

leading medical journal, states that the IMA has violated

medical ethics and international humanitarian law... in

the besieged strip.

The Lancet noted that it could not find any public statements

from the IMA ---- condemning Israeli attacks on Gaza’s health

system, criticizing the regime’s conduct in the war, calling

for a ceasefire, or responding to UN reports documenting

genocide against the Palestinian people.

Instead, the IMA has repeatedly echoed Israeli regime talking

points, including the unsubstantiated claim that the Hamas

resistance movement uses hospitals as command centres.

In recent months, there has been a growing international

campaign to suspend Israel from the WMA and boycott

Israeli doctors and medical institutions.

A report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor,

in April 2026 highlighted the IMA’s failure to condemn the

Israeli military’s repeated attacks on Gaza’s hospitals.

The report stated: “This incitement .....was supported by

institutional cover from the IMA, which not only failed to

condemn the targeting of the health system but also

lobbied to block international ceasefire calls,

prioritizing military alignment ---- over its

humanitarian duty to protect life.”

In mid-June --- the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),

the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the US, welcomed

international medical groups’ calls for Israel’s suspension from

the WMA.

In late 2023, a group of Israeli doctors, including dozens of

practicing physicians, published an open letter explicitly

calling for the bombardment of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital,

describing the territory’s health infrastructure as a

“legitimate target.”

The IMA.... took no disciplinary action against them.

Al-Shifa Hospital was among dozens of medical facilities

in Gaza that were repeatedly bombed and raided by

Israeli forces. Scores of hospitals and health

centres ---- were destroyed ---- or

rendered inoperable.

In December 2024, Israeli troops stormed

Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, medical staff and

displaced civilians sheltering there --------- were

executed during the raid.

The hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was

abducted and remains in Israeli custody, where

he is subjected to severe mistreatment ----

and torture.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza has effectively annihilated

the Strip’s entire medical system. Airstrikes combined

with a criminal blockade have pushed the remaining

hospitals to the brink of total collapse, leaving

critically injured patients...... without

adequate care.

With severe shortages of medicine, equipment, and fuel,

doctors in Gaza warn that many more lives will be lost

as the Zionist regime’s siege continues to strangle

the healthcare system.

The systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure, medical

facilities, and densely populated areas by the Israeli

occupation has been widely documented ---- as

constituting genocide.

Rhondda Records exists to express the Rhondda's
vision --- when it was confident, powerful, caring,
and socialist.

A Rhondda very aware of the media's poisonous
tricks -- how they con working class people into
attacking each other, or racial groups, or, often,
even their best allies and friends... instead of
seeing their real enemies:--- an elite who hate
the very idea that working people can think,
create, or achieve a fairer society.

Thatcher said her proudest achievement was
Blair and New Labour - who parachuted in
careerists and expenses fiddlers - to stop
local Labour members having a say, and
who made genuine socialist MPs leave
the Labour party in disgust and many
members and voters to despair...
and the young to stop voting.

Jeremy Corbyn was always attacked because
he was trying to reverse all that New Labour
corruption --- that's why membership was
flooding in all over the UK.

______________________________________

Get Involved!

– If you feel you’ve been ‘purged’,
take this online survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/857YMDK

or this one:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0du5YuhPZ8ahI
oxC_b6pvBprmGA4XFdG-0r2dOVYyc4UNFg/viewform?c=0&w=1

– Request all your own data that
the Labour Party holds on you:

http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/privacy

_______________________________________

IF - YOU THINK you HAVE
BEEN UNFAIRLY BARRED:

“Any member who is suspended & intends
to appeal the decision should throw in a
‘Subject Access Request in accordance
with the Data Protection Act’ --- for ALL
data that the Labour Party hold on them.

The Labour Party are Data Controllers and
therefore have to, by law, provide you with
all material/information they hold on you.”

If anyone is in contact with anyone who
was barred from voting --- please can
you pass this info on:

The Labour leadership election was under the
jurisdiction of the electoral reform services.

