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Ticker

Ukraine

Europe

Military airfield struck as Russia launch biggest barrage

Russia has hit Ukraine overnight with its largest drone attack since the start of the war, causing some damage at a military airfield in the west of the country that was one of its main targets, the Ukrainian air force says. It was the latest in Russian onslaughts since Ukraine destroyed a number of Russian bombers in drone attacks on air bases deep inside Russia earlier this month.

AP

Conflict

Europe

Russia still willing to honour prisoner exchange

The Kremlin says Russia is still ready to honour agreements with Ukraine on a new prisoner of war exchange and on the repatriation of dead soldiers despite what it says is Kyiv’s failure to so far honour its side of the bargain. Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday of indefinitely postponing the exchanges, something Kyiv denied.

Reuters

NATO

World

Kremlin slams NATO defence plan

The Kremlin says that NATO’s plan for a huge boost to its air and missile defence capabilities is confrontational and would come at the expense of European taxpayers who were being asked to pay to defuse a threat that does not exist. Secretary-General Mark Rutte will say during a visit to London that NATO must take a “quantum leap in our collective defence” and increase their air and missile defences by 400 per cent to counter the threat from Russia, according to extracts released by NATO before Rutte’s speech.

AP

Government

UK

Labour to restore pensioners’ Winter fuel payments

Britain will make fuel payments to millions of older people this Winter, in a major U-turn of deeply unpopular cuts after months of political pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer’s Labour government cut Winter fuel payments soon after taking office last July as part of wider spending reductions which it said were necessary to fix a hole in the public finances left by the previous Conservative administration.

Reuters

Politics

USA

‘Stressed’ Musk mistaken in Trump challenge

The row between Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and US President Donald Trump was triggered by stress on both sides and Elon made a mistake by publicly challenging Trump, Musk’s father has told Russian media in Moscow. Musk and Trump began exchanging insults last week on social media with Musk denouncing the president’s sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.

Reuters

Argentina

World

Milei reignites war of words with Spanish PM

Argentina’s President Javier Milei has insulted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at an event in Madrid, a year after a similar attack escalated into a diplomatic spat. At the Madrid Economic Forum event, Milei called for “clobbering the local bandit”, referring to Sanchez without naming him directly.

Reuters

Gaza

World

Israel intercepts rogue charity boat

Israeli forces have stopped a Gaza-bound aid boat and detained Greta Thunberg and other activists who were on board, enforcing a longstanding blockade of the Palestinian territory that has been tightened during the war with Hamas. The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) departed from Sicily on June 6 and had hoped to reach Gaza later in the day, when the interception occurred, the group said on its Telegram account.

AP/Reuters

Nuclear

World

Iran preparing counter to ‘unacceptable’ US proposal

Iran will soon hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says, in response to a US offer that Tehran deems “unacceptable”. it was previously reported that Tehran was drafting a negative response to the US proposal which was presented in late May. An Iranian diplomat said the US offer failed to resolve differences over uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, the shipment abroad of Iran’s entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium and steps to lift US sanctions.

Reuters

Australia

USA

PM urged to demand answers over reporter shot in LA

A senator wants the prime minister to seek an urgent explanation from US President Donald Trump after police shot an Australian TV reporter with a rubber bullet in Los Angeles. Nine Network’s US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was recording a piece to camera about protests against immigration raids when she appeared to be struck in the leg, with the incident caught live on camera.

AAP Newswire

Russia

Europe

Ukraine strike among deepest into Russian territory

A Ukrainian drone strike, among the deepest into Russia in more than three years of the war, has forced a temporary suspension of production at an electronics company in the Volga river region of Chuvashia, the head of the region says. The strike, some 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine, caused no casualties, Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters

Russia

Europe

Putin approves push to bolster naval power

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a new naval strategy that aims to fully restore Russia’s position as one of the world’s leading maritime powers, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev says. Russia has the world’s third most powerful navy after China and the United States, according to most public rankings, though the navy has suffered a series of high-profile losses in the Ukraine war.

Brian Ward

Maritime

UK

Call to extend bottom trawling ban in English seas

The British government says it plans to extend a ban on bottom trawling to protect marine life amid calls from naturalist David Attenborough and Prince William for urgent measures to protect the world’s oceans. The plan, which will be subject to a consultation with those in the marine and fisheries sector, would see bottom trawling - dragging large nets along the sea floor - banned across about 30,000 square km (11,600 square miles) of English seas covering 41 Marine Protected Areas, the government said.

Reuters