Russia accused of threatening Dutch warship on patrol with Britain's HMS Defender - Sky News

Dutch authorities say Russian fighter jets armed with air-to-surface missiles threatened one of their navy ships in the Black Sea.

The Dutch Defence Ministry said Russian fighter jets repeatedly flew low over the ship and carried out "mock attacks" off the coast of Crimea last week.

The Dutch ship Evertsen had been patrolling the area alongside HMS Defender.

Russia said the British ship was forced to flee the area last week after their warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs.

Britain has denied that account and insisted the ship wasn't fired upon.

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Image: HMS Defender followed by Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS Evertsen

Image: A map showing the route of HMS Defender

Dutch defence minister Ank Bijleveld-Schouten called the Russian actions against the Evertsen "irresponsible."

"Evertsen has every right to sail there," she said. "There is no justification whatsoever for this kind of aggressive act, which also unnecessarily increases the chance of accidents."

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She said the Netherlands would speak to Russia about the incident.

The ministry said that the Russian jets, armed with bombs and air-to-surface rockets, flew past the frigate between 3.30pm and 8.30pm on Thursday and were followed by "disruptions to the Evertsen's electronic equipment".

Russia's defence ministry said its fighter jets and bombers flew safely near the Dutch ship, according to state agency Interfax.

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Russia claims this is HMS Defender 'chased out'

The HMS Defender incident last Wednesday prompted a political war of words.

Boris Johnson insisted the Royal Navy was sailing legally in Ukrainian waters and that Russia did not any fire warning shots.

But Russia accused the UK of "barefaced lies" and said it would respond robustly to any future incursions into what it says are Russian waters.

Meanwhile, sensitive defence documents containing details about the ship and the military have reportedly been found by a member of the public at a bus stop in Kent.

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PM defends British ship near Crimea

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 - a move not recognized by most countries.

Russia has criticised NATO warships visiting the region and in April it declared a broader area off Crimea closed to foreign naval ships.

In April, Russia imposed restrictions on foreign naval movements near Crimea until November in a move that drew strong complaints from Ukraine and the West.

Russia rejected the criticism and noted the restrictions wouldn't interfere with commercial shipping.

Earlier this year, Russia also bolstered its troops near the border with Ukraine and warned Kyiv against using force to reclaim control of the country's eastern industrial heartland, where a conflict with Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 14,000 people in seven years.

Moscow withdrew some of its forces after manoeuvres, but Ukrainian officials say many of them remain.

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2021-06-29 19:17:13Z
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South Africa’s top court orders Jacob Zuma to go to jail - Financial Times

South Africa’s top court has sentenced former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months in prison for contempt of court after he defied an order to attend an inquiry into allegations of corruption under his presidency.

“The only appropriate sanction is a direct, unsuspended order of imprisonment” lasting 15 months, the constitutional court said in a judgment on Tuesday. This is the first time in the country’s history that a former president has been sentenced to jail.

Zuma, 79, must turn himself in to police within five days. If he fails to do so, the police must “take all steps necessary” to ensure that he goes to jail, the court said. Zuma is normally based at his homestead in Nkandla, in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

The court’s ruling has been welcomed by civil society activists as a key moment for South African democracy. The ruling African National Congress called on its “members to remain calm”. Zuma led the party for nearly a decade and still has supporters within the ANC.

The case has been seen as a major test for the judiciary and the inquiry. Zuma “sought to ignore, undermine and in many ways destroy the rule of law altogether”, the court said.

It found Zuma was in contempt of court and said it was responding to “a series of direct assaults and calculated and insidious efforts by [Zuma] to corrode its legitimacy and authority”. It added: “The strength of the judiciary is being tested . . . never before has the judicial process been so threatened.”

The former president had ignored an order to appear before the commission of inquiry into corruption and Raymond Zondo, South Africa’s deputy chief justice and the head of the inquiry, had sought to have him jailed for his defiance.