If you were unfairly deprived of your vote you
can call them on 0208 365 8909 and lodge
your complaint, and inform them of your
Data Protection request.

https://www.electoralreform.co.uk

The notification letters barring new members
did not give a clear reason, or information on
how to appeal, so Vox Political suggests that
anyone in this situation, could also contact
Liz Davies here: http://www.whycantivote.com

She is a barrister --- who can
advise members on what to do.

**************************************

PONCY LABOUR MPS PROBLEM?

A huge drop in working-class Labour MPs,
caused a massive drop in support among
voters with similar backgrounds, reveals
research seeking to explain why support
has dwindled in the party’s heartlands.

The study says past leaders like Kinnock
and Blair made a concerted effort to pick
“more and more middle-class candidates
to run for office, during the 80s and 90s,
as part of an effort to rebrand” -- which
had initial successes at the ballot box.

But this “conscious electoral strategy”
stored up problems, as working-class
voters who initially, just didn’t vote in
response, now seek an alternative.

The solution? Trust each constituency to put
forward its own candidates, and don't impose
‘party-approved’ choices who can't do the job.

Now, unfortunately, there are "entryist" MPs who, for
decades, have been groomed by CIA cold war relic
organisations -- like the Atlantic Council -- and are
now trying to misdirect the Labour Party towards
cuts, a militarised police, and a US war agenda...
- and their anti-Corbyn slant is hobbling Labour.

‘How Can I Deselect My Labour MP?’ A Short Guide
to Reselection and Democratic Accountability
by Eric Sim, excellent free advice here:

http://novaramedia.com/2016/07/13/how-can-i-
deselect-my-labour-mp-a-short-guide-to-
reselection-and-democratic-accountability/

CHRIS BRYANT - SUPPORT THE MEMBERS'
LEADERSHIP CHOICE & POLICIES - OR GO!

Chris Bryant, the Rhondda's dodgy MP,
was on TV -- as soon as the PLP coup
started -- telling us that Jeremy MUST
go, because it was the ONLY way to
act in the Labour Party's interest...

Chris Bryant's voting record:
from TheyWorkForYou.com

On Tuition Fees:

On 27 Jan 2004:
Chris Bryant voted in favour of university tuition
fees increasing from £1,125 per year, to up to
£3,000 per year.

On 31 Mar 2004:
Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees
to increase from £1,125 per year, to up to £3,000
per year.

On 31 Mar 2004:
Chris Bryant voted for the introduction of variable
university tuition fees (top-up fees) of up to £3,000
per year in place of the previous fixed fee of £1,250
per year.

On 31 Mar 2004:
Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees
to increase from £1,125 per year to up to £3,000
per year, and to make other changes to higher
education funding and regulation arrangements.

On 14 Sep 2004:
Chris Bryant voted against: the immediate abolition
of all tuition fees, the re-introduction of maintenance
grants of up to £2,000 for students from low-income
homes, and changes to the country's higher
education system.

On 14 Sep 2004:
Chris Bryant voted to reject the Liberal
Democrat policy of abolition of tuition fees.

On 25 May 2016:
Chris Bryant was absent for a vote on Queen's
Speech - Forcing Schools to Become Academies
- Further Rises in University Tuition Fees

On Human Rights:

Consistently voted for introducing ID cards

Almost always voted for requiring the mass
retention of information about communications

Generally voted for mass surveillance of
people’s communications and activities

On the Environment:

Generally voted against greater regulation
of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract
shale gas

On Special Interests:

Almost always voted against limits
on success fees paid to lawyers in
no-win no fee cases

Generally voted against a
statutory register of lobbyists

On War or Peace:

Generally voted for use of UK military
forces in combat operations overseas

Consistently voted for the Iraq war

Consistently voted against an
investigation into the Iraq war

Generally voted for replacing Trident
with a new nuclear weapons system

On 2 Dec 2015:
Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria
[without UN authorisation]

On 2 Dec 2015:
Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria
[without UN authorisation]

On Independence:

Generally voted for more EU integration

____________________________

Chris Bryant Labour MP
From Wikipedia

(aka 1962-1986: Mr Christopher John Bryant
1986-1991: The Reverend Christopher John
Bryant, 1991-2001: Mr Christopher John
Bryant, 2001-: Mr Christopher John
Bryant MP.)

