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With winds of up to 135 kilometers per hour, two people died and 219 were injured, according to Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operations Center.

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Has the sun set on the British empire? London cedes the Chagos Islands to Mauritius

The UK and Mauritius have finalized an agreement to transfer the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritian sovereignty, ending decades-long disputes and international litigation.

🔸 Brits were outraged over the news: Former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps called it "deeply regrettable" while Reform Party leader Nigel Farage labeled it a "strategic disaster."

🔸 GB News editor Tom Harwood said "Britain is getting smaller." British think tank member Sam Bidwell warned that "If we can’t defend our interests, we won’t survive the 21st century."

🔸 Opposition Conservative Party leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of making “a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of Beijing” – although the deal was negotiated by the previous government he served in.

🔸 A statement by Starmer and Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said the treaty will “address past wrongs and support the welfare of Chagossians.”

Once French dominions, Mauritius was seized by Britain in 1810 and the Chagos islands were ceded in 1814. Mauritius won independence in 1968 but the Chagos remained a British territory.

In the 1970s, over 1,000 residents were exiled to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for a US airbase on Diego Garcia. The island, which will remain under British control for another 99 years, “plays a vital role in national, regional and global security,” according to Downing Street.

The base hosts some 2,500 military staff, mostly from the US, and was used for military operations including the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 Iraq War.

🔸 WikiLeaks also commented on the deal, noting that the UK and the US planned to make it “difficult, if not impossible” for Chagossians in the UK and elsewhere to return home.

In 2019, the UN voted for on the decolonization of the archipelago. The only countries which opposed the motion were the UK, the US, Australia, Hungary, Israel and the Maldives.

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