Western Power Distribution, which operates in south-west England, South Wales and the Midlands, said more than 1,700 properties on its network have been left without power, with the majority affected in Wales.
According to the Met Office, winds of 82mph (132km/h) were recorded on the Llyn Peninsula in north Wales overnight and 78mph (126km/h) at Pembrey Sands in Carmarthenshire.
Exposed coastal areas are expected to be most affected but the forecaster warns that gusts could reach up to 50mph as the storm moves inland.
Storm Hannah struck south-west Ireland on Friday amid a red weather warning of "violent gusts".
The highest recorded were 76mph (122km/h) at Mace Head in Galway and 74mph (119km/h) at Shannon Airport.
ESB Networks said strong winds had caused damage to the electricity network affecting approximately 10,000 homes, farms and businesses, predominantly in counties Kerry and Cork.
Irish weather service Met Éireann said conditions would ease over Ireland on Saturday but warned it will remain windy with showers of heavy rain.
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Nigel Farage, the populist Brexit leader, blasted the man behind the decision not to invite President Trump to address the U.K. Parliament and said he feared he would be barred from meeting the American president during a forthcoming state visit.
John Bercow, speaker of the House of Commons — the chamber's presiding officer — effectively vetoed the idea of a formal address by Trump in Parliament soon after the president was elected.
Farage said in an interview with the Washington Examiner: “The speaker of the House of Commons is supposed to be neutral. This guy is obviously biased, acting for his own political interest and certainly not in the national interest. I think the guy is a complete disgrace.”
Buckingham Palace announced this week that Trump would make his long-awaited trip at the start of June, provoking plans for protests and a string of boycotts. The itinerary does not include an address to Parliament, an honor offered to both Trump’s immediate predecessors.
He added that he hoped Bercow's actions would not harm the "special relationship" between the two countries. The speaker's position dates back to 1377. Bercow, 56, has occupied the role since 2009. He is a Conservative member of Parliament, but by tradition, the speaker severs party ties and acts independently.
Bercow's intervention came as Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, said he would not attend a state banquet for Trump, becoming the first leader of the opposition to refuse such an invitation.
A string of political heavyweights has come out in favor of an address, including Jeremy Hunt, the British foreign secretary, and Norman Fowler, who is Bercow’s counterpart in the House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber.
Farage, 55, is one of Britain’s best-known politicians after spearheading the push for Brexit. His new Brexit Party is well placed to deliver a blow to more established parties in European Parliament elections on May 23.
As a populist politician who won an against-the-odds victory, he has made common cause with Trump, meeting him at Trump Tower during the transition in November 2016. “Everybody in this administration is very supportive of Brexit,” he said.
But he added that he was not welcome at events last year when Trump made a working visit to Britain.
He said the British government had told the White House that the president must not meet Farage and that he did not expect to be included this time around. “I speak to him and his family occasionally. I support many things he has done and get on well with him personally,” he said.
“But the Conservative Party has a neurosis about me, so I don’t expect any invitations. And on his last trip, one of the red lines laid down to the White House was that he shouldn’t meet me.” He said the decision was confusing when a strong relationship between the two allies was more important than ever, with the U.K. preparing to leave the European Union.
“All I would say is that I have a good relationship with this administration,” he said. “You would have thought that a British government acting in the national interest might in some ways try to use me, which I find very, very odd.”
He added that maintaining a good relationship with the U.S. does not "require the pomp and ceremony of a State Visit" and expressed disappointment in May's willingness to "kowtow" to the Trump administration.
“I would welcome a meeting with President Trump to discuss all matters of interest,” Corbyn said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Corbyn's statement.
Other prominent British politicians, including House of Commons Speaker John Bercow and Liberal Democrat party leader Sir Vince Cable, have also declined invitations to the state dinner, according to the BBC.
The White House announced Tuesday that Trump had accepted Queen Elizabeth II's invitation for a state visit in June. He is scheduled to participate in a meeting with May and attend D-Day anniversary ceremonies commemorating the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.
The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.
“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.
“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.
British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.
Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.
“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”
Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.
There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network - the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.
Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich
Apple has asked customers to stop using certain plug adapters because of a risk of electric shock.
It has issued a recall of two types of plug; the AC wall plug adapter shipped with Macs and some iOS devices between 2003 and 2010, and a three-pronged plug included in the World Travel Adapter kit.
The affected plugs were shipped in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Six incidents have been reported, Apple said.
In a statement, the firm said: "In very rare cases, affected Apple three-prong wall plug adapters designed primarily for use in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong may break and create a risk of electrical shock if exposed metal parts are touched.
"Customer safety is always Apple's top priority and we have voluntarily decided to exchange affected wall plug adapters with a new adapter, free of charge."
It did not clarify how many people had received electric shocks.
Affected plugs are white, with no letters on the inside slot, unlike newer versions which are white with grey on the inside and have a dimple on the side to make them easier to unplug.
Apple USB power adapters are not affected.
The iPhone maker is in the middle of another plug recall, which affected two-pronged adapters for use in Continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Argentina and Brazil. These plugs had the same issue.
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By Linda Givetash
April 25, 201901:08
LONDON — A string of demonstrations that blocked bridges and major streets in central London, disrupted train services and saw over a thousand people arrested are being declared a success in forcing climate change higher up the political agenda.
Extinction Rebellion, a protest movement calling for the prevention of ecological collapse that launched in the United Kingdom last year, has inspired the support of thousands across the country, raised more than £250,000 ($322,000) in just 10 days and gained the attention of politicians.
"I think we’ve become hugely popular and politicians are aware of that," organizer Nuala Gathercole Lam told NBC News. "There has been a shift toward understanding the urgency of this."