Born in Cardiff, to a Scottish mother & a Welsh
father, Bryant grew up in Cardiff, Wales (where
his father worked for 5 years), and Cheltenham.

He was educated at Cheltenham College, an
independent school for boys in the spa town
of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, where he
was captain of the school swimming team,
and Mansfield College at the University of
Oxford, where he graduated in 1983, with
a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English.
This was later promoted to a Master of
Arts degree (MA (Oxon)), as per tradition.

After completing his first degree, Bryant began
training to be a priest in the Church of England
at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, in Oxfordshire.
There, he obtained a degree in theology.

Although a member of the Conservative
Party, and an elected office-holder in the
Oxford University Conservative Association,
he joined the Labour Party in 1986, after
leaving Oxford.

He was ordained deacon in 1986 and priest in
1987. He served as a Curate at the Church of
All Saints, High Wycombe, from 1986 to 1989;
then as a Youth Chaplain in Peterborough,
as well as travelling in Latin America.

In 1991 Bryant left the ordained ministry, after
deciding that being gay and being a priest,
were incompatible. Statements made by
Richard Harries, then Bishop of Oxford,
also influenced his decision.

After leaving the priesthood in 1991, Bryant
worked as the election agent to the Holborn
and St Pancras Constituency Labour Party,
where he helped Frank Dobson hold his seat
in the 1992 general election.

From 1993, he was Local Government officer
for the Labour Party; he lived in Hackney and
was elected to Hackney Borough Council in
1993, serving until 1998. He became Chair of
the Christian Socialist Movement.

He is both a member of the Labour Friends
of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine &
the Middle East. From 1994 to 1996 he was
London manager of the leader-grooming
"charity", Common Purpose.

He was Labour candidate for Wycombe, in the
1997 general election (he lost by 2,370 votes),
and Head of European Affairs for the BBC,
from 1998.

His selection for the very safe Labour seat of
Rhondda, South Wales in 2000, shocked many
people given Bryant's background – gay, an ex-
Anglican vicar, and someone who was a Tory,
while studying at Oxford, and a member now,
of the Henry Jackson Society 'think tank' ---
described by The Guardian newspaper as
'neoconservative'. It is pro-US, pro-NATO
and pro-military intervention, as well as
being fundamentally anti-socialist.

Fifty-two people applied for the candidature
and a local councillor was hot favourite to
win, before Bryant was parachuted in.

In 2004, a photograph of Mr Bryant in his
underpants, which he had posted to a gay
dating website, was published in 'papers.

When an interviewer suggested he was
a 'disgrace to the Rhondda', he replied:
"They can't get rid of me."

His pay, allowances and some expenses:

The basic annual salary for an MP, from
April 1st, 2016 is £74,962. MPs also get
expenses: to cover the costs of running
an office, employing staff, having some-
where to live in London, plus, in their
constituency and travelling between
Parliament and their constituency.

His MP's expenses story:

Chris Bryant changed second home
twice to claim £20,000: the deputy
leader of the House of Commons,
"flipped" his second home twice,
in 2 years, allowing him to claim
almost £20,000 for renovations
and fees.

Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda, split over
£92,000 of expenses between 3 properties
in Wales and London --- within five years.

In 2004, he attempted to claim £58,000 to
overhaul his second home in Wales, after
allegedly complaining that properties in
his constituency were "terrace or mine
owners' houses".

Mr Bryant, a former Church of England clergyman,
wanted the money for a new bathroom & kitchen,
and to demolish his conservatory. He'd bought the
detached house for £97,500, under a year earlier.

He submitted a claim to the Commons fees office for
£58,493.26 --- almost 3 times the annual maximum.
He noted that the claim exceeded his allowance.

His alleged justification was disclosed... in
correspondence between Commons officials.
By email, an official wrote: "He had problems
finding a suitable property because in the
Rhondda there is a choice mainly of terraced
property or mine owners' houses." When
approached by the Daily Telegraph,
Mr Bryant said: "I have never said
or thought anything of the sort".

In all, he successfully claimed over £13,000
for renovations, repairs & appliances, in 2004.
Along with other bills, his annual claim was
£20,902.