The long-running inquiry has been investigating claims that Zuma helped the Guptas, a well-known business family, secure state contracts and determine policy, in what became known as the “state capture” scandal. The Guptas and Zuma deny wrongdoing.

Zuma was forced to step down in 2018 over corruption scandals and the inquiry has become one of the most powerful symbols of the clean-up under Zuma’s successor Cyril Ramaphosa — as well as of its limitations and torpor.

Dozens of witnesses have implicated the former president in systematic corruption, including the manipulation of ministerial appointments and contracts to favour the business empire of the Indian-born family.

Zuma made one brief appearance before the inquiry in 2019 to deny involvement in corruption and to claim that his accusers were part of a western-sponsored “drive to remove me from the scene”.

But at his next appearance, he refused to answer questions and staged a walkout and has not returned to the witness stand.

The former president also refused to engage with the constitutional court. “It is not our law that I defy, but a few lawless judges who have left their constitutional post for political expediency,” Zuma said, referring to Zondo and the justices at the constitutional court.

Zuma’s defiance left the court with no choice, said Lawson Naidoo, executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, a legal watchdog, describing it as a “great day for constitutionalism and the rule of law in South Africa . . . It is a real affirmation of the fundamental principles of our democratic state.”

Zuma, who was a prisoner in the notorious apartheid-era jail at Robben Island and ANC intelligence boss during the anti-apartheid struggle, has said he would rather face jail than follow an order to return to the inquiry.

Even so, Zuma and his legal team “believed he would get a suspended sentence” rather than direct imprisonment, said William Gumede, chair of the Democracy Works foundation. “He is going to try and turn it into a martyrdom” but “this is a shock to him”, he said.

The judgment will send a strong signal that even senior leaders in the ANC are not untouchable, said Gumede. “People are shaking in their boots now . . . if the former president with his still-considerable power in the country can be jailed . . . if you’re a lower official, your day is going to come,” Gumede said.

“It’s an absolutely important ruling to draw a line in the sand for the rule of law in South Africa,” he said, hailing the constitutional court as “the last frontier, the last line of defence” for South Africa’s democracy.

“This is a historically significant moment,” said Karam Singh, head of legal and investigations at Corruption Watch, an anti-graft non-governmental organisation. “For the first time in South Africa, we are seeing a former head of state held directly accountable by way of a prison sentence.”

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2021-06-29 15:54:39Z
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South Africa’s top court orders Jacob Zuma to go to jail - Financial Times

South Africa’s top court has sentenced former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months in prison for contempt of court after defying an order to attend an inquiry into allegations of corruption under his presidency.

“The only appropriate sanction is a direct, unsuspended order of imprisonment” lasting 15 months, the constitutional court said in a judgment on Tuesday.

Zuma must turn himself in to police within five days. If he fails to do so, the police must “take all steps necessary” to ensure that he goes to jail, the court said. Zuma is normally based at his homestead in Nkandla, in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

The court’s ruling has been welcomed by civil society activists as a key moment for South African democracy. The case had been seen as a major test for the judiciary and the inquiry. Zuma “sought to ignore, undermine and in many ways destroy the rule of law altogether”, the court said.

The court said Zuma was in contempt of court and it was responding to “a series of direct assaults and calculated and insidious efforts by [Zuma] to corrode its legitimacy and authority”. It added: “The strength of the judiciary is being tested . . . never before has the judicial process been so threatened.”

The former president had ignored an order to appear before the commission of inquiry into corruption and Raymond Zondo, South Africa’s deputy chief justice and the head of the inquiry, had sought to have him jailed for his defiance.

The long-running inquiry has been investigating claims that Zuma helped the Guptas, a well-known business family, secure state contracts and determine policy, in what became known as the “state capture” scandal. The Guptas and Zuma deny wrongdoing.

Zuma was forced to step down in 2018 over corruption scandals and the inquiry has become one of the most powerful symbols of the clean-up under Zuma’s successor Cyril Ramaphosa — as well as of its limitations and torpor.