The group is rallying behind warnings from scientists, the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that significant reductions in carbon emissions must be achieved within the next 11 years to avoid devastating consequences for the planet, such as mass extinction, by the end of the century.
Police officers surround the pink boat which climate change activists used as a central point of their encampment at Oxford Circus in central London on April 19.Tolga Akmen / AFP - Getty Images
Starting on April 15, demonstrators set up makeshift camps at various locations across the city including Waterloo Bridge and Marble Arch, the iconic triumphal arch near popular tourist sites including Buckingham and Kensington Palaces.
The final day of protests began Thursday with a group of seven demonstrators forming a chain outside the doors of the London Stock Exchange to highlight the negative impacts financial industries are having on the physical world, Gathercole Lam said.
Another group caused disruption by climbing on top of a train in in the city's financial center, Canary Wharf, according to the Metropolitan Police. Five people were arrested in the incident.
Protesters are demanding that the British government tell the truth about the severity of climate change, set drastic targets to reach zero carbon emissions by 2025 and establish a citizens' assembly to direct how those targets are reached.
April 17, 201900:45
"It seems like something that is totally unrealistic, but what is really unrealistic is that we're carrying on as business as usual," said Sarah Lummun, who works on the rebellion's political strategy.
People are sacrificing their careers and livelihoods with potential criminal records because they believe in the urgent need for action, Lummun said.
Of the over 1,000 people arrested, Met Police said as of Wednesday, 69 people were charged. A near-even split of men and women, whose ages ranged from 19 to 70, were among those arrested in that one day alone.
Members of the police carry a demonstrator during the Extinction Rebellion protest at the Marble Arch in London on April 24.Toby Melville / Reuters
Conservative-leaning commentators have called the protests inconsequential and attacked them for only being supported by young, well-off liberals. Questions have been asked over why the police didn't take stronger action to clear streets and bridges.
But the net result of 11 days of disruption is a huge amount of publicity and the ear of senior politicians. The rebellion is expecting a formal invitation to meet with Michael Gove, the environment secretary, and other politicians, Lummun said. Numerous other members of parliament, mostly from the opposition Labour and Green parties, have joined the movement and spoken to demonstrators.
"On all levels, the Extinction Rebellion has been a fantastic success on raising the issue," said John Barry, a professor specializing in green political theory at Queen’s University Belfast.
"I think non-violent direct action is absolutely needed to push the political system, to challenge our economic system, to create a better economy and society."
Barry rejected the idea that Extinction Rebellion was "just a niche, green, guilty middle-class protest," he said.
The group has also gained traction internationally. In Los Angeles, protesters scaled the Universal Studios globe waving green flags for Earth Day last Monday. Chapters of the group have also organized in nearly 400 locations around the world.
Although the protests are set to end Thursday, Lummun said the movement will not die down any time soon.
"If we do not act, we have no future," she said. "If the government doesn't meet our demands, we will escalate."
Linda Givetash
Linda Givetash is a reporter based in London. She previously worked for The Canadian Press in Vancouver and Nation Media in Uganda.
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By Alexander Smith
LONDON — When President Donald Trump visited the United Kingdom last summer, he was greeted by mass protests.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in demonstrations across the country, many carrying anti-Trump signs daubed with typically dry and lewd British humor. The pièce de résistance was a giant inflatable "Trump baby" — a 20-foot blimp showing a bawling commander-in-chief wearing a diaper.
And that was meant to be a relatively low-key "working trip" for the president. So what will happen this summer when Trump returns for a full state visit?
On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace announced that the president will travel again to British shores in June, but this time on the official invitation of Queen Elizabeth II — with all the trappings and ceremony that a state visit entails.
So, if anything, the protests this time will be even more fierce.
Senior figures in the opposition Labour Party are campaigning to have the state visit canceled altogether, a position previously adopted by Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, and John Bercow, the speaker of the House and Commons.
Giving a flavor of the feeling against the president, one of these lawmakers, David Lammy, described Trump in a tweet as "deluded, dishonest, xenophobic" and "narcissistic." Another, Stephen Doughty, labeled him "racist, sexist" and "extremist."
Emily Thornberry, one of Labour's most senior lawmakers and would-be foreign secretary under a Labour government, said Trump had "systematically assaulted all the shared values that unite our two countries." She said Prime Minister Theresa May had "no business wasting taxpayers' money on all the pomp, ceremony and policing costs that will come with this visit."
This could all add up to a somewhat frosty reception from what is supposed to be the U.S.' closest ally.
July 13, 201801:07
Khan has been one of the most senior opponents of Trump in the U.K. and in January 2018 said he represented "the polar opposite of our city's values of inclusion, diversity and tolerance."
Trump himself then responded to this, calling him "pathetic" and saying he did a "terrible job" at dealing with the London Bridge terror attack in June 2017. Some of Khan's supporters believe that Trump focused on him because he is a Muslim.
While Khan may these days be using more diplomatic language, he has yet to retract any of his criticisms. A spokesperson for the mayor told NBC News in an email Wednesday that while "Sadiq's views about Donald Trump are well known ... he of course understands the importance of the president visiting to commemorate D-Day."
Arriving June 3, the president and first Lady Melania Trump will likely be greeted by a lavish ceremony and a banquet with the Queen and 150 distinguished guests. Then on June 5 they will attend a ceremony in the southern coastal city of Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Last time around, Trump did briefly have tea with the Queen, but that was at Windsor Castle some 20 miles outside London city center. His trip seemed specifically designed so he could zip around in his helicopter and entirely avoid the demonstrations raging in the heart of the city.