In April 2005, he flipped his expenses to his flat in
west London, which he bought for £400,000 in April
2002. He also claimed £630 a month for mortgage
interest, along with other bills. After claiming over
£3,600 over 3 months, he sold the flat in July 2005
for £477,000.

Mr Bryant used his profits to buy a more expensive
flat in west London, which was valued at £670,000.
He immediately flipped his second home expenses
there, claiming almost £6,400 in stamp duty, legal
fees and mortgage fees, incurred in the purchase.

He then began claiming interest of £1,000 a month
on the mortgage. He also claimed a further £6,000
a year for the flat's service charge and ground rent.

In all, he claimed £92, 415 in second
home expenses, from 2004 to 2009.

Mr Bryant said at the time: "I moved flat in
London, so as to be closer to Parliament."

Research by Channel 4 News in 2015 found that
at least 46 MPs had this kind of system in place
– a move one Labour backbencher described as
“a new fiddle”. Channel 4 reported then:

“Our investigation found that many of the MPs
bought their London properties with the help of
the taxpayer, when a previous expenses system
allowed them to claim back mortgage payments.
But when those claims were banned, following
the expenses scandal, they switched to letting
out their properties, in some cases for up to
£3,000 a month. They then started claiming
expenses for rent and hotels in the capital.”

Among those identified was Chris Bryant, shadow
leader of the House of Commons. He had already
bought a penthouse in London back in 2005 and
claimed around £1,000 a month in mortgage
claims under the old system.

But after the expenses scandal, he started renting
the property out. It’s since been advertised by estate
agents as having a private lift and a porter, with rent
at about £3,000 a month. Meanwhile, Bryant moved
into a new flat;- claiming his own rent on expenses.

Russian/Scottish scientists hail long-range
secure quantum communication system.

A group of scientists from ITMO University
in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has developed
a new approach to constructing quantum
communication systems for secure data
exchange.

The experimental device based on the results of the
research is capable of transmitting single-photon
quantum signals across distances of 250 klmtrs
or more, which is on par with its cutting edge
analogues, the ITMO press-service says.

"Now researchers are on a mission -- to create
a fully-fledged quantum cryptographic system,
that will generate & distribute quantum keys
and transmit useful data simultaneously",
ITMO says.

Information security is becoming more and more
of a critical issue not only for large companies,
banks and defense enterprises but even for
small businesses and individual users.

But the data encryption algorithms we currently
use for protecting our data are imperfect - in the
long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless
of how complex and intricate the algorithm is,
getting around it, is just a matter of time.

Unlike algorithm-based encryption, systems
that protect information, by making use of
fundamental laws of quantum physics, can
make data transmission totally immune to
hacker attacks, in the future.

Information in a quantum channel is carried
by single photons that change irreversibly
if an eavesdropper tries to intercept them.
The legitimate users will instantly know
about any kind of intervention.

Researchers at the Quantum Information Centre
of the International Institute of Photonics and
Optical Information Technology at ITMO Uni.,
Russia, along with their colleagues from the
Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, have
devised a new way to generate and
distribute, quantum bits.

This makes it possible to share quantum signals
--- via optical fibres --- 250 kilometres in distance.

"To transmit quantum signals, we use the so-
called side frequencies," says Artur Gleim,
head of the Quantum Information Centre,
at ITMO University,

"This unique approach gives us a number
of advantages -- such as a considerable
simplification of the device architecture
and the large pass-through capacity of
the quantum channel. In terms of bit rate
and operating distances, our system is
comparable to absolute champions in
the field of quantum communications."

According to Robert Collins, research associate
at the Institute of Photonics & Quantum Sciences
at Heriot-Watt University, and one of the authors
of the study, this may become a pivotal point for
the whole field of quantum communication and
cryptography:

"Down the track, this new approach can enable
smooth coexistence of numerous data streams
with different wavelengths in one single optical
cable. On top of it, these quantum streams can
be fed into the already existing fibre optic lines
--- along with conventional communications."

The research paper is published
in the Optics Express journal.

Scottish universities are to be
congratulated for their strong
& growing links with Chinese
and Russian universities....

What a shame, that Wales is
lying low --- with academics
too scared to break from
US military research.