Dozens of witnesses have implicated the former president in systematic corruption, including the manipulation of ministerial appointments and contracts to favour the business empire of the Indian-born family.

Zuma made one brief appearance before the inquiry in 2019 to deny involvement in corruption and to claim that his accusers were part of a western-sponsored “drive to remove me from the scene”.

But at his next appearance, he refused to answer questions and staged a walkout and has not returned to the witness stand.

The former president also refused to engage with the constitutional court. “It is not our law that I defy, but a few lawless judges who have left their constitutional post for political expediency,” Zuma said, referring to Zondo and the justices at the constitutional court.

Zuma’s defiance left the court with no choice, said Lawson Naidoo, executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, a legal watchdog, describing it as a “great day for constitutionalism and the rule of law in South Africa . . . It is a real affirmation of the fundamental principles of our democratic state.”

Zuma, who was a prisoner in the notorious apartheid-era jail at Robben Island and ANC intelligence boss during the anti-apartheid struggle, has said that he would rather face jail than follow an order to return to the inquiry.

Even so, Zuma and his legal team “believed he would get a suspended sentence” rather than direct imprisonment, said William Gumede, chair of the Democracy Works foundation. “He is going to try and turn it into a martyrdom” but “this is a shock to him”, he said.

The judgment will send a strong signal that even senior leaders in the ruling African National Congress are not untouchable, said Gumede. “People are shaking in their boots now . . . if the former president with his still considerable power in the country can be jailed . . . if you’re a lower official, your day is going to come,” Gumede said.

“It’s an absolutely important ruling to draw a line in the sand for the rule of law in South Africa,” he said, hailing the constitutional court as “the last frontier, the last line of defence” for South Africa’s democracy.

“This is a historically significant moment,” said Karam Singh, head of legal and investigations at Corruption Watch, an anti-graft non-governmental organisation. “For the first time in South Africa, we are seeing a former head of state held directly accountable by way of a prison sentence.”

The ANC said that it was studying the judgment. “Without doubt this is a difficult period in the movement and we call upon our members to remain calm,” it said in a statement.

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2021-06-29 09:26:33Z
52781699648218

Syria: Multiple rockets hit US base - no injuries reported - Metro.co.uk

Rockets hit a US base in Syria less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden (left) ordered airstrikes on Iran-backed militias (Picture: Rex)

Multiple rockets hit a US military base in Syria on Monday, less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias.

Col Wayne Morotto, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, tweeted that ‘at 7:44pm local time, US Forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets’. Morotto said ‘there are no injuries and damage is being assessed’.

In an update shortly after, Marotto wrote: ‘US Forces in Syria, while under multiple rocket attack, acted in self-defense and conducted counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions’.

A US defense official with information on the early attack reports told CNN it was ‘likely’ that Iranian-backed militias launched the rockets in the immediate area, which was close to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria. However, it was not immediately known where the rockets were fired from or how many were used. Some of the rockets reportedly landed close to US troops.

The rockets struck after Biden on Sunday directed the US military to conduct defensive precision airstrikes on two Iranian-backed militia facilities at the Iraq-Syria border. Biden’s orders were in response to new drones made by Iran that have launched attacks on US military facilities in recent weeks.

Monday’s seeming retaliatory attack occurred at the so-called ‘Green Village’ oil field site within a bigger security zone. About 900 US troops are stationed there to provide protection to Syrian fighters against ISIS.

Around the same time that the rocket attacks were reported, Biden met with outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in the Oval Office. Biden vowed to not allow Iran to get more nukes and described the US’s commitment to ensuring Israel’s security as ‘ironclad’.

‘What I can say to you: Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch, as they say,’ Biden told Rivlin. ‘We’re committed to – unwavering commitment to your self-defense.’

