What happened
Britain’s domestic intelligence service is committing more resources to countering hostile foreign powers than at any point during the Cold War, according to its director-general. MI5 boss Ken McCallum warned that threats from foreign adversaries had quadrupled over the past decade, with Russia leading the challenge through cyber-attacks, sabotage and other forms of covert aggression. He also highlighted growing Iranian activity targeting Jewish communities and military installations in Britain.

Who said what
McCallum (pictured above) described Russia as “aggressor number one” and said MI5’s efforts to counter both terrorism and state threats were now “pretty much of equal scale”, which he described as a “huge shift” in recent years.

His comments come as a “growing number of leaders across Europe have warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine”, said Frank Gardner on the BBC.

What next?
MI5 has established an AI Threat Assessment Centre to distinguish credible dangers from exaggerated claims. McCallum said the service would continue working with Britain’s other intelligence agencies to address emerging technological risks alongside persistent threats from Russia, Iran and extremist groups.

What happened
The trial of comedian and actor Russell Brand is expected to begin in full today at Southwark Crown Court after a panel of jurors was confirmed yesterday afternoon.

The 51-year-old, who became a British television personality in the 2000s, faces three charges of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against six women. The allegations span 10 years from 1999 to 2009. Brand denies all of the charges.

Who said what
The jury selection process has been “rather more complicated” than in other trials, said Sky News’s crime commentator Martin Brunt. Mr Justice Bennathan had to be “sure in broad terms” that the 13 jurors, including a reserve, had not been influenced by previous reporting on Brand.

Asked how he was feeling by Sky News’s Katie Spencer as he arrived at court yesterday, Brand said: “Blessed, thank you very much.”

What next?
Today’s proceedings are expected to begin at about 10am with the prosecution’s opening statements. The trial is expected to run for up to 10 weeks.

A militia led by a former honey and herbs trader is “changing the Saudi-Houthi war”, according to The Telegraph.

The Southern Giants, the “most feared militia” in Yemen, now represent the “dangerous fault-line” in the alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Known in Arabic as Alwiya al-Amaliqa, the Southern Giants emerged in southern Yemen in 2015 during the country’s civil war. The group’s ideology is “rooted in Salafism, an austere, ultra-conservative strand of Sunni Islam” that regards Shia groups such as the Iran-backed Houthis as “heretics”, added The Telegraph.

The group is led by Abdulrahman al-Mahrami, a former trader known to his fighters as Abu Zara’a. Until recently the Southern Giants were thought to number between 20,000 and 30,000, but some now believe there could be as many as 70,000 fighters.

The Southern Giants have become “one of Yemen’s most formidable military forces”, said Al Jazeera. Last week the militia took a leading role in an operation to retake the strategically vital Red Sea port of Mocha, captured by the Houthis last month. The Yemeni government claims that Mocha and the coastal road along the crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait is now under its control again, “one of their first major military gains in years”.

For now the Southern Giants represent the Saudi-led coalition’s “cutting edge” in the fight to roll back Houthi conquests that have given the rebel faction “leverage over global shipping”, said The Telegraph. But while Saudi and UAE interests may align for now, “their partnership is tactical” and time-limited. How Abu Dhabi’s Yemen proxy proceeds from here “will shape not only the battle for the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but the longer struggle for control of Yemen’s south”.