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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2021-06-28 20:28:00Z
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Covid: How Delta exposed Australia's pandemic weaknesses - BBC News

For the past year, Australia has been coasting along almost blissfully detached from the global pandemic. It had achieved a "Covid normal" where people could visit restaurants and nightclubs and join crowds at festivals and theatres.

The country's strong Covid defences - border closures and mandatory quarantine - worked 99.99% of the time.

When cases did leak, officials acted quickly, locking down cities and chasing every infected contact.

Sydney - Australia's biggest and richest city - managed to avoid regular snap lockdowns helped by a "gold standard" contact-tracing system.

But in the past fortnight, the Delta variant has managed to breach the city's defences. In one week, positive cases have ballooned to more than 100.

By Friday 25 June, officials conceded the need to put Sydney into lockdown. By the following Monday, the crisis had became a national one - with outbreaks in four states and territories.

• Fresh outbreaks send Australia cities into lockdown
• Why are Asia's Covid 'winners' facing new challenges?

Sydney, Darwin, Perth and Brisbane - all capital cities - are now in lockdown.

More than 20 million Australians, around 80% of the population, are living under restrictions - the highest number since a national lockdown at the start of the pandemic.

In an emergency meeting on Monday, federal and state governments attempted to plug the holes by expanding vaccine access.

But many Australians are asking why they're back living under restrictions, seven months after the world started mass vaccinations.

How Delta went through the weak spots

Epidemiologists say the Delta variant has proven to be the most infectious and transmissible of all the strains so far.

Where there were cracks in Australia's defence system, it succeeded in exploiting them.

Getty Images

The nation's border and quarantine system had been increasingly challenged since the first variants emerged in late 2020.

Officials documented cases where travellers were catching the virus in quarantine, despite staying in separate rooms.

Experts raised concerns about air recirculation and the lack of fresh air in city hotels.

Around 370,000 people have gone through the system. But there have been 10 breaches leading to outbreaks.

Two outbreaks troubling Australia right now come from people who served hotel quarantine. One is a mine worker in the Northern Territory who caught the virus in Queensland quarantine. The other is a Queensland woman whose infection surfaced just as she completed her stay.

• The cracks in Australia's hotel quarantine system
• The battle to open up 'Fortress Australia'

The other weak spot is workers at the border.

Australia has been notoriously strict on gatekeeping who's allowed into the country - with weekly limits on the number of returning citizens and outright bans from some virus hotspots.

When they step off their plane, returnees are greeted by an intimidating coterie of soldiers, police officers and nurses - masked-up and gloved to escort arrivals straight to quarantine.

But the same rigour isn't applied to other workers - like drivers transporting arrivals.

Patient Zero in the Sydney outbreak was a limo driver in his 60s who caught it from a passenger. He was neither vaccinated, wearing a mask nor being tested regularly - and he didn't need to under the rules at the time.

Getty Images

Despite these flaws, experts note that Delta is a "formidable foe" due to its high infection rates.

In New South Wales, of which Sydney is the state capital, officials are reporting near 100% household transmission compared to 25% for earlier strains. People there have caught the virus just from passing one another in a shop.

"Delta is just extremely, highly contagious. And even with the vaccinated workforce there's still potential to transmit," says Prof Nancy Baxter, head of the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne.

She points out that prior to the outbreak, officials had seen Delta cases where "they can't even identify how the transmission occurred".

"So I think even when the systems are perfect, it's challenging. But the systems aren't perfect, which just kind of makes us almost sitting ducks."

Unvaccinated and exposed

Delta's danger has also shone a light on failures in Australia's vaccine programme. Just under 5% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, with 29% having received a first dose.

Australia is last among OECD countries, when it comes to the rollout of vaccines. Critics say the government is responsible.

Australia remains dead last in the OECD for the share of people who are fully vaccinated. Only 4% of the population has been able to get access to vaccines. That's not because people don't want it, it's because Scott Morrison doesn't have the supply to give it to them. pic.twitter.com/M6AelAGuxw

— Mark Butler MP (@Mark_Butler_MP) June 28, 2021

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

"You've got many more partially vaccinated people than you do vaccinated, and even more unvaccinated people," says Prof Raina MacIntyre from the University of New South Wales.

"In that sense, the population is very vulnerable."

The delay has been linked to supply issues, complacency over low Covid rates, and concerns around Astra Zeneca's rare blood clotting risk.

• Spike in Australians rejecting AstraZeneca vaccine
• What's gone wrong with Australia's vaccine rollout?

That led the government earlier this year to limit its use for people over 60, despite not having enough supply of its other option - Pfizer.

The confused messaging was compounded by sensationalist media reports amplifying AstraZeneca's risk.

It spooked many Australians - including the limo driver linked to Sydney's outbreak, who according to local media was afraid of taking the AstraZeneca jab.

So what is Australia doing now?

Experts are unanimous that the current outbreaks must be contained with lockdowns and other restrictions. While it's early days, they hope that Sydney's two-week shutdown will be enough to curb the virus' spread.

But to ward off future Delta outbreaks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison seems to have accepted what experts have been urging for some time: increasing the pace of vaccinations.

EPA

He has ordered mandatory jabs for aged care and quarantine workers in the most high-risk settings.

Mr Morrison also opened access of the AstraZeneca vaccine to younger people, granting indemnity protection to doctors in case of adverse reactions.

End of 'Covid normal'

Experts warn that Delta is likely to have changed Australia's Covid landscape for good.

With mass vaccination unachievable until 2022, and Australians continuing to return home from abroad, Delta's threat will linger, experts say.

That could mean measures like mask-wearing in public will need to be mandatory for some time yet.

"Prior to this, it's been wonderful. You're going out to dinner, you're going to shows with thousands of people," said Dr Baxter.

"But I'm not sure if we're going to be able to do that again until we're all vaccinated, because there's too much of a risk. I just think we can't live like Covid doesn't exist any more."

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2021-06-29 06:15:19Z
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North Korea: Citizens ‘worried’ by Kim Jong-un weight loss - BBC News

EPA/KCNA

North Korea has aired unprecedented television footage of one of its citizens expressing concern for leader Kim Jong-un's sudden weight loss.

The Supreme Leader's health is usually off-limits in a country where his image is firmly controlled by state media.

The country's main television channel has also shown footage of Mr Kim looking thinner than in recent years.

Reuters

There have been persistent rumours about the North Korean leader's health in the decade he has been in power, but they have rarely been acknowledged by the country's notoriously secretive government.

• Kim Jong-un wages war on slang, jeans and films
• Orphans are volunteering as miners, North Korea says

What did North Korean viewers see?

Two recent clips shown on the country's main TV channel, Korea Central Television, have supposedly caused concern about the Supreme Leader's health.

One clip showed him arriving for a concert showing a dramatic weight loss.

Korea Central TV

The second - and most unusual clip - was of an unnamed Pyongyang citizen who told Central TV on Friday's main news: "Seeing [Mr Kim] become emaciated like that, we all became so sad.

"Everyone just started to cry," he said.

Earlier footage and photographs from Workers Party meetings this month hinted that Mr Kim was losing weight.

Analysis by the NK News website showed that the strap on his expensive designer watch was tighter than at earlier events, suggesting that he was losing weight.

We still don't know why the video of the concerned citizen was shown. But Kwak Gil Seob, who heads One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs, told the BBC that the Pyongyang regime "would never allow negative news around Kim Jong-un to be published" - meaning that the footage was aired "to show that Kim Jong-un is losing weight by himself".

The clip "shows that he is committed to his people", Mr Kwak said. "Kim Jong-un is using himself as a propaganda platform to emphasise the image of a leader working hard for his people day and night."

• The South Koreans enslaved in the North's mines
• North Korea's sidelined human rights crisis

Why is this important?

Mr Kim's health has been a cause for concern for much of the time he has been the country's Supreme Leader.

He took over from his late father Kim Jong-il in December 2011 and North Korea watchers have seen his weight steadily increase in his decade in power.

Mr Kim is the third generation of Kims to run the communist state, and North Korea is seen as a hereditary system of leadership descended from what state propaganda call "the noble personages of Mount Paektu" - a sacred mountain in the north where nation founder Kim Il-sung is said to have based his guerrilla war against Imperial Japan.

Kim Jong-un has no clear successor and his death or long-term incapacity may lead to a power vacuum in the nuclear state, bringing fresh instability to East Asia.

It's thought that if his sister Kim Yo-jong is deemed unsuitable, power may shift outside the Kim family for the first time.

Has his health been an issue before?

In 2014, Kim Jong-un disappeared for 40 days leading to speculation that he was critically ill or even dead. When he re-emerged he was seen with a walking stick, leading to observers concluding he had been recuperating from an ankle operation.

There have been periodic disappearances which South Korea's government have concluded may have been for medical purposes.

On one such incident in 2020, Mr Kim emerged with marks on his wrist which may have come from a medical procedure.

He is thought to be 37 years old, and is known to be a heavy smoker. He's also thought to drink heavily as well.

His weight gain over the years has led observers to speculate that he may be suffering from conditions such as diabetes and gout. But since the leader's health - until now - has never been spoken about in state media, these things are impossible to confirm.

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2021-06-28 14:47:01Z
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French election results: What humiliating losses mean for Emmanuel Macron's future - Daily Express

France held the second round of regional elections on Sunday, June 27, with the first set held a week beforehand. The results will make for grim reading for Emmanuel Macron, whose La République En Marche (LREM) party failed to win control of any region. The vote was the first time President Macron's party took part in regional elections, as it did not exist the last time they were held in 2015.

In round one of the voting, Macron's LREM performed poorly, with candidates knocked out and a national vote share of just over 11 percent.

And, despite a shockingly low voter turnout of just over 30 percent, the second round was equally disappointing for the ruling party.

LREM failed to win control of any region, a huge blow which show's Mr Macron's party has failed to turn five years in power at the national level into grassroots support.

Mr Macron reportedly set out for his party to gain a foothold in local government in these elections, and the failure to do so could spell real trouble for the party in the next general election.

READ MORE: Macron humiliated in local elections as party fails to win key region

Local elections such as these are used as indicators of how parties will perform in presidential elections, and with France due to head to the polls in 2022, Mr Macron will be worried.

Stanislas Guerini, Executive Officer of LREM, acknowledged a "disappointment for the presidential majority".

Mr Guerini added: "I think the abstention from the first and second rounds cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

"This is obviously a major political fact, which cannot leave any politician indifferent. We must all provide answers."

The RN leader accused her rivals of forming "unnatural alliances" to block her and her party from power.

She told her supporters: "[They] did all they could to keep us out and prevent us from showing the French our capacity to lead a regional administration."

Mr Bertrand said: "The far-right has been stopped in its tracks and we have pushed it back sharply."

Ms Le Pen blamed the low voter turnout for the appalling set of results. She said: "When two in three French people persist in not voting, in particular young people and the working classes, this is obviously a message that should challenge us.

"Because this historic civic disaffection constitutes a major signal sent to the entire political class and even to the whole of society."

Despite this, Ms Le Pen said she would still be standing to become France's head of state in 2022, just as she did in 2017.

She said: "I am more determined than ever to put all my energy and my will to rehabilitate politics, to make it useful and effective in the service of the French people. Because the presidential election appears more than ever as the election that allows for a change of policies."

This time last year, Mr Macron was polling at 28 percent support compared to Ms Le Pen’s 25 percent.

But 12 months down the line and the French leader’s fortunes have changed, with the Politico Poll of Polls showing Marine Le Pen has edged ahead.

The RN leader now polls at 26 percent against her rival, who has dipped to 25 percent.

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2021-06-28 12:18:00Z